Words inside my head

A Full-time, Full Load Law Student

Disclaimer: This is a copied post. Blog by KML, a law student at the University of Santo Tomas. Published June 9, 2017 (yourlawyersays.com)

Passing the PhiLSAT 2017 was a blessing. To be admitted to the College of law is a privilege. To survive law school is a success. To be called "Atty." is a gift from God. - Jae Dee 🌻

WORTH THE READ!! #BeInspired ⚖️

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This may be an impossible stunt to pull off, but everyday, there are full-time working, full-load students getting up and gearing for life.

It is the end of the semester, another tiring semester.

For many, at last, vacation is at hand. They can now go home to their family homes or probably book a flight abroad. For a few of us, another week is just another work week – the hustle never ends.

This is the life of a full-time working, full-load law student.

The demands imposed by professors to law students are impossible to be done in 24 hours. You have to read at least two reference books, a multitude of cases, a few reviewers to tune it up, and finally, reread them all again for mastery. After mastering the cases, you have to take your pen and scribble in numerous case digests, which can take an eternity to finish. As far as the seniors' rule of thumb go, they tell us that for every unit in law school, three hours of study must be spent at home.

There are 168 hours in a week, and a regular load in law school may be at 24 units. Following that rule of thumb, that entails 72 hours of study leaving 96 hours for everything else. 4 hours for everyday's routine may be allotted – eating, bathing, doing some chores – totaling 28 hours a week. That leaves you with 68 hours.

68 hours. That is still a manageable time for rest. Sleeping eight hours a day will consume 56 hours in a week, giving you an entire afternoon for movies and for your social life. You have to sacrifice a little of your sleep though if you have to travel far from your residence to your law school classes. Still, that's good. That's good. That is all well and good.

This computation left my head scratching – it failed to allot my 40-hour requirement at work. If I do account for my 8 hours of work a day, and my hour of travel everyday from home to work, work to law school, and law school to home, that would cost me 46 hours – leaving me with 22 hours for sleep, or a little over 3 hours of sleep a day.

Basically, we are taking the load of two persons.

That. Is. Just. Crazy.

It is no myth that there are a lot of law students who are working full-time. Being all Bachelor's degree holder, we are all already capable of earning quite well, and a few of us take the chance and earn. Frankly, being in law school may be a temporary career killer. Your batchmates are getting promoted to managerial level while you are still in a coffee shop reviewing for next week's revalida. However, as they say, it will all be worth it in the end. Getting that "atty." before your name will be your biggest professional promotion, and if I'll choose between working and studying law, I'd gladly call my classrooms home.

However, it is not always a choice of A and B. For many of us who do not have the means to cut off work and dedicate ourselves fully to academics, we have to endure the business, the hustle, the daily cramming, and the hourly panic. For many of us who aren't as privileged enough as others, we have to work – for our tuition fees, for our rent, for our daily expenses, for our meals, for our present, and for our future. For many of us whose parents will not or are not able to support our law school pursuit, it is not a choice of A and B, we have to take them both.