Is Studying Law For You? Here’s What You Need to Know

Law courses are considered to be among the rigorous classes in college. It takes a lot of skill and excellence to be able to conquer the demands of studying law. Anyone can take law courses, but only a few can commit, graduate, and pass the Law Licensure exams.

If you dream of seeing yourself as a lawyer in the future, you should have a better understanding of how to become a lawyer and the demands of the job. There are different types of law programs available, and you should be able to fit or adapt to the needs of the kind of law program to pursue. Is a law course indeed for you? This article will help you assess if studying law is for you.

Top Things to Consider Before Becoming a Law Student

If you seriously desire to become a lawyer, challenges will certainly arise. See a glimpse of what law school demands and determine if you have what it takes to become a lawyer below:

Law School is Very Intense

Law school will require you to compete with your fellow students all the time. Most law schools give grades using the bell curve; it directly depends on how you and your classmates perform in a year. In this grading system, the number of students who will receive a grade is already predetermined even before the course begins. You need to be on top of the class, all the time, to maintain high grades.

Law school, combined with your personal life and life at work, can put you in a very high-pressure environment. You should be able to balance your life out of the university while driving yourself to excellence, every day of your life as a law student. If you are prepared or willing to take on that challenge, law school is feasible for you.

Law Courses and Law Books are Expensive

The average annual tuition and fees in a private law school are around $49,548. Public law school costs around $26,264 annually for in-state residents and around $39,612 for out-of-state students on average. Fees can go as high as $74,000 a year, plus miscellaneous fees, board, lodging, and tons of law books to purchase.

Law school books may cost you around $1,000 to $2,250 annually. You can opt to buy used books or look for better deals online. However, even with the savings you’ll get from buying used books instead of new ones, the living expenses of a full-time law student, whether living on campus, off-campus, or at home, can add up to thousands of dollars. 

Take note though that you can get student loans or scholarship grants to pay for your law education.

Law School Demands a Lot of Reading

There is a lot of reading involved in law school. You may spend the whole day in the library reading to prepare for your lectures and examinations. You will have to be prepared to study long and hard hours to excel as a law student.

Law students are among the top types of students that clock the most time in the library. Law students need to learn the law from scratch and require hours and hours of endless reading. If you are good at managing your reading list and if reading is something you are willing to do, you might be fit to study law. However, it does not end with reading. You need to absorb and understand what you read to get the grades you want to keep you on top of your class.

Law School Requires Passion

On top of the things mentioned above, there are plenty of other considerations to consider before applying and attending law school. After graduation, the career prospects are limited, and you will have to be among the cream of the crop to stand out and be noticed by chambers and law firms to land training contracts and pupillages.

Working hard, working smart, and staying organized is also a prime requirement to stand out and succeed in law school and after. You will need to adapt to be able to catch up with the growing demands that you’ll experience as you go from one level to the next in law school.

Practicing law is indeed a lucrative career that makes it a desirable degree to pursue. However, before you reap the fruits of being a licensed practicing lawyer, you will have to go through all the hard times and challenges law school entails. If you are passionate about taking on these challenges, you are already a step closer to becoming a standout law student.