Who's In Your Circle and Who Isn't?
Not everyone gets into law school the same way, or adjusts to it the same way. Here's why that matters.
Look around your cohort, and it is likely that most of your peers or people you know entered law school through the same pathway as you. But if you expand the radius, you are bound to see people who came in through completely different pathways. It is important to notice these things around us to avoid forming little groups with which we most identify. This is somewhat of a natural phenomenon, and no one is to blame, but we need to reflect on this.
We hope to highlight the importance of looking within to evaluate implicit biases we may have and to see how they may manifest outside, in completely unintentional ways.
Different pathways into law school from high school
It is perfectly fine if you knew law was something you wanted to do. But if you are not sure law is for you, or you did not get the offer you wanted, that is far from the end of the road. A gap year will not feel as daunting in a few years as it probably does right now, and it gives you space to try informal courses and see where your interest actually sits. You could also enrol in a different degree and, if it allows flexibility, try a few law units in the first year to see if a switch might work for you. If law turns out to be a fit, internal course transfers are a genuine option, and with most universities offering double degrees, you can pursue your original degree alongside law rather than choosing between them.
The point here is simple: not getting into your preferred law school straight away does not shut the door on studying law. There are practical, realistic ways, apart from those mentioned, that can help you.
The international student experience
Starting law school in a different country brings its own weight. Any familiarity you already had with legal concepts can feel almost irrelevant once you are working within a different jurisdiction, and a real sense of isolation and not belonging often comes with it. This, of course, is just an academic experience. Being an international student brings with it several other challenges that can not be ignored.
Universities and student bodies do run events and support aimed at international students, but that support only works if students actually engage with it. The first step is accepting that feeling like an imposter in a new environment is completely normal, and so is feeling overwhelmed by everything that suddenly needs doing. There are often a lot of resources, but the important thing is that students let go of any hesitation and make good use of them.
That said, no amount of external support fully removes feelings that are, at their core, internal. It is genuinely harder than it sounds. What helps is actively engaging with what you are facing rather than waiting for it to pass. Early units can feel disorienting for almost everyone, international student or not, and constantly reassessing your study methods rather than sticking with what used to work is one real way through. Forming study groups is another.
Access isn't always equal
Law school can often feel like a place built on privilege, and that starts before you even arrive. Entry into university more broadly carries the same feeling for a lot of people, a sense of constantly playing catch-up. Acknowledging this feeling is ideal, but doing nothing about it is detrimental. Bridging courses and scholarships exist for people from diverse economic backgrounds, and it matters that those who need this support can actually access them. This is not about ranking anyone's difficulties against another's. Everyone carries a different set of challenges, and none of them cancels each other out. It just means we should not pretend the playing field starts level for everyone, and we should make sure the support that exists, like from the university itself or from student associations, actually reaches the people it is meant for.
Main Takeaways
The main thing that we hope people take away from this article is that there are people with significantly different experiences around us. We need to shed that invisible veil of comfort and try to expand our horizons and reach out to more people.
We implicitly tend to assume that most people around us share similar experiences that got us into law school, and that everyone is adjusting the same way. Neither is true. Some people took a direct path while others found their way through a gap year, a transfer, or a completely different degree. Some are adjusting to a new country on top of a new discipline. None of these experiences needs ranking against each other. Real inclusion in legal education means recognising these differences exist, making the support around them genuinely accessible, and trusting people to reach for it in their own time. More importantly, we need to remain open to expanding our views while remaining aware of our initial instincts.
Written by Vishnu Bhat