Josh— Current Law Student
My name is Josh – I’m 22 years old and I live and grew up in Melbourne. Currently, I’m doing my Bachelor of Law / Bachelor of Arts (majoring in Philosophy) at Monash which I started in 2023.
Q: What first sparked your interest in law? Was it something that you always had considered since high school?
My Dad and Grandad are both lawyers – I definitely wouldn’t say I felt any pressure or expectation to study law because of that, but instead I was always curious or aware of it as something that might suit me to study when I graduated. Honestly, I was always never great at any STEM subjects at school ...so that definitely helped narrow it down too!
Q: Tell me about the pathway you took into studying law at Monash. Did you come fresh out of high school, or did you take a different route?
After Year 12 I started off doing a Bachelor of Arts at Melbourne University. Sometimes I regret not taking a gap year, but looking back that year really gave me some breathing room to try out some different units, meet new people and just adjust to university before I decided on a major or anything.
Somewhere during that first semester I think I realised that I wanted to study law – for me I knew I didn’t want to do the Juris Doctor at Melbourne because it’s a postgraduate course and I was hesitant about potentially not being accepted after doing an undergraduate there.
From there I just focussed on trying to get my marks up to try and transfer into a Bachelor’s in Law instead at Monash, and got started that next year!
Q: What has your experience been studying law at Monash like so far? Did you struggle to adapt to the university work-life balance?
Honestly because of that year at Melbourne I felt more comfortable with university and my study load. It definitely can take some time to adjust to new units or coursework, but I think leaning on the people doing law with you and working together made it much more manageable!
Q: What do you imagine your career will look like after you graduate from Monash law?
Definitely interested in practising in either taxation or entertainment law after I graduate – potentially as a barrister because I feel like I’d really enjoy working in court and representing clients!
Q: What advice do you have to any aspiring law students who may be reading this, whether that be high schoolers or current university students enrolled in other courses?
I’d say take your time and try not to stress yourself out too much about knowing what you want to do or getting there as fast as you possibly can – there’s always a way if you want to do something.