Choosing a law school is one of those decisions that seems simple on the surface. You compare schools, look at their reputation, consider the tuition, think about the location, and eventually submit your application.
At least, that’s how it seems.
For me, it became something much more personal.
It is often said that students do not choose their law schools; law schools choose their students. I agree, but only in part. Admission is ultimately the school’s decision. The aspiration, however, is the student’s. Before a law school can decide whether you belong within its walls, you must first decide where you hope to belong.
I wasn’t simply choosing where I wanted to spend the next few years studying law. I was choosing the environment that I hope will shape the person I become during those years. The people around me will influence how hard I study. The professors will shape how I think. The school’s culture will affect the standards I hold myself to. Long before I become a lawyer, I will first become a product of the environment I choose.
The Philippines has no shortage of excellent law schools. I have great respect for every institution that has produced competent lawyers and continues to do so today. But when it came time to decide where I wanted to begin my legal education, I found myself repeatedly coming back to one institution: the San Beda University College of Law.
It wasn’t because I thought studying there would be easier.
Quite the opposite.
The more I learned about San Beda, the more convinced I became that it was the kind of environment I was looking for. I wasn’t searching for the easiest path to a law degree. I was searching for a place that would constantly challenge me, expose my weaknesses, and push me to become better than I am today.
Whether I’ll succeed is something only time can answer. But I know one thing with certainty: I wanted to begin that journey in a place whose culture and expectations matched the kind of lawyer, and more importantly, the kind of person, I aspire to become.
These are the five reasons I deliberately chose the San Beda University College of Law.
1. I Deliberately Chose One of the Country’s Most Academically Demanding Law Schools
One of the easiest ways to make law school less stressful is to choose a school with less demanding academic standards. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Every law student has different priorities, circumstances, and goals. Some need to work while studying. Others have families to support. Many simply want the highest possible chance of finishing their legal education. Those are all valid reasons.
I, however, found myself wanting the opposite.
As I researched different law schools, I spent countless hours reading discussions on Reddit and law-related Facebook groups. Whenever the San Beda University College of Law came up, the conversations almost always revolved around one thing: its academic rigor.
Students talked about the relentless workload, the demanding professors, the pressure of daily recitations, and the school’s retention policies. I repeatedly came across discussions about the two-flunk rule, the required Quality Point Index (QPI), and the reality that not everyone who starts at San Beda eventually graduates from it.
For many applicants, those stories served as warnings.
For me, they became reasons to apply.
The more I learned about San Beda, the more convinced I became that it was exactly the kind of environment I was looking for. I wasn’t discouraged by the possibility of failing. Instead, I became curious about the kind of discipline such an environment could cultivate in a student who genuinely embraced the challenge.
I’ve noticed a pattern in my life that took me years to recognize.
Whenever I deliberately place myself in unfamiliar territory, I grow.
That realization explains why the professions I’ve pursued seem to have very little to do with one another. I became a software engineer, a digital marketing strategist, a stock market analyst, and an agriculturist. Today, I am pursuing my fifth profession in the field of law.
To many people, those professions probably look disconnected.
To me, they all follow the same philosophy.
Each time I entered a completely different field, I became a beginner again. I had to learn a new language, develop new ways of thinking, and accept that there were countless people who knew far more than I did. It was uncomfortable. It challenged my confidence. It forced me to confront my limitations.
That is exactly why I keep doing it.
I’ve learned that growth rarely comes from repeatedly proving yourself in places where you’re already competent. It comes from willingly stepping into environments where competence must be earned all over again.
Choosing the San Beda University College of Law follows that same pattern. I know it will demand far more than I currently possess. I know there will be blockmates who are more knowledgeable than I am and professors who will expose how much I still have to learn. But that is precisely the kind of environment I was looking for.
Many applicants intentionally avoid schools with a reputation for being academically unforgiving.
I deliberately sought one.
I never saw San Beda’s reputation for academic difficulty as something to survive.
I saw it as something worth pursuing.
Because if my life has taught me anything, it is this: the most meaningful growth rarely happens inside comfortable environments.
2. I Wanted an Environment That Turns My Insecurity Into My Greatest Strength
I completed my undergraduate studies at a relatively small college. Along with that came a relatively small student population. Looking back, I have nothing but gratitude for the education I received there because it became the foundation of everything I’ve accomplished since then.
At the same time, I realized there was an experience I had never truly had.
I had never been surrounded by hundreds of students who were relentlessly ambitious, exceptionally intelligent, and fiercely committed to academic excellence. I wanted to know what it felt like to study in an environment where everyone seemed to be chasing the same goal, where high grades mattered, where every recitation counted, and where simply keeping up required your very best every single day.
From everything I’ve read and heard, the San Beda University College of Law embodies exactly that kind of culture.
Some people find that intimidating.
I find it motivating.
I’ve also discovered something unusual about myself over the years.
Insecurity is my uncanny superpower.
That probably sounds strange because most people spend their lives trying to overcome their insecurities. They see insecurity as something that holds them back, something that needs to be healed before they can become their best selves.
Mine works differently.
Whenever I find myself surrounded by people who are more knowledgeable, more accomplished, or simply better than I am at something, I don’t feel defeated.
I feel awakened.
It’s as though my mind suddenly refuses to settle for mediocrity. I become more curious. I study longer. I read more deeply. I ask better questions. I become obsessed with improving because I refuse to remain the weakest person in the room.
My insecurity doesn’t paralyze me.
It energizes me.
I’ve experienced that pattern throughout my life, and I’ve learned to embrace it instead of resisting it. Whenever I feel academically insecure, it’s as if my body shifts into another gear. I become capable of studying for hours without noticing the time. While everyone else is already asleep, I often find myself still reading, still taking notes, still trying to understand one more concept before calling it a day.
That’s why I don’t see insecurity as a weakness.
I see it as one of the greatest gifts I’ve ever discovered about myself.
The more I learned about the San Beda University College of Law, the more I realized that its culture of high expectations and academically driven students was exactly the kind of environment that naturally brings out the best in me. I wanted to be surrounded by blockmates who would constantly remind me that there was still more to learn, more to improve, and more to strive for.
I wasn’t searching for comfort.
I was searching for the conditions that consistently produce my best work.
3. I Wanted to Fulfill a Dream That Began Long Before Law School
Long before law school ever crossed my mind, there was already a dream quietly taking shape inside me.
It wasn’t about becoming a lawyer.
It was about one day having the freedom to choose a prestigious private university without wondering whether I could afford the tuition.
Growing up, that wasn’t the reality I knew.
When I was in fourth-year high school, several well-known universities from Manila visited our provincial high school to administer their entrance examinations. My classmates eagerly went to their assigned classrooms, each hoping to earn admission to the university of their choice.
I was the only one who didn’t take any of the entrance examinations.
While everyone else was taking their tests, I spent the entire morning moving from one restroom to another around the campus.
I wasn’t looking for a place to study.
I was looking for a place to hide.
I didn’t want any of my classmates to see that I wasn’t taking any of the entrance examinations. Deep inside, I had already convinced myself that even if I passed, my family simply couldn’t afford to send me to any of those universities.
Looking back, I realize how crippling self-pity can be.
It quietly convinces you that certain opportunities belong to other people. It whispers that your circumstances have already decided what your future can and cannot be.
Life, however, had other plans.
Beginning in my fourth year of high school, scholarships became an essential part of my educational journey. They opened doors that would have otherwise remained closed. They allowed me to continue studying despite our financial limitations, and for that, I will always be grateful. Whatever I’ve accomplished today rests in part on the generosity of people and institutions that believed in students like me.
I have never looked at those scholarships as charity.
I have always looked at them as opportunities.
Still, one question quietly stayed with me throughout the years.
What does it feel like to choose a prestigious private university simply because I can finally afford the tuition?
Not because a scholarship made it possible.
Not because I had to write a letter that reads like an episode of Maalaala Mo Kaya or Magpakailanman just to convince someone that I deserve financial assistance.
But because years of hard work finally gave me that freedom.
Today, I no longer have to wonder.
For the first semester of my first year in law school, I paid 100% of my tuition.
That may not sound extraordinary to many people.
To me, it means everything.
For the first time in my life, I enrolled in a Manila-based university simply because I could afford to.
No scholarship application.
No appeal letter.
No need to convince anyone that I was worthy of financial assistance.
I simply enrolled.
Studying at the San Beda University College of Law means far more to me than beginning my legal education.
It represents reaching a milestone that my younger self never imagined possible.
Years ago, I hid inside school restrooms because I believed universities like San Beda belonged to someone else.
This 2026, I get to walk through the gates of one.
4. I Wanted My Legal Education to Reflect the Kind of Lawyer I Hope to Become
As I learned more about San Beda University, I found myself reading more than its admissions requirements, tuition fees, and academic policies.
I found myself reading its mission and vision.
San Beda envisions a community that is fully human, wholly Christian, truly Filipino, and globally competitive. Its mission is to form its members in faith (Fides), knowledge (Scientia), and virtue (Virtus), while instilling the Benedictine values of study, community, and the pursuit of peace.
The more I reflected on those ideals, the more I realized that I wasn’t simply looking for a law school with an impressive Bar Examination track record.
I was looking for an institution whose educational philosophy resonated with the kind of lawyer I hope to become.
Years before I decided to study law, I had already come to believe that competence alone is never enough. A brilliant lawyer without integrity can become dangerous. A knowledgeable lawyer without compassion can become indifferent. A successful lawyer without a sense of responsibility can easily forget whom the law is ultimately meant to serve.
That is why San Beda’s emphasis on faith, knowledge, and virtue spoke to me.
To me, those are not merely institutional ideals.
They are reminders that legal education should shape not only the mind but also the character of the person entrusted to practice the law.
If I have learned anything from my own journey, it is that every profession carries with it a responsibility that extends beyond personal success. Software engineering taught me to solve problems logically. Digital marketing taught me to understand people. Stock market analysis taught me disciplined decision-making. Agriculture taught me stewardship and patience.
Law, I hope, will teach me how to use all those experiences in the service of something greater than myself.
I have never believed that the purpose of studying law is simply to know more statutes, memorize more jurisprudence, or pass the Bar Examination.
I believe lawyers should master the law so they can use that competence to improve society, protect those who cannot protect themselves, and lessen unnecessary human suffering wherever they have the opportunity to do so.
When I compared that personal conviction with San Beda University’s mission and vision, I saw more than an academic institution.
I saw a place where competence and character are expected to grow together.
That is the kind of legal education I have been searching for.
5. I Wanted My Law School to Reflect My Purpose
If you’ve read my earlier article, Why I Choose to Study Law at 42, you already know why I decided to study law.
That article answered one question.
Why law?
This article answers a different one.
Why San Beda University?
Although those are two separate questions, my answers are inseparable.
Long before I submitted my application, I had already defined the purpose that led me to law school. Once that purpose became clear, choosing a law school was no longer about prestige, convenience, or even Bar Examination statistics alone.
It became a question of finding an institution capable of preparing me for that mission.
My purpose demanded far more than simply obtaining a law degree.
It demanded an environment that would challenge my discipline, sharpen my thinking, strengthen my character, and prepare me for responsibilities greater than myself.
That is why San Beda University felt like the right choice.
It embodies many of the qualities I believe a legal education should cultivate, not only in the classroom but also in the person who one day will be entrusted with serving others through the law.
If you’re interested only in why I chose San Beda University, I hope this article has answered your question.
But if you’d like to understand the deeper purpose behind that decision, I invite you to read Why I Choose to Study Law at 42 first.
Together, the two articles tell one complete story: first, why I chose to become a law student; then, why I chose to become one at San Beda University.
Choosing San Beda University was never about convenience, rankings alone, or prestige alone. It was about choosing an environment that reflects my personality, my motivations, my standards, and the purpose that led me to law school.
I did not choose San Beda University because I believed it would make law school easier. I chose it because I believed it would demand more from me than I had ever demanded from myself. I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.
