Aspiring political scientist and academic.
Iāve hadĀ āaspiring political scientist and lawyerā in my bio for the longest time. I finally decided to take outĀ ālawyerā earlier. Thatās right ā I donāt aspire to become a lawyer anymore. Actually, thisĀ ādreamā diminished last semester, around September or October. I remember still having law dreams last August, but now theyāre about 80% gone.
People who know me well will know that I took up Political Science for two reasons: I want to be a teacher and a lawyer. I originally intended to take up Secondary Education but my dad asked me to reconsider my options, so I did. At that time, my ultimate dream was to become a teacher and becoming a lawyer came next. Thatās why I decided to take Political Science ā I had a very legalistic orientation towards PolSci and I knew that I could still teach even if Iām already a lawyer.
The whole family celebrated it. Hooray for a future lawyer, probably the first in many years. Everyone thought I was set to go to law school after Graduation. I thought so too. I admired UP Law so much that I would read up on how to pass the LAE at random moments. I got depressed when I found out that my UPG is only 2.2 ā I thought that my LAE score might be the same in the future. I got goosebumps every time I would pass by it or enter its halls.Ā UP Law was part of my dreams.Ā
I donāt know what exactly happened, I just know that it did. Suddenly, my law school dreams diminished. This happened last semester. I donāt know why, but I think the most plausible reason is that I have learned to love the other side of PolSci, the side that most people ignore, the side that some do not know about because admit it or not, our impression of PolSci is a pre-law course. I have learned to love the research part of PolSci. I think it was heavily influenced by my qualitative methods class and my professor (Prof. Fernando). Doing all those papers, staying up late, reading and reading on the literature ā they may be tiring, but I have learned to derive enjoyment from doing these things. I have come to realize that thereās more to PolSci than going to law. Of course I still respect my friendsā law school dreams because I once had them too, I just realized, maybe a little late, that becoming a lawyer isnāt my thing.
I have learned to love and embrace the other side of PolSci, one that is focused on research and building a life in the academe. I was back to my old dream: to become a teacher. Of course, becoming a teacher comes along with an even greater dream: becoming a political scientist. But I think these two (teacher and political scientist) are more compatible than the original pair I was after (teacher and lawyer). I look up to so many of my professors, particularly those who have scholarly articles in prestigious journals. I dream to be one of them too. I still havenāt made up my mind if I will become a high school or a college teacher/professor, but I am sure that I want to become a political scientist. Anything can happen from there.
Iām still not completely throwing my law school dreams out the window, Iām just saying that itās not exactly what I want anymore. Maybe Iāll go to law school in the future. We never know. But I am so, so, so sure that I will become a teacher in this lifetime. I may not become a lawyer, but I will make sure that I will become a teacher.
Some people are not happy about my sudden change of plans. But thereās nothing they can do anymore. I am responsible for my own actions and if this is what I want to do, then I will make sure that I am fully responsible for anything that might happen and I will also make sure that I will make things happen. I have this dream and I have the intention to make it come true.
So much for my lawyer dreams. Hello, political scientist and academic dreams. Letās get it on.