2024 Bar exam passer shares his journey from being a janitor to a lawyer at 41
Former janitor Jan Tristan Ramos had to juggle work and studies in order to fulfill his dreams of becoming a lawyer. Now, all his effort and sacrifice have paid off after he emerged as part of the 3,962 candidates who passed the 2024 Bar exams.
The moment he learned that he will officially be taking the title of "attorney" at 41 years old, Ramos couldn't help but turn emotional.
"During the announcement of the results, I was actually very nervous. My whole body was shaking because there were already students taking their individual results ahead of the schedule. When I saw the other students crying, it made me more nervous," he recalled in an interview with PhilSTAR L!fe.
"After I saw the results, I immediately ran to one corner because I was trying to avoid attention. I called my mother, and that's when I cried. So when I told my mom that I passed the Bar exams, I burst into tears," he said, adding that his parent did the same, too.
From janitor to lawyer
Ramos opened up about his journey from being a janitor to a lawyer in a Facebook post on Friday, Dec. 13.
"Ang natutunan ko sa lahat ng ito? Hindi mahalaga kung ano ang pinanggalingan mo o gaano kahirap ang iyong nakaraan. Ang mahalaga, handa kang harapin ang bawat hamon ng buhay para sa iyong pangarap," he wrote.
Ramos had been a working student ever since he was in second year high school. Having lost his dad at an early age, his mom's work as a domestic helper abroad was the only thing that was keeping food in their fridge. Because of this, he had to stay focused and work hard as a scholar of his school.
Their financial status led him to experience a few moments of discrimination from the people around him.
"I was part of the student council when I was in high school, and I was treated differently from the other student council members. There was one instance where there was an event, and I was asked by the school administrator to clean the courtyard. And ako lang 'yung inutusan niya among the student council," Ramos recounted.
"She said, 'Oh, Tristan, kumuha ka ng walis, mag-walis kayo with one of the janitors in the school,' so that's when I felt that I was treated differently from my schoolmates," he continued.
It didn't get easier when he had to work as a janitor when he was taking up microbiology at the University of Santo Tomas (UST).
"When I was already in college and working as a janitor, I saw one of my high school friends while walking in the corridor along UST. When he saw me, he shouted at the corridor, 'Tristan, nakita kita na nagja-janitor.' At that time, I felt ashamed because I haven't accepted the fact that I had to work [as a janitor] for my college education," Ramos said.
"I often compare myself to my classmates who were also pre-med students. Most of them would soon become doctors, and are now doctors. They came from a well-off family. I had a hard time accepting that path because I often compare myself to those other students," he added.
Juggling work and studies
After graduation, Ramos felt inspired to become a lawyer to take up estate planning as well as to help mitigate the injustices happening in the Philippines.
His triumph at the Bar exams took about four months of endless studying all while fulfilling the responsibilities of his current job at an insurance company. Luckily, he was allowed to follow a work-from-home setup by his boss, which helped him focus on his bright future ahead.
One would think that taking up something as rigorous as law would entail lots of approaches to keep your mind sharp and steady, but Ramos only had one simple studying method: to organize his notes.
"I made flash cards, so writing down the concepts and summarizing it into index cards can actually help you process information faster," he explained. "What I do is to draw a picture that I can correlate to the concepts and put the concepts at the back of the index cards and put keywords or key phrases to facilitate faster recall."
Things were much harder for him back when he was still a law student at the Arellano University School of Law.
"There was one instance where I had to stand for four hours in class because I cannot give the correct answers during recitation. That's when I realized that I had to study harder and persevere to be able to manage going to law school and having a full-time job," Ramos said.
Sleepless nights and exhaustion were almost an everyday experience for him as he needed to attend class seven days in a week.
"I work from eight to five, and then after five o'clock, I go to law school until nine o'clock, and then after going to law school, [I] have to study for the next day's lessons or for the next day's class, so [I] stay up until 11 or 12 in the evening," he shared.
Despite this, Ramos achieved success through effective time management. "What I did was to set clear lines between the activities that I do for work and the activities that I do for law school."
Reaching the finish line
Ramos found himself close to giving up right when he was about to cross the finish line.
"To be honest, I almost quit on the second day of the Bar exams. I was telling my classmates that I wouldn't take the second day of the exams because I felt shattered after the first day," he admitted.
"What helped me through the ups and downs of studying in law school was my family, who have been my inspiration through this journey, and of course, having classmates. I have Zoom buddies, so what we do is to log in on Zoom every time we have our personal study time. We see to it that we encourage each other [to study] for the Bar exams," he shared.
If there's one person that he would like to offer his greatest gratitude the most, it would be his mom, who has been the "both the father and mother in our families."
"There's a message that I want to tell my mom. It's that, 'Ma, thank you for all the hard work that you did for me and for my siblings. I truly appreciate that, and I promise to give you a better life. And this is just a start. This is just the beginning of the better life that I promised you,'" he said.
Now that the hard part is over, Ramos plans to go for a simple celebration by attending Mass with his family and having a nice dinner with them.
As for his advice to other aspiring lawyers out there, he highlighted, "We often hear our professors that your Bar preparation starts during the first day of your law school. So take this into heart, hindi nagsisinungaling 'yung mga professors natin."
He also stressed the importance of organizing your notes. "It's not the last-minute tips or the review centers that will help you hurdle the bar exams, but the concepts that you've developed into long-term memory. You can only do that if you start preparing early and organizing your notes."
"Your journey will not be easy," Ramos added, "but it will all be worth it."
