Reflective Journal: Transition to Third Level Education - CA1

This reflective journal details a student's transition from secondary to third-level education, employing the Gibbs Reflective Model to analyze experiences and decisions. The student reflects on the choice of studying law, driven by family influence, and the subsequent dilemmas regarding career specialization, particularly between criminal law and other fields like medicine. The journal highlights feelings of confusion and the need to balance family expectations with personal aspirations. The evaluation section discusses the decision-making process, the initial understanding of the legal field, and the eventual choice of criminal law. Analysis reveals the student's evolving understanding of the legal profession and the myths surrounding criminal law. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of determination and informed decisions, with an action plan to utilize available resources for future success. References are provided to support the reflections.

Reflective Journal 1
REFLECTIVE JOURNAL
A transition from Second Level to Third Level Education
Name
Affiliation
Date

Reflective Journal 2
REFLECTIVE JOURNAL
The transition from Second Level to Third Level Education
Introduction
This assignment will provide a detailed highlight of my transition between the
second level of education up to the third level of education. To do this, the Gibbs Reflective
Model comes in handy. This reflective model will assist in highlighting the different scenarios
I go through when making decisions and handling different situations in my life. Two years
ago, I graduated from secondary school and this gave me an opportunity to pursue my third
level education. As such, I have had quite an experience at the secondary level up to this
point where I am writing this reflective essay. To highlight more on this, I will also provide
information about how I have managed transition from one course to the other. Third level
education has a lot of decisions to be made especially when one is required to make up his
or her mind on what path to take, (Simbeye, 2017, 22).
Description
To start with, my graduation from secondary school was in the year 2016. I stayed at
home for one year before enrolling for a Bachelor’s Degree in Law. Studying law has been
my childhood passion and I set this goal since my secondary level education. However, I only
had one choice to make thus ending up studying here. My desire to practice as a criminal
lawyer was fueled by my close interactions with my father and grandfather. I come from a
family that has many lawyers. Constant interactions with them made me admire the
profession. (Tushnet, 2017, 15). I am always elated by how successful they are. While in

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secondary school, I came across many student-handbooks which praised the legal
profession as well as how the institutions were famous for mounding the best lawyers. I
was spoilt for choice and that is why I never had a preferred college in mind. All colleges
seemed to be the same to me and I had made a decision that any college could be perfect.
True to my vision, I never regret being in this institution because it is well equipped with
learning materials, it has excellent professors, lectures students and above all, it is ranked as
one of the highest institutions that offer the best legal education.
Feelings
A detailed background check shows how happy I was to pursue a Law degree.
However, I encountered many situations where my close friends and some relatives
suggested that I should break the monotony of having only law as the career of all men in
our lineage. By pursuing a Law Degree, I am setting the pace for the fourth generation since
my great-great-grandfather. “Why can’t you study medicine, education or engineering?”
they asked. The more people engaged me on different career choices, the more I became
confused, (Simmons & Jo, 2019, 19). My parents let me make my own decisions so that I can
take charge of my destiny. That was the reason as to why I stayed at home for one year- just
trying to figure out what to do. In as much as being a lawyer is what I wanted, there was a
need to also explore other career paths that are not in the family. Being the only child, it
was hard for me especially with the desire to also learn new things, (Pound, 2018). At the
same time, I was supposed to take up the family’s legacy and maintain it for generations to
come. This led to a sort of depression and a dilemma for me. My second career that had
always been on my mind was being a doctor. I had accompanied my mother on many
occasions to her workplace and I was curious about how people got healed. The happiness a

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doctor sees in a patients face is what shocked me especially after being given advice on how
to manage the condition he or she is suffering from. This experience also made me have
second thoughts especially toward the end of my secondary education. The dilemma did not
go away again when I started pursuing my LLB, (Li et al, 2018, 2281). For starters, one has to
decide what to specialize in after attaining the degree. This can be in the fields of criminal
law, family law, business law or even join the law enforcers as an investigator. There are
many choices that one has to make and this causes a lot of confusion. After a lot of thought
and consultation, I am of the view that criminology or being a criminal lawyer is more
satisfying but still, I have to consider other areas.
Evaluation
Setting for a good career is what many people fight with. It comes with a lot of
decisions to be made and the making sacrifice. As soon as I received my admission letter, I
was the happiest, (Ormerod & Laird 2018, 186). This was watered down during my first
classes where it came to my attention that there are many areas of law that one has to be
exposed to before settling down on one so that he or she can practice on. As stated earlier,
criminal law, family law, business law, immigration law, international law, and others can be
specialized on depending on what excels in, (Kimura et al., 2019, 1741). I had primary
thinking that law is law and that is what people study. This made me inquire more from my
parents and close friends as well as professors. At that point, I had to make a wise decision
before it was too late. The thought if being a doctor came back, but still, doctors have
different areas of specialization. With this at the back of my mind, I was ready to settle on
being a criminal lawyer because of the many advantages it has. They include stiff
competition that makes one very active and getting to know different situations that lawyers

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are exposed to in the criminology sphere. Handling these dilemmatic situations demand a
lot of expertise, (Gavrilov et al., 2017, 11097). This is brought out by Cottrell (2015) on page
25 when he states that different approaches can be taken when dealing with situations so
that stress or anxiety can be reduced. In this case, I had to consult with professional lawyers,
a counselor and professors so that I could come up with a final decision.
Analysis
The need to form an informed decision is essential. In the first instance, my thoughts
were fixated on the law as a general career. To my surprise, the legal field is far much wider.
From the options presented above, I opted to pursue criminal law so that I can achieve my
dream of being a criminal lawyer in the future, (Ludwig, 2017, 285). This did not come easy
especially with the knowledge that there are other branches of law that one can practice in,
(Bai, Ge & Gian, 2018, 1266). Secondly, different views about criminal law are raised by
different people. Some have the notion that criminal law is for the evil-hearted because
they mainly spend the rest of their lives siding with criminals and teaching them how to tell
lies. Other individuals are of the view that criminal lawyers are more susceptible to murder
because they may defend a gang that has other enemies. Further, it is the notion that
criminal lawyers are corrupt. I am yet to prove or disprove these myths available out there.
My selection was purely on merit and my desire to pursue what I had dreamt about for
many years.
Conclusion
A determination is key in everything. This leads to the making of the firm and
informed decisions, (Moskowitz, 2014, 22). Many parents in the past have influenced what
their children only to find out later that the children do not like what they told them to

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study, (Moreau et al., 2018, 284). In my experience, I give credit to my parents who allowed
me to make my own decisions. I was able to research more on what it takes to become a
criminal lawyer and true to my research, I am destined for greatness.
Action Plan
In the event that I face any difficulty, I will use all the resources around me. This
starts with my lecturers and professors, my parents to criminal lawyers who have been
advising me for a long time. It is essential for me to seek advice and read hard during my
studies so that I can become successful. In addition, paying close attention to trends in the
legal field is essential, (Baker, 2017). Despite the goal of being a criminal lawyer in the
future, I also have the duty of studying hard on other legal branches since they contribute to
my overall success. Lastly, I have prioritized the need to establish a close rapport with my
lecturers, mentors and fellow students because they are instrumental in creating a good
environment and future life.

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References
Bai, S., Ge, H. and Qian, H., 2018. Structure for energy cycle: a unique status of the
second law of thermodynamics for living systems. Science China Life Sciences, 61(10),
pp.1266-1273.
Cottrell, S., 2015. Skills for success: Personal development and employability. Macmillan
International Higher Education. 25
Gavrilov, M., Chétrite, R. and Bechhoefer, J., 2017. Direct measurement of weakly
nonequilibrium system entropy is consistent with Gibbs–Shannon form. Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences, 114(42), pp.11097-11102.
Kimura, R.C., Paulson, E.J. and Sankaran, V., 2019. A Parametric Analysis of a Rotating
Detonation Rocket Engine Cycle Using CEA. In AIAA Scitech 2019 Forum (p. 1741).
Li, J., Wang, K., Lian, M. and Li, Z., 2018. Vapor liquid equilibrium prediction of
methanol–ionic liquid systems using UNIFAC model to select alternative working fluids
of absorption cycle. Asia‐Pacific Journal of Chemical Engineering, p.e2281.
Ludwig, M.D., 2017. Issues and the 2016 Presidential Campaign on Instagram. The
Internet and the 2016 Presidential Campaign, p.285.
Moreau, C., Gibbs, S., Law, A., Bell, S., Lynen, R., Yaldo, A. and Burke, A., 2018.
Postpartum family planning metrics: analysis from maryland all payers' claims
database. Fertility and Sterility, 110(4), p.e284.

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Moskowitz, A., 2014. Dissociation and violence: A review of the literature. Trauma,
Violence, & Abuse, 5(1), pp.21-46.
Ormerod, D. and Laird, K., 2018. Smith, Hogan, and Ormerod's Criminal Law. 186 Oxford
University Press.
Simbeye, Y., 2017. Immunity and International Criminal Law. 22. Routledge.
Simmons, B.A. and Jo, H., 2019. Measuring Norms and Normative Contestation: The
Case of International Criminal Law. Journal of Global Security Studies, 4(1), pp.18-36.
Tushnet, M., 2017. Comparative constitutional law. In The Oxford handbook of
comparative law. 15