WA students find a home at Melbourne Law School
Melbourne JD student Jordan Osrin moved to Melbourne from Perth so he could study at MLS.
Jordan Osrin
“Once I decided I wanted to study postgraduate law, I planned to do it in the best place I could. And when I found out that was Melbourne Law School, I wanted to go there,” he says.
Jordan relocated with his parents and they live in Melbourne’s southeast. But for students who are planning to move from interstate on their own, Jordan suggests they find accommodation close to campus.
“I would definitely recommend people to stay around the university, either at one of the residential colleges or in a sharehouse. Most of my friends from Perth that are studying at MLS live close to the uni, and that’s very helpful for them. It’s not only easy to get to uni everyday, but when the Law Students’ Society puts on events, it’s a lot easier to come in for that. It makes the university experience a lot easier.”
While Jordan, who is an avid beach-goer, misses the Perth sunshine, he enjoys Melbourne’s vibrant lifestyle.
“There are so many things going on here, which is definitely a drawing point. One of the reasons many people move to Melbourne is because it’s got all the sport, the entertainment. It’s a great city.”
JD student Joy Kim, who also moved to Melbourne from Perth, agrees. “I live in the inner-city,” she says, “and everything is open all the time. There are also really nice parks around campus, like the Carlton gardens. I’ve been going to gardens, taking a picnic blanket, reading a book.”
“Melbourne is a good city for young adults. There’s more to do.”
Joy Kim
When Joy left her hometown of Perth for an education at Melbourne Law School, her greatest concern was whether she would make friends in her new city.
Joy grew up in Willetton, a Perth suburb located just south of the Swan River. Having completed a Bachelor of Business at the University of Western Australia last year, Joy says she came to MLS so she could pursue postgraduate studies at a “world renowned” university. But though she was excited to trade quiet suburbia for a new lifestyle in inner city Melbourne, the prospect of leaving behind her family and friends was daunting.
“I thought that would be the most challenging part of coming to Melbourne. Because I didn’t know anyone here and I hadn’t been to Melbourne before,” she says.
Yet to Joy’s surprise, making friends at MLS was much easier than she thought. Melbourne JD students begin their studies in February by undertaking Legal Method and Reasoning (LMR), a two-week intensive subject. Joy says that because she and her classmates spent every day together during the subject, everyone quickly formed close bonds.
“It felt a bit like high school, where everyone wanted to make friends,” she says.
Jordan also found it easy to make new friends at the Law School.
“During my undergraduate, I didn’t really know that many people. But in just the first week of studying at MLS, I knew way more people. And that just grows over the year,” he says.
“That’s the best thing about the way the JD is structured. Straight from the beginning you meet a group in LMR that you become really close with, because you spend every day for two weeks with them. And that really helps you get settled and meet lots of people.
“Some of my closest friends are still the people I met on the first day in February.”