A law course inspired Viherlaakson lukio alumna Anni to pursue further studies

Anni Hiltunen graduated from Viherlaakson lukio general upper secondary school in the spring of 2022. This autumn, she is starting her fourth year of law studies at the University of Helsinki. A legal studies course in upper secondary school sparked her interest in the field.

Anni Hiltunen attended the general programme at Viherlaakson lukio general upper secondary school and completed her matriculation examination in the spring of 2022. “After lower secondary school, all I knew was that I wanted to go to an upper secondary school in Espoo. Every school covers the same material, so any of them would have been a great choice Viherlaakson lukio general upper secondary school had a good location,” Anni recalls about her decision after comprehensive school. Her time at school coincided with the pandemic, but those memories have already faded. It didn’t even feel that bad to Anni, as she had already found her circle of friends and the pandemic passed quickly.

At upper secondary school, Anni’s favourite subjects were social studies, Finnish and English. A legal studies course she took there inspired her to pursue further studies in law. “Even before the course, I had been considering law school as an option, because it seemed interesting. The course gave me the final push to apply,” Anni says. Anni’s father is a lawyer – that also influenced her choice.

Since leaving upper secondary school, Anni feels she has benefited the most from her Finnish studies. “There is a lot of writing involved in law studies. Having studied grammar and writing has paid off. Paying attention in Finnish classes really made a difference.”

Anni has many fond memories of her upper secondary school years. One of the best is penkkarit, the school-leavers’ celebration for final-year students. The atmosphere was great. “We had such a lovely group of friends. We looked back on our time at school together,” Anni says.

From her school days, Anni has stayed particularly close to a couple of good friends with whom she remains in regular contact. At upper secondary school, she had a large circle of friends who still get together about once a year.

Many people have the impression that getting into law school is difficult and that you need to do exceptionally well at upper secondary school as a result. Anni disagrees. She explains that she was an average student in both lower and upper secondary school. She didn’t leave with the feeling that she should have put in more effort. She did her best. “I was never an A-star student. I got into law school through the entrance exams,” Anni explains. She got into university on her second attempt; the first time around, she only narrowly missed out. This meant she had a gap year ahead of her.

Anni didn’t mind taking a gap year – quite the opposite. She enjoyed doing something completely different and recharging her batteries for her future studies. Anni worked in Austria for the tour operator STS Alppimatkat as a tour guide for Finnish and Swedish holidaymakers. Upon returning to Finland, Anni took a prep course that helped her secure a place at law school.

Now entering her fourth year at university, Anni has already completed the Bachelor’s stage of her studies. Her studies have been everything Anni expected. As one might expect, studying becomes far more independent at university compared with upper secondary school. The studies are also considerably more demanding than at upper secondary school. Still, you’ll pass the exams as long as you're genuinely interested in the subject and willing to put the work in. At university, nobody tells you when to study or get things done; you have to plan your own schedule. “It’s entirely up to you to get the work finished and decide on your own timeframe,” Anni points out.

One surprise for Anni at university was the scale of the study modules; however, your reading speed picks up as you go along. At first, the legal language also took a bit of learning. Looking to the future, Anni is particularly interested in corporate or contract law.

Anni advises those still at upper secondary school to keep an open mind about further studies and explore different career options. “Apply for higher education based on what genuinely motivates you. It makes studying the field much more enjoyable. Keep in mind that your grades don’t define who you are!” Anni says. She advises school-leavers to take a gap year in good conscience if they don’t know what to apply for. There is no harm in taking even a second gap year to think things through. There’s plenty of time to study and enter working life later on.