Greetings to all of you on pinoy exchange who have accidentally stumbled upon one of many forums that I will be creating. I am writing from Seattle, Washington, which is a city of 600,000 people and over 3 million in the metropolitan area. For those of you who are not familiar with American geography, Seattle is located about 700 miles north of San Francisco. My profile is fully available for all to see. However, I would like to reiterate that I am an American of Chinese and Filipino descent. My Chinese family are in their fifth generation as Filipino nationals; the current generation is no longer 100% Chinese. This part of my family immigrated to the Philippines around 1910, deciding to settle in Zamboanga City. Out of my entire family, my father is the only family member to be accepted and graduate from UP Law, class of 1966. He was 13th in his class. His solid education enabled him to survive America. Indeed, the University of Washington School of Law credited him with a full year of law school, which meant that he only had to complete 2 additional years for a JD from the UW. Here in America, the JD program is only 3 years long. At any rate, he was a solo practitioner for quite a number of years.

As for my mother's family, they are mostly Cebuano and Visayan with some Chinese ancestry and a hint of Spanish blood. Their immigration tale begins with my maternal grandfather joining the US Army in Manila in 1936. Ultimately, he was stationed in Texas and then Seattle, WA, in the early 1950's. My parents met in Manila in the late 1960's; my father was practicing law with a seasoned lawyer while my mother was visiting Manila, working part-time as a lecturer at UP. She had just graduated with a BA in Anthropology from the University of Washington.

I believe through experience and knowledge I am qualified to give a holistic perspective about any questions relating to law school, including tests and differences between America and the United States, among other topics. Anyone can begin with a question or comment. I will be more than happy to answer a question and/or comment upon a statement. For your information, I do not speak Tagalog, though I do understand some words even entire sentences sometimes. Please write in standard English so that I can respond more effectively.