Osmeña received his elementary education at the Colegio de San Carlos and graduated in 1892. Osmeña continued his education in Manila, studying in San Juan de Letran College where he first met Manuel L. Quezon, a classmate of his, as well as Juan Sumulong and Emilio Jacinto. He took up law at the University of Santo Tomas and was second place in the bar examination in 1903.