As a 1L, I compared Orientation and the first week of classes to drinking from a firehose. You have classwork, networking opportunities, resume revisions, meeting new friends—the list is exhausting. You sit at your desk reading cases, briefing, trying to find rules, going through classes, feeling decent in cold calls but not feeling anything click yet.

For some people, law school clicks. Others take more time. We know we want to be here, and we do well and enjoy the material. But there is no grand “oh, it all makes sense!” moment. All the practice exams in the world will not soothe or defuse that underlying uncertainty. Part of it is imposter syndrome, which is worth a whole other post, but the other part of it is feeling like you are absorbing info, but not really learning it. Despite that, you go through your exams, do well, and even find a job that sounds interesting for 1L summer.

Then 2L comes along, and you are on law review or you are a teaching assistant or hold some other position, and you feel like an imposter. You are a kid in a trench coat on your friend’s shoulders trying to sneak into the movies. You made it through, and 1Ls are now asking you for advice. But you think the curve probably covered up all your mistakes, and you doubt anything you offer as advice would be correct, let alone helpful.

Except you do know something. You know a lot, actually.

I was mediating the practice round of the negotiation competition for the 1Ls this past week when I had this realization. I will not give away the grading rubric, but at first glance, I felt unqualified to judge. I did not want to give bad advice! I noticed as the practice round went on, I actually did recognize the setting. I knew the traps and pitfalls. I sat in on a mediation session in a real case over my 1L summer and suddenly saw how much I learned by watching that one day. I remembered feedback from my oral argument during my LP class—all the small rules and nuances of advocacy and working with opposing counsel.

Since that moment, I’ve brought up this feeling with other 2Ls, and many of us agree. We are not perfect yet, but we are so much farther along than we expected. We try our best to offer the advice we can, but ultimately, much of our advice is along the lines of “no other way to learn than by doing it.”

My advice to the 1Ls is this: the firehose of information does not stop, but you become leagues better at drinking from it with time. You become an incredibly effective, efficient sponge. Trust the process and put in the work. Listen to advice, know when to take it. Most importantly, keep moving forward. You will see the difference in time. And to my fellow 2Ls: you are not imposters. You know so much more than you did last fall. Own it! Be proud of yourself.

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Catherine Beveridge is a second-year student at BC Law. Contact her at beverid@bc.edu.