This weekend was the annual BC Law Ski Trip organized by the Law Student Association. It’s a fun break from Boston and gives students a great chance to relax and unwind in the mountains of Vermont. As a 3L, this was my third and final Ski Trip, and I definitely enjoyed it:
One of the highlights of the weekend was going to a local bar to enjoy some live music:
So…I’m not a Patriots fan. Sorry! That being said, I really really enjoyed Rob’s recent post about persistence and motivation. I think it’s great advice and generally reminds us all that we need things in our lives to help us maintain perspective and keep us grounded. It’s easy to lose yourself in studying and legal textbooks, but being well-rounded is about more than trying to get an A at the end of the semester. I’d like to highlight some advice from the BC Law Impact group about perspective:
During my spring break 1L year I spent an amazing week in Miami with four of my classmates. When you hear spring break and Miami in the same sentence your mind might jump to Ultra or Miami Beach, but we were actually in Miami to spend the week working at VIDA (http://www.vidalaw.org), a legal assistance center which primarily aids immigrant women and families who have lived through domestic abuse.
My fellow volunteers pose after our everglades tour.
Every spring BC Law send a number of 1L student groups to do volunteer legal work around the country. My 1L year students traveled to Arizona, Denver, New York, New Orleans, and Navajo Nation. These trips are a tradition at BC Law, and are completely student run, with 2L alumni of the trips assisting 1Ls to plan and fundraise.
Disclaimer: I am a giant huge Patriots fan. My shock, euphoria and disbelief about last night’s Super Bowl finish will probably last as long as President Obama’s after Chief Justice Roberts upheld the Affordable Care Act as constitutional.
For my first post on this blog, I only semi-jokingly wrote that my New Year’s resolution was to make sure my schoolwork did not force me to miss a single episode of Game of Thrones. As I wrote in that post, some of the best advice you’ll get at this law school (or possibly any other – but I really hope you come to this one!) is “don’t give up the things you can’t do without.”
While law school has a reputation of being an infinite time suck that deprives students of the ability to do anything enjoyable at all, that reputation is simply untrue. Well, maybe it’s true for some people, but not for me. My time away from my classes and my assignments is what motivates me to put forth my best effort when I am doing my work. Here, let Tom Brady explain what I mean much more effectively in this Uggs ad:
As future law students, I’m sure you’ve all heard the rumors and stereotypes about law schools. They run the gamut — from the terrifying and incorrect (“EVERYONE IS SO COMPETITIVE AND NO ONE IS FRIENDLY AND IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO GET AN A YOUR FIRST YEAR”), to the hilariously accurate (“Law school is high school for adults”), to the tongue-in-cheek (see, for example, Thought Catalog’s take on the 19 People You Meet in Law School). But the stereotype that most stuck out to and worried me as a prospective student was what I’d like to call the Myth of the Library Lockdown. That is, by heading off to law school, you are essentially signing yourself up for three years of good ol’ book learning, tied to a library carrel, buried under 200 pounds of Supreme Court opinions and study aids.
Don’t get me wrong. As a former English major, I can get down with the heavy reading. Chaucer, Shakespeare, and I used to be great pals; I can handle my fair share of tiny print. But that’s not why I wanted to come to law school. I taught for three years after college, came to law school with a really specific focus, and knew I wanted to get right to making an impact in real people’s lives. I was really nervous that law school was going to feel like a fruitless and frustrating gesture, a means to an end I had to just get through in order to do the work I am passionate about. But that’s because I didn’t know about clinics.
Working at BC Law’s Admissions Office I often hear from prospective or accepted students who are wondering about whether they can work during the school year while attending BC Law. I remember when I was getting ready to go to law school I thought I would try to work my first year. I worked all throughout undergrad, so I expected that it would be the same in the law school. After starting 1L year, however, I realized that there were a number of reasons to hold off and wait for my second year before getting a part-time job.
Most importantly, something I didn’t know before I got to law school is that students are highly discouraged from working during their 1L year. I think there may be an ABA rule about this but I’m not completely sure. In any case, you’ll be adjusting to a new way of learning and studying and it is best to devote yourself to your classes. I know a few students who have quietly worked a few hours a week at service industry jobs they had before school, or gotten a cushy job at the library, but the general consensus is that it is wise to steer clear of working during 1L year. Your grades during this year are extremely important so it is best to hunker down with the books and use your time outside of the library to get to know your new classmates.
Having gone to college in southern California and grown up in the Pacific Northwest people often ask me how I’m adjusting to the weather in Boston. While it can be hard to beat year-round access to an outdoor pool (thank you Scripps College) I’ve held up just fine in the New England. I love seeing the seasons change, and after some extensive Amazon shopping for new cold weather accessories I can honestly say that I look forward to the winter time here. The cold and snow can actually be kind of fun- especially when we get a snow day!
The snow-covered streets of Cleveland Circle in 2013.
When I was looking at law schools a few years ago one of the thing I wondered about the most was what day to day life would be like at the different schools I was was considering. I couldn’t be happier that I ended up at BC, and after two and a half years here Boston is really starting to feel like home. Part of what makes the BC experience so enjoyable is the community here and the opportunity to explore Boston with classmates. I’ll be writing about student life in general, including a variety of favorite activities in and around Boston. To start out with here is a little run down of favorite BC Law spots in Cleveland Circle.
Cleveland Circle is where a majority of BC Law students end up living, and it is perfectly situated between school and jobs downtown. I love living here because I feel like all of my friends are only a five minute walk away, which comes in handy when you need to catch a ride to school!
The reservoir is one of my favorite parts about living in Cleveland Circle. In between Cleveland Circle itself and BC’s main campus is an old reservoir that the city turned into a park. The mile and a half loop is perfect for jogging in good weather and the views of the main campus and downtown Boston can’t be beat. When I need some exercise or just a little relaxation time the reservoir is my favorite place to go.
Since you’re interested in coming to BC (and rightfully so), you probably have a vague understanding of where Boston is — although if you’re coming from the south like I was, that understanding is limited to “up there somewhere.” But chances are, unless you’re from the area or have lived here, you don’t actually know what actually constitutes Boston and then what’s “Boston.”
See, you want to come to Boston College, the happiest law school on earth, but what you don’t realize is that BC Law isn’t in Boston; it’s in a town outside of Boston called Newton, so I guess technically we should be called Newton College, or Kind of Boston College.
Why does this matter? To native northeasterners, it probably doesn’t. But a large portion of our school is from out of state (and out of the country): California, Korea, Kansas, and my homestate, Florida. And traveling to Boston (and what I like to call the “Boston imposters”) to figure this out is expensive and time-consuming. Fear not: I’ve boiled it down to a couple of salient points.
BC Law: Impact 