first year

A Tale of Two Newtons: Life as a Freshman and Law Student

/ Joe Monti / Leave a comment

Before I ever stepped foot onto the grounds of Boston College, I learned that I would be living on the Newton campus my freshman year.

I did not think much of it at first, but as I descended the hill to Duchesne Hall for the first time, I prepared myself for an entire year of living in the lowest place on campus, both figuratively and literally. Although I had some challenges adjusting to my new living situation, I came to love Newton campus and defend it against anybody willing to talk poorly about it. I met some of my best friends in Duchesne and on the Newton bus, and I would not trade those experiences for anything. Only on Newton campus will you see people being hurled down a hill of snow and ice in a trash can and call it “sledding.” Only on Newton campus will freshmen buy BC Law sweatshirts to try to study in the Law Library.

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Four Tips for Navigating Grade Disappointment

/ Alexandra Staller / 1 Comment

Once again I am directly addressing the 1L class, and also airing out my dirty laundry. Everything I write below—like all my Impact posts—is what I wish someone could have told me before coming to school. As always, all opinions and experiences are my own, as I can only speak to what I endured during my 1L year.

“Endure” will be the theme here. It’s a strong word I typically find only in my romantasy books. Merriam-Webster tells us it means “to remain firm under suffering or misfortune without yielding.” Very dramatic. But to say a student endures his or her 1L year does not fail to satisfy Merriam-Webster’s definition. Some of you may feel like you’re hanging by a thread, trying to go through the motions of law school one day at a time. You are enduring.

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For the 1Ls from the 2Ls: Last Minute Exam Advice

/ Alexandra Staller / Leave a comment

It was not until I started my 2L year that I realized just how much I have grown since first walking into BC Law in August 2024. I feel like I lived 20 years in one, but I remember my first class––Critical Perspectives––like it happened a week ago.

In my short time as a 2L, I have been lucky enough to have two amazing mentees with whom I can grace with my law school wisdom. I also learned a lot from them about what it’s like being a 1L in 2025. Each year recruitment moves up, and more pressure is added to the exam period.

While I give all the student-experience advice I can to my 1Ls, I realize my experience is just that––mine. In law school, perhaps the greatest lesson I have learned so far is how individualized it is: students learn material differently, do readings differently, and prepare for exams differently. I asked 3 friends the same set of questions about their exam prep and for any advice to the 1Ls heading into their first exam season. They came from each of the Fall 2025 1L sections, and all performed well on their first exams. 

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What the Heck is Futtitinni? An Approach to Law School

/ Joe Monti / Leave a comment

Sicilians have an approach to life they call “futtitinni.” The term translates to “don’t care,” “don’t worry about it,” or “let it go.” As a 1L trying to juggle academics and career decisions at the same time, this seems like an impossible mindset to maintain. However, futtitinni is not simply about an indifference to life; it refers to focusing on what truly matters. Obviously, grades take significant precedence at this point in the year. I also do not intend to say that we should all take a lot of time for ourselves or relax for the rest of the semester. We are all in the trenches, and that is precisely where futtitinni can play a beneficial role. The term arose out of hardship and daily struggle, not out of periods of prosperity. Nobody expects finals season to be easy, but joy can still exist within this final push.

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Escaping the 2L Doldrums (A Tortured Sailing Metaphor)

/ Ian Hurley / Leave a comment

“Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion:
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.”
‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ – Samuel Taylor Coleridge, (1834)

Growing up in southeastern Pennsylvania, I remember learning about the so-called ‘age of exploration’, probably an aged moniker today, but hey, this was *gasp* the late-90s. One thing that stuck with me from all those lessons about Christopher Columbus’s supposed ‘discovery’ of the new world, Ferdinand Magellan’s unceremonious demise in Southeast Asia, and Henry Hudson’s ill-fated attempt(s) to uncover a waterway that linked the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and so on, is a rather minor aspect of wind-based sea travel: getting stuck in the doldrums. 

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Lessons from a Jesuit Education: Growth, Purpose, and the Practice of Law

/ Isabella Calise / Leave a comment

Because, I, too, once didn’t know what a Jesuit education entailed. Now, I can’t imagine who I’d be without it.

By way of background, I’ve been a Catholic school kid pretty much my whole life—since second grade, technically—and I actually liked it. When my parents offered to switch me to the local public school after we moved when I was nine, I chose to stay where I was. I wanted to keep wearing my jumper and tie (yes, girls could wear ties too) and keep going to religion class.

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