Everything the class of 2020 needs to know about Boston College

If you are a prospective BC student, you probably took a tour with your parents.

You heard the things that are going to make parents feel comfortable with sending their precious children away from home.

Don’t worry – your theology core will be great. But there a few things your tour didn’t quite cover.

You will take a picture of Gasson – in all different types of weather. Your emotions will be equally split between being thankful for the awesome Insta and and hating yourself for being so basic. 

Gasson is undeniably gorgeous. Even BU kids could probably admit that (once they figure out how to spell Gasson and type it into Google).

While all the buildings at BC are fairly beautiful, Gasson seems to attract the light sent straight from Heaven (which is accentuated by the spotlights on it). Devlin is like the Liam Hemsworth to Gasson’s Chris Hemsworth: just as hot in different ways, but somehow Chris seems to get more camera time.

The Hills are Alive (and hard to climb)

If you were ever worried about your calf game in college, then BC is the right place for you. Every day is leg day, as the campus is just little hill after big hill with a bunch of stairs in between. If you forget a book that you need for class in your dorm, the equivalent of 15 minutes on the Stairmaster awaits you. I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t say a tiny prayer for myself to make it up the Million Dollar Stairs without wheezing.

Freshman year you will most likely spend one of your first few weekends walking around campus, just hoping that some mystical upperclassmen will emerge from one of the benches with a party spot.

Someone will always claim to have a friend of a friend who’s the captain of the Underwater Quidditch team and who throws the sickest parties.

Luckily, most of these freshmen pregame, so there is not as much disappointment when BCPD “breaks up” this party that never existed.

FOMO and party pressure is real, but if you’re comfortable with the decisions that you make to not go out, come Sunday morning you will be feeling a lot better than a lot of the student body.

Master the BC Lookaway in advance.

You will see someone on your way to class who you either talked to at a party last weekend or who you gave the stank eye when she was talking on the phone loudly while you were trying to study. You don’t want to smile in case she’s the stank eye girl, so you make eye contact and then turn your head in the opposite direction.

I recommend practicing in the mirror or with your parents. It is important to give off the impression: “I may or may not know you and like you, so I’m just not going to figure it out.”

It will be a toss-up as to what you miss the most (not including family).

If you are still in high school, relish the days when you don’t have to wear clunky wet flip flops to take a shower and you aren’t seeing hairs that are ten shades darker than your own in the drain. Don’t even get me started on the less-than-one-ply toilet paper.

If you have had to share a room with a sibling before, having a roommate is not even close to preparing you. Sleeping is one of the most vulnerable things that you can do, and you will be doing this five feet away from someone who was matched with you because he/she claims to have the same level of cleanliness that you do.

Say goodbye to that 4.0 or above that you had in high school… for now.

BC students are really smart – definitely smarter than all the kids you went to high school with. We’re the ones who would do a long extra-credit assignment for two added points on an exam, so it’s hard to see your efforts lacking the same results in college.

The academic adjustment is usually made worse by you battling a cold or some other ailment for the majority of your first semester. I personally look back on times when I could breathe through my nose with fondness and remembrance.

If you are a preppy dresser, you will get ripped on for it, but that little whale on your hat will comfort you.

BC kids are known to be well-dressed and donning clothes that would be acceptable at a yacht club or your grandpa’s 86th birthday party.

As one student put said: “Girls either dress like they’re going to an expensive L.A. yoga class or horseback riding.” For some reason, this is something that demands ridicule and creates the “stereotypical BC student.”

Just remember that the majority of us are running on the same amount of sleep as new parents, so dressing nicely means that we really want to give off the impression that we are polished and respectable students. You never know who you’re going to run into while on campus since our alum network is so strong, so it’s better to be wearing the clothes from the J. Crew catalogue than forgetting to wear a bra.

The cost of everything will low-key make you whimper.

Paying $4 for a tiny orange juice bottle you need to combat your cold will become way too normal for you too fast. Boston dining is comparable to some of the meals that they offer here. $10 milkshakes are totally a thing and I find myself taking advantage of any free food that I can get, which includes eating cold Domino’s that I sketchily find in a lounge. Eating breakfast in your room is a real money saver, so I am confident that I will end up becoming one of those people who gets  guilted into buying other people meals at the end of the semester.