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A Gavel Guide to BC's Freshman Dorms

Article co-written by Devyn Casey & Molly Caballero

Being placed on Upper is akin to winning the lottery, or at least that is what anyone who ever lived on Upper will tell you (those on Newton beg to differ). From its proximity to Main campus to the close quad that Upper is based around, this part of campus boasts a lot of benefits. The dorms are placed in a square-ish formation with O'Connell House in the center. O'Connell is a popular place for students on Upper to hang out, study and have club meetings. While it looks slightly haunted, it is home to a pool table, grand piano, laundry, and lots of various rooms complete with TVs or couches.

Another great thing about O'Connell House is that CAB hosts events there for freshmen. For example, this year, CAB had a mini golf night, an arcade basketball/soccer tournament, and a Halloween event where you could pick up pumpkins and art supplies. Pro tip: Watching a horror movie in O’Connell might haunt your nightmares for a bit, so do not attempt if you live in a single. The dorms on Upper are mostly doubles, but they also have a few singles and a moderate amount of triples and quads which, contrary to a common rumor, either gender can get. Overall, Upper campus is a wonderful place to be put as a first year, though you might have a little trouble with the busses compared to your Newton compatriots.

Gonzaga/Fitzpatrick (“Fitzaga”)

Fitzpatrick and Gonzaga Hall are located at the front side of the Upper quad and are across from Kostka, Chevy and O’Connell House. The door for Gonzaga Hall is actually right by the stairs connecting Main campus to Upper, which is handy during the icy winters that BC is known for. These two dorms are joined in the center, like many other freshman dorms at BC, and contain around 200 students each. “Fitzaga,” as it is called, has a couple lounges, though none that rival the ones in Kostka or Chevy. Sara Litteken, LSEHD ‘24, enjoys studying in the dorm and says that, “My favorite study space is the lounge on the second floor with one chair, it makes it super easy to focus.” 

Lara Traphagan, MCAS ‘24, warns new students that despite the conveniently located laundry machines in the basement and the third floor, taking out your laundry promptly is essential to avoid the wrath of your fellow dorm-mates. Lara says that “laundry is accessible, yet competitive.” This experience does not seem to be exclusive to Fitzaga, as laundry is overall less accessible on Upper campus - at least within the dorms themselves. 

Another benefit of living in the Fitzaga community is that St. Joseph's Chapel, where masses are held during the week and multiple times on the weekend, is in the Gonzaga basement. These masses are short and catered to the college audience, making them engaging and most-likely more relevant than any service back at home.

Claver, Loyola, Xavier, & Fenwick (“CLXF”)

By far the largest residence hall on Upper campus when combining the occupancy of the four adjoined dorms, Claver, Loyola, Xavier and Fenwick, CLXF houses around 560 freshman students. The dorms are joined in such a way that you can walk through all four halls without going outside. This makes it easy to hang out and make friends with people in all four of these halls. The lobby in the center is also a good place to hang out and meet friends from other sections of CLXF on your way to class. 

Yiwen Xiong, MCAS ‘24, says that the doubles in CLXF compare favorably to many of the rooms that he saw while touring other colleges and that he can “live very comfortably in the double.” Yiwen also frequently finds himself in the lounge on the third floor of Fenwick as it is spacious and a good place to get work done. Fenwick lounges are popular as Megan Day, MCAS ‘24 and Loyola resident, says of the Fenwick basement lounge, “It’s really the best place to hang out. The only issue is that the TV doesn't have cable so make sure to bring your laptop.” The theme of needing some minimal equipment for the lounges is present in many of the dorms, so it never hurts to carry around your laptop and an HDMI converter. 

Boasting what is possibly the closest-knit community on Upper, they call it a cult for a reason. Shaw House is home to 20 first-year students who are all part of the Shaw Leadership Living and Learning Community, a program which requires an application and is focused on creating leaders for the future. This house has a fun, homey atmosphere and even has a kitchen, though a meal plan is still required for Shaw residents. To read more about some students’ experiences in Shaw, take a look at this article . 

One of the smallest residence halls on campus, Medeiros Hall is home to around 100 first-year students and is located on the backside of the larger Upper quad. Situated more like townhouses than a typical dorm, Medeiros is separated into sections that share a bathroom and are single gender. The second floor has one lounge for each section and bathrooms. Rey Perez, MCAS ‘24, states that, “The design of the dorm makes it inconvenient to get from section to section as you have to go outside.” While the design of the dorm can be frustrating to residents when there are sub-freezing temperatures outside, it also creates small pods of freshmen that can forge close bonds. As for the rooms themselves, Rey says that, “The ceilings are higher than any other dorm I’ve seen on Upper, making them feel way bigger.” The rooms also boast large windows and hallways are configured in an interesting manner unique to Medeiros. 

Colloquially called “Kappa Kappa Kostka,” this is the only single-gender dorm on BC’s campus, housing only first-year women. Kostka residents benefit from a brand new lounge and laundry room complete with five sets of washers and dryers (which is just as many as Fitzaga—a dorm with about double the occupancy—boasts). What really makes Kostka distinct, however, is the fact that it is an all women's dorm. While some view Kostka as a good way to make similarly-minded friends quickly or even as a way to ensure placement on Upper, there is a lot about Kostka to love. Since it is home to the Kostka Living and Learning Community, the community has frequent events and get-togethers within the dorm itself or in conjunction with other dorms. This Living and Learning Community is also focused on the women's experience, making it excellent for those who are passionate about women's issues or want a place to discuss their experience. The new lounge makes an excellent place to watch movies and the RAs plan lots of activities for new students to get to know one another. 

Cheverus (“Chevy”)

Cheverus is a smaller dorm on Upper and it has a prime location across the road from both Fitzpatrick Hall and O'Connell House. Being a smaller dorm with only three floors, the people from Chevy usually come out with great friends from their floor. Its location also makes it easy to have friends in other dorms because of how close it is to both Fitzaga and CLXF.  When you enter this dorm, you actually enter on the second floor which has a huge lounge and a reflection room where you can work in a quiet and, usually, peaceful environment. The lounge is home to a TV and a seating area. Like many of the Newton dorms, students live on its lowest floor and while the view isn't spectacular, having a room here is great for the early months when it’s hot and a box fan in the window is the only thing keeping you sane. 

Williams Hall is a bit of an outlier on this list, as it is located on CoRo, which is a historically and primarily sophomore community. Housing 160 freshman and sophomores, Williams is a nicely sized dorm. Maddy McLeann, MCAS ‘24, has most of her friends on Upper but states that, “It was nice to have a quiet place to go back to at the end of the night.” Due to its primarily sophomore clientele, Williams is quieter and more secluded from other residence halls than the dorms on Upper. CoRo has other advantages as well, like its closer proximity to Main and its reduced stair count to get home. Williams also has spacious lounges on the first floor and a reflection room for quiet work and introspection. 

Since Williams is in a sophomore area, Maddy states that, “If your Upper friends want to visit you will have to let them in because their key won’t work, and the same goes for when I visit Upper.” This type of situation also applies to some of the residence hall programming, and freshman Williams residents are occasionally grouped in with their sophomore dorm-mates. This can be an advantage for some as it gives insight on future years at BC and fosters friendships with sophomores who can be great resources for first-year students. 

Newton Campus

While many freshmen feel a sense of dread upon learning they will spend their first year on Newton campus, the Newton pride is apparent among first-year students as they enter and exit the bus doors each day. The 15-minute bus ride to class is certainly a disadvantage, but being surrounded by all freshmen and having access to Newton Center makes up for this drawback. The sense of community prevalent throughout this remote campus is what many students argue is its best element. Jack Diggins, CSOM ‘24, appreciates the sense of community that having one dining hall for all students provides. Walking into Stuart and knowing that everyone around him is a freshman is comforting. Its relatively small student population also fosters the close-knit community of Newton campus. So, if you see the word “Newton” when you receive your housing assignment consider yourself, and the other 40% of freshmen who receive this housing fate, lucky.

While taking the bus is Newton's downside, the class of 2024 knows the tips and tricks of making it to class on time. Devin Klein, MCAS '24, states, "I always make sure to walk to the bus from my dorm thirty minutes before my class starts. Leaving this early leaves sufficient time for both taking the bus and walking to class." Devin also has the TransLoc app downloaded on his phone, which tells him when the next bus arrives at campus.   

Hardey/ Cushing 

Hardey/Cushing is located in the center of Newton campus. Consisting of two dorm buildings connected by a passageway, Cushing Hall and Hardey House are the closest dorms to the dining hall. Hardey is the larger of the two buildings, with 190 students , while Cushing houses 120 first-years . 

Hardey residents feel the sense of community Newton offers most when in the lounge. On Bachelor Mondays, the lounge is the place to be. On these nights, freshmen get together for a fun beginning of their week and enjoy relaxing with friends. Despite Newton Campus not having a library, you will find the lounge full of hard-working students collaborating on assignments during the weekdays. Jasmine Zhang, CSOM '24, states, "When I have a lot of work, I go to the Hardey side room. It's a great place to catch up on assignments and focus on readings." The Cushing lounge is also a great place to get work done. Though the lounge is slightly smaller, it's typically quieter than the Hardey lounge, so the Cushing lounge is arguably a more ideal study space.

The small size of Hardey and Cushing is a perk of living in these buildings, as students typically know the people who also reside in their dorm. Will Davis, CSOM '24 and Hardey 1 resident knows the majority of students in Hardey. He states, "Most of my good friends live in Hardey and Cushing; I am lucky to be a part of this close-knit community." Will also emphasizes how he appreciates his floor's small size, allowing him to truly know everyone he lives near. 

Duchesne East + West 

Students residing in Duchesne East and West share the same sense of community as Hardey-Cushingers; Their only complaint of the living situation is climbing up the hill each day. Consisting of 260 students and one RA per floor, the dorm sizes are smaller than those of Hardey/ Cushing. A lounge connects the two wings of Duchesne and is typically full of chatter between friends. This lounge also contains a ping pong table, where students from each wing can meet and take a  break from studying. A perk Duchesne offers is the basement's silent lounge, which is an ideal spot to get work done with no distractions. Additionally, Duchesne's prayer room is particularly large, and many students spend time there reflecting or doing homework. 

Behind the Duchesne building lie six Adirondack chairs, a space students utilize on warm afternoons. Allie Burke, LSEHD '24, spent fall nights in this spot, picking up dinner from the dining hall and eating with friends. Allie states, "I love this space because my friends and I enjoyed time together outside as well as getting to know other students from our dorm." An opportunity for friendship bonding and outdoor time, the Adirondack chairs are the place to be. 

Like the other Newton residences, Keyes has a strong sense of community, a sense only heightened by its relative seclusion from other dorms on Newton. Thomas Caballero, MCAS ‘24, valued this aspect of his first-year experience and stated that the proximity to Stuart Dining makes up for the distance from other dorms. The largest residency on Newton campus allows many people to find their friends within their own dorm. Thomas also said that his location in the basement made for lots of bonding among residents and a “very convenient” location for doing laundry as the machines are located in the basement (he suggests mornings on the weekends for quiet times). Keyes is a great location for those looking to work an on-campus job as the short walk to Stuart makes it easy to have shifts without having to deal with long travel times.

Editor's note: This article was updated on 2/22/2021 to correct the residency of Megan Day, who lives in Loyola Hall, not Fenwick.

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Boston College (BC)

2024 bc dorm tours and info, what percent of freshman live on campus.

According to our research, 99.0% of freshman live on campus at BC?

What type of housing does BC provide?

The below table outlines the different housing options available at BC, and how what percent of students are estimated to live in each type of university housing.

What are the dorms like at Boston College (BC)?

You’ll have to watch the CampusReel videos to see for sure. However, Boston College (BC) dorms are similar to most college housing options. Most on-campus residence halls include singles, double, and suites. Floor plans vary from residence hall to residence hall. CampusReel hosts dorm tours of Boston College (BC), and every one is different. As you’ll see, every dorm room is decorated in a unique and fun way - students are creative with their setups to make Boston College (BC) feel like home!

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Situated on Upper Campus, Kostka Hall is home to 80 traditional-style rooms, with beds for 160 students. Stokes Hall was a $78 million investment and was recently completed in 2012. The form opens on April 1 and closes on July 1. WebThe complete guide to dorms, dorm life and housing options at Boston College (BC): What are the best dorms, and how can you survive dorm life? When and where can I check in for the fall semester? So we have that a little bit over the freshmen housing, which is like on the other side of the academic quad.. Watch any video on CampusReel to register for our $2,000 scholarship Student-Led Virtual Tour Scholarship!

Location The bedroom has approximately 210 square feet of space and the living room and dining room areas have approximately 300 combined square feet of space. These programs are great introductions to Boston College's academic and student experience. Upper Campus is part of the Chestnut Hill Campus and does not require use of the shuttle bus. Some room types for freshman at BC include traditional 3-person room, apartment-style 4-person rooms, and standard doubles like this one. Students can choose between four-person, two-bedroom apartments or six-person, three-bedroom apartments. The college's dorms are given an A+ and their campus scores a B. Dorm Room Tour! More from higgins hall - the science hall at bc. Our in-person campus tours are individualizedeach tour is limited to just one prospective student and one guest. Each tour lasts approximately 1 hour and is led by a current graduate student. This tour is a great introduction to Boston College and gives you a chance to see and experience campus and begin asking questions. The bedrooms have approximately 150 square feet of space and the living room and dining room areas have approximately 350 combined square feet of space. It's definitely enough space on DH, so as you can see, that's like all the storage space for us behind me. A typical traditional double room at Boston College is approximately 12 feet wide by 16 feet long. Browse the list below to find the location, room style, and floor plan that Seniors are the first to choose housing as part of the room selection process. For more information, contact Dining Services. Available to first-years only. , Location Students can choose between four-person, two-bedroom suites or eight-person, four-bedroom suites. Seniors primarily reside in Rubenstein Hall. , bc:offices/res-life/search-tag/Rubenstein, Location

Located on Lower Campus, Voute Hall is home to 60 two-bedroom apartments, each with room for four people. Meet sam! Ninety Hall's residents area primarily a mixture of juniors and seniors.

Location CampusReel hosts dorm tours of Boston College (BC), and every one is different. Visiting Boston College (BC) depends on a number of factors, including the season, your schedule, and a lot of uncontrollable variables.

Situated on Newton Campus,Duchesne Hall (East & West) is home to 140 traditional-style rooms with beds for 260 students. Hopefully you'll have a better idea of a day in the life of a BC student after this tour. Youll have to watch the CampusReel videos to see for sure. Something went wrong.

Location Free shipping for many products! Most on-campus residence halls include singles, double, and suites. 'Nice' is relative so we dont like passing judgement on different campuses. WebFind many great new & used options and get the best deals for 1994 Simmons College Boston MA Freshman Student Dad Dorm Move In VTG Press Photo at the best online prices at eBay!

For large groups, Stayer Hall on Lower Campus features a mixture of 50 six-person and eight-person suites. Residents in these halls must enroll in the full University Meal Plan. Top 10 Dorms at Boston College - OneClass Blog Tour Rubenstein Hall with Videos & Pictures | CampusReel (2023) *Pursuant to its authority under Chapter II of the Massachusetts Housing Code, minimum standards of fitness for human habitation (105 CMR 410.100), the city of Newton Health and Human Services Department has granted a variance to the minimum square footage requirements (105 CMR 410.400) to allow specific rooms to be used as triples. Sam gives you a tour of gasson hall - a staple of bc's campus. Admissions is competitive as the Boston College acceptance rate is 26%. The information session covers the admission process and financial aid and features an authentic panel discussion with current students. Led by an admission counselor, these two-hour visits include an information session and a campus tour.

Location Just sit back and go at your own pace there's a lot to see. It's located in the center of Middle Campus, across from the Admission Office, and is a great place to study. Please be sure to bring your own linen, as it is not included with the room. It's a clean and polished building and was recently renovated in 1997. Can I choose to live in a Living & Learning Community? BOSTON COLLEGE FRESHMAN DORM TOUR 2020 - YouTube Remember that Chestnut Hill is also catering to 9491 students, so think critically about whether the community would feel too big or too small for your personal liking. Dorm The vast majority of rooms are traditional double-occupancy accommodations with a shared bathroom on each floor. Students who have a medical need to bring their own mattress must submit medical documentation from their health care provider. Some room types for freshman at BC include traditional 3-person room, Residents are responsible for maintaining the cleanliness of their suites. Gasson Hall was built in 1913. The Ignacio and Rubenstein Hall 4-person apartments have 2 bathrooms. C is pre diverse, where there are a lot different options for places to live. In addition to academic buildings, you can see residential buildings, dining halls, athletic facilities, and more. College Please note all times are in Eastern Time. Students should never leave their room without their Eagle ID. All units contain three bedrooms and can accomodate six people. Traditional double rooms are located on the Upper, Newton, and College Road Campuses as well as 66 Commonwealth Ave. and Greycliff Hall. WebFrom academics to unique college traditions, the virtual tour showcases the entire student experience before you ever step foot on a campus. Room and Board Rates - Residential Life - Boston College Sophomores get a serious upgrade to their living situations with suites like these. Roomsare mostly doubles with some triples and quads. This is a favorite study spot on campus. Take a walk through lower campus with sam. This website uses scripting to enhance your browsing experience. WebBoston College is home to 30 residence halls, all of which offer a unique living experience for students. Roomsare a mixture of doubles, triples, and quads. Tour Please try again later. We invite you to register for virtual programming for prospective students. These are just some suggestions; you should adapt this list to suit your own situation. FYI - you need to be 21 to attend tailgates, but they look awesome! Due to time limitations and our campus structure, we will, If you are a high school or community-based organization scheduling a visit for. As sophomores, students participate in the room selection process. We recommend you visit Boston College (BC) twice if youre serious about enrolling at least one visit should be when students are on campus and school is in session. If you cannot find a time that is available, please note that we have a, Your tour will take place on our Middle Campus portion of Main Campus. What is the difference between the Upper and Newton campus? This is a video of the Red Bandana game, a tradition that honors alumnus Welles Crowther (Class of 1999). Can I change my preferences after completing my Housing Application? Take a tour of higgins hall - the science hall at bc. WebLearn more about Boston Universitys challenging academic programs and what makes an applicant competitive for admission. Attend an Event It's the first new academic facility on the Chestnut Hill part of campus in 45 years. We encourage to begin watching the CampusReel video tour of Rubenstein Hall to decide for yourself. 4 person, 2 bedroom suites are located in Walsh hall. Sam shows you around a typical bc classroom. These rooms come furnished with 2 desks, 2 beds, 2 dressers, and 2 closets. Please be sure to bring your own linen, as it is not included with the room. There are two bathrooms and a kitchenette also included in the room. Available to first-years only. , bc:offices/res-life/search-tag/Fitzpatrick, Location Please try again later. College Boston Although we cannot guarantee that all preferenceswill be honored, your responses will be consideredas much aspossible.

One of three residence halls on Newton Campus,Hardey Hall contains 100 traditional-style rooms with beds for 190 students. More from higgins hall - the science hall at bc. The majority of Boston College students receive three years of guaranteed housing. WebIf you are a community-based organization leader scheduling a visit for ten or more students in their sophomore, junior, or senior year of high school, please register your group here. This campus houses the Universitys oldest buildings, most of its academic and residence halls, athletic facilities, and dining locations. Located one mile west of the Chestnut Hill Campus, the Newton Campus is home to the Boston College Law School, athletic fields, and several freshman residence halls. Led by an admission counselor, this live information session covers the admission process and financial aid and features an authentic panel discussion with current students. If the request is approved, the student will also be required to provide documentation that indicates the mattress satisfies state and local fire safety regulations. (Informal poll of Newton Campus students), Choice for first-year housing Please be sure to bring your own linen, as it is not included with the room. A typical 4-person apartment at Boston College contains two, double-occupancy bedrooms, a common living room, 1 bathroom and a kitchen and dining area. WebBoston College is a highly rated private, Catholic college located in Newton, Massachusetts in the Boston Area. It's a beautiful day out and a great day to see the school. This dorm is located on lower campus, and ideal location for underclassman housing. Information on particular transition periods, such as fall opening, is updated yearly and published a few months ahead of the transition. Learn about not just Boston College (BC) social Each room is furnished with a bed, mattress, desk, chair, and dresser for each occupant. The normal process for using these locks is as follows: Students need to bring their Eagle ID with them when they go to the bathroom as they will need it to get into the bathroom and back into their own room. Open to first-years only.

Location Open to first-year students only. We encourage you to compare you experience of the buildings on CampusReel with your in-person visit if you decide to take one. Vanderbilt University | Owen Graduate School of Management, O'Neill Plaza tour at Boston College (BC), Bapst Library tour at Boston College (BC), William J. Flynn Student Recreation Complex tour at Boston College (BC), Alumni Stadium tour at Boston College (BC), Rubenstein Hall tour at Boston College (BC), Chestnut Hill Reservoir tour at Boston College (BC), Thomas P. O'Neill Jr. Library tour at Boston College (BC), Boston College tour at Boston College (BC), Higgins Stairs tour at Boston College (BC), Stokes Hall - North tour at Boston College (BC), Boston College Office of Undergraduate Admission tour at Boston College (BC). Please note that this image is a generalized representation of a traditional quad room at Boston College and may not depict the exact layout of every traditional quad. The below table outlines the different housing options available at BC, and how what percent of students are estimated to live in each type of university housing. This documentation should consist of afull medical history as it pertains to the condition and provide a detailed explanation of why the student should be permitted to bring their own mattress to campus. The 80 apartments are a mix of four-person, two bedroom units and six-person, three-bedroom units. Theres only one way to know!

Located on Newton Campus, Cushing Hall contains a total of 60 traditional-style rooms with enough doubles, triples, and quads to sleep 120 students. Roncalli residents are primarily sophomores.

Location To submit your housing application you will need to complete the following steps: Housing assignments will be communicated via email during the first week of August. Please be sure to bring your own linen, as it is not included with the room. March 6th-10th If so, please see our visit options on our Transfer Applicant website.Spring 2023 campus visits will be offered on weekdays beginning Monday, February 13th through Friday, April 28th.

Located on Upper Campus, Roncalli Hall contains a total of 80 traditional-style rooms with enough doubles, triples, and quads to sleep 180 students. The 8-person rooms in Walsh Hall have refrigerators. * These rooms come furnished with 3 desks, 3 beds, 3 dressers, and 2 closets. Residents are primarily sophomores. When will I receive my housing assignment? Currently, CampusReel offers video tours for the below buildings: The visiting hours for Rubenstein Hall are most likely the same as other locations on the Boston College (BC) campus. MassArt Our Living & Learning Communities (LLCs) provide students the opportunity to live alongside peers who share similar interests in an environment that intentionally facilitates increased interaction with faculty and staff across various areas of the university. Reservoir's residents are primarily juniors.

Location Students who opt-in to alofted triple are guaranteed to be placed on Upper Campus.

Located on Lower Campus, Gabelli Hall is made up of 40 two-bedroom apartments, each housing four students. WebAll rooms in Newton Campus, Upper Campus, College Road, Greycliff Hall, and Sixty-Six Comm. Mckenna lives in an 8 man suite in a building on lower campus at BC, ideal housing for upperclassmen. Traditional quad rooms are located on the Upper, Newton, and College Road Campuses. Open to first-years only.

Location A typical traditional single room at Boston College is approximately 8 feet wide by 12 feet long.

Located on Lower Campus, Ninety Hall contains 60 suites and houses a total of 380 students. Please note that this image is a generalized representation of a lofted triple room at Boston College and may not depict the exact layout of every lofted traditional triple. Our in-person campus tours are individualizedeach tour is limited to just one prospective student and one guest. Each tour lasts approximately 1 hour and is led by a current graduate student. This tour is a great introduction to Boston College and gives you a chance to see and experience campus and begin asking questions. Available to first-year students. (Informal poll of Upper Campus students), Copyright 2023 Trustees of Boston College, Thea Bowman AHANA and Intercultural Center. Available to first-year students.

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BC Dorms Ranked

Here are the highest rated Boston College dorms. This ranking was put together based off of what students rated BC dorms on the RateMyDorm BC Page .

Rated 4 / 5 stars by 1 BC student

" Lay-out of the building is super dumb. Otherwise a decent dorm. Nothing outstanding, but has everything you would want. "

Rated 4.3 / 5 stars by 2 BC student s

" Hardey is the best dorm on Newton campus for freshmen. It is close to the dining hall and bus stops, and you don’t have to walk up the hill to get to them. The room was significantly bigger than the dorm rooms on Upper campus - there was ample room to line up the bed, dresser, and desk along the wall. There is no A/C, but the windows are large and easily fit two box fans. Guests are not monitored (I.e. nobody has to check them in, the RAs won’t comment on them unless you are being disruptive/loud). The communal bathrooms were the cleanest communal bathrooms I have seen at BC, other than the usual filth from your floor mates (hair balls in the shower, occasional unflushed toilet, eternal toothpaste in sinks) They were fairly updated and new. The laundry in the basement is satisfactory, nothing special. There are a couple temporary parking spots in front of the building, but beware leaving your car for longer than an hour or two - you will get a ticket, if not a tow! I was initially very disappointed to be on Newton but ended up loving my dorm room and the Newton dining hall. "

Rated 4.3 / 5 stars by 3 BC student s

" Far from campus, but if you’re a junior you’re living in the off campus neighborhood which is a plus. Quality is great, rooms are comfortably carpeted and clean, modern building. Only cons are the distance, and one bedroom in 4 person apts is way smaller. "

Ninety St. Thomas More

Rated 4.4 / 5 stars by 5 BC student s

" Across from Lower Dining, close to bus stop, and pretty manageable to get to classes in comparison to Upper as a freshman. Imo best Sophomore housing. Only cons is the slow elevator but I lived on the 2nd floor where I could take the exterior stairs to my room so it wasn’t bad for me. "

Rated 4.5 / 5 stars by 1 BC student

" I lived here and it was pretty good. You have your own kitchen, fridge, decent size bathroom and rooms. "

Rated 4.5 / 5 stars by 2 BC student s

" I'm currently living in Kostka and it's great. The lounge and study are newly renovated and comfortable. We also have a nice laundry room so you won't have to go to another building. It doesn't get super crazy on the weekends and it's usually quiet during the week. It's right by the stairs so it's close to classes and the dining hall. "

" Medieros offers rooms and a community like no other. Every dorm in the building has some sort of view, and being on upper is a major plus. Bathroom is fine, no better or worse than any other freshman dorm. Something to be aware of is the lack of AC in the building and lounge (no freshman dorms have ac but some of the lounges do). Kind of a strangely constructed building, but it is a definite conversation starter. Anyways, stay repping med 10000000000000 "

" The hub of social life on campus. As an alum, I look back too fondly on my days in the mods; the camaraderie with the neighbors, the poor attempts at grilling, and the ragers and pregames that always seemed to end early. Maybe not great for studying, but that's a fair trade-off to have the best housing on campus. "

Vanderslice

Rated 4.5 / 5 stars by 3 BC student s

" Vandy is beautiful- great location, A/C, 8 mans, nice rooms, tall ceilings etc. BUT I think it is severely overrated. All the fun things happen in Walsh which gets annoying to walk to especially in the winter. The hallways always seem empty. The slowest elevator to ever exist. A/C turns off in October (so if you're wack like me and like your room to be cold in the winter you'll need a fan). Yes, Walsh is old, but they renovated the study rooms on the seventh and eighth floors and added fast elevators (I know these seem like trivial things but when you have to deal with them everyday its a really big deal). In retrospect, we had a good enough pick time to be on one of the higher floors of Vandy which means we could've chosen pretty much any room in Walsh. I wish we had. "

Iggy (Ignacio)

Rated 5 / 5 stars by 1 BC student

" Greatest senior housing. Cozy common room, nice kitchen, spacious storage closet. The location is ideal since its 2 minutes to main campus and 2 minutes to lower campus. Sad we couldn't have 2 more months in iggy #co2020 "

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Students say Plymouth leader committed ‘extreme acts of violence’ against ‘first peoples’

Plymouth Colony leader Myles Standish’s name will be removed from a Boston University dormitory after faculty accused him of “terrible acts against the native people,” according to a university news report.

Kenneth Freeman, the private institution’s interim president, announced the name removal Thursday after receiving approval from both the Faculty Council and the Board of Trustees, BU Today reports .

The name Myles Standish Hall, a dorm on BU’s Charles River Campus, still appears on the university website. It is not clear when the name will be removed or a new name will be chosen.

Standish, an early colonist who came over on the Mayflower, was the military leader of Plymouth Colony.

Leaders of the de-naming effort, including psychology lecturer Anna Ward, accused Standish of brutality toward native Americans.

Afterward, they said Standish beheaded one of the tribe’s leaders and displayed his head on a pole publicly.

Ward, a member of the Osage Nation, told BU Today she felt shocked when she first noticed Standish’s name on the building.

“[I]t was a name that I knew was associated with these terrible acts against the native people here,” Ward said.

Psychology Professor Kimberly Howard, chair of the Faculty Council, said having the early colonist’s name on the building has negatively affected the university.

“It has certainly impacted our reputation when we’re recruiting faculty, when we’re recruiting students, when we’re trying to work collaboratively with indigenous populations,” Howard told the university news.

Students advocated for the name removal for years, according to the university. In a petition , they accused Standish of “extreme acts of violence” against “this lands’ first peoples.”

The names of historic figures have been removed from university buildings and programs all across the country in recent years. These include “Star Spangled Banner” author Francis Scott Key , U.S. Chief Justice John Marshall , scientist Carl Linnaeus , and General Robert E. Lee’s horse .

Meanwhile, a Johns Hopkins University board is considering removing the name of President Woodrow Wilson from a fellowship program, The College Fix reported .

MORE: Washington & Lee University removes plaque honoring Robert E. Lee’s horse

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Missing Dartmouth College student found dead, police say

Kexin Cai (Lebanon, N.H. Police Department)

LEBANON, N.H. — A Dartmouth College student reported missing last week has been found dead in the Connecticut River in Vermont, police said.

Kexin Cai, 26, had been missing since Wednesday, and was last seen in the area of Drake Lane in West Lebanon. Surveillance video from local businesses captured her traveling on her E-bike.

An extensive ground and air search for her began over the weekend after police were notified on Friday that she had been missing.

At around 4 p.m. Monday, a fisherman alerted police that he saw a body along the Connecticut River in Windsor, Vermont. Emergency crews responded to the area and retrieved the body, later identified as Cai, by bringing her to shore at 5:36 p.m.

A preliminary investigation suggests no foul play in her death.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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‘He laughed like the Joker’: Court documents detail Braintree movie theater stabbing of four girls

John O’Keefe’s nephew, niece testify about his relationship with Karen Read. Here’s what they said

‘Offensive’: Beverly theater apologizes to patrons for remarks by ‘Jaws’ actor Richard Dreyfuss

Mass. fugitive known as ‘Bad Breath Rapist’ arrested after nearly 20 years on the run, source says

‘General Hospital’ actor, Johnny Wactor shot, killed while shielding co-worker: reports

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Whales Have an Alphabet

Until the 1960s, it was uncertain whether whales made any sounds at all..

This transcript was created using speech recognition software. While it has been reviewed by human transcribers, it may contain errors. Please review the episode audio before quoting from this transcript and email [email protected] with any questions.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

From “The New York Times,” I’m Michael Barbaro. This is “The Daily.”

Today, ever since the discovery that whales produce songs, scientists have been trying to find a way to decipher their lyrics. After 60 years, they may have finally done it. My colleague, Carl Zimmer, explains.

It’s Friday, May 24.

I have to say, after many years of working with you on everything from the pandemic to —

— CRISPR DNA technology, that it turns out your interests are even more varied than I had thought, and they include whales.

They do indeed.

And why? What is it about the whale that captures your imagination?

I don’t think I’ve ever met anybody who is not fascinated by whales. I mean, these are mammals like us, and they’re swimming around in the water. They have brains that are much bigger than ours. They can live maybe 200 years. These are incredible animals, and animals that we still don’t really understand.

Right. Well, it is this majestic creature that brings us together today, Carl, because you have been reporting on a big breakthrough in our understanding of how it is that whales communicate. But I think in order for that breakthrough to make sense, I think we’re going to have to start with what we have known up until now about how whales interact. So tell us about that.

Well, people knew that whales and dolphins traveled together in groups, but up until the 1960s, we didn’t really know that whales actually made any sounds at all. It was actually sort of an accident that we came across it. The American military was developing sophisticated microphones to put underwater. They wanted to listen for Russian submarines.

As one does. But there was an engineer in Bermuda, and he started hearing some weird stuff.

[WHALE SOUNDS]

And he wondered maybe if he was actually listening to whales.

What made him wonder if it was whales, of all things?

Well, this sound did not sound like something geological.

It didn’t sound like some underwater landslide or something like that. This sounded like a living animal making some kind of call. It has these incredible deep tones that rise up into these strange, almost falsetto type notes.

It was incredibly loud. And so it would have to be some really big animal. And so with humpback whales swimming around Bermuda, this engineer thought, well, maybe these are humpback whales.

And so he gets in touch with a husband and wife team of whale biologists, Roger and Katy Payne, and plays these recordings to them. And they’re pretty convinced that they’re hearing whales, too. And then they go on to go out and confirm that by putting microphones in the water, chasing after groups of whales and confirming, yes, indeed, that these sounds are coming from these humpback whales.

So once these scientists confirm in their minds that these are the sounds of a whale, what happens with this discovery?

Well, Roger and Katy Payne and their colleagues are astonished that this species of whale is swimming around singing all the time for hours on end. And it’s so inspirational to them that they actually help to produce a record that they release “The Song of the Humpback Whale” in 1970.

And so this is being sold in record stores, you know, along with Jimi Hendrix and Rolling Stones. And it is a huge hit.

Yeah, it sells like two million copies.

Well, at the time, it was a huge cultural event. This record, this became almost like an anthem of the environmental movement. And it led, for whales in particular, to a lot of protections for them because now people could appreciate that whales were a lot more marvelous and mysterious than they maybe had appreciated before.

And so you have legislation, like the Marine Mammal Act. The United States just agrees just to stop killing whales. It stops its whaling industry. And so you could argue that the discovery of these whale songs in Bermuda led to at least some species of whales escaping extinction.

Well, beyond the cultural impact of this discovery, which is quite meaningful, I wonder whether scientists and marine biologists are figuring out what these whale songs are actually communicating.

So the Paynes create a whole branch of science, the study of whale songs. It turns out that pretty much every species of whale that we know of sings in some way or another. And it turns out that within a species, different groups of whales in different parts of the world may sing with a different dialect. But the big question of what these whales are singing, what do these songs mean, that remains elusive into the 21st century. And things don’t really change until scientists decide to take a new look at the problem in a new way.

And what is that new way?

So in 2020, a group of whale biologists, including Roger Payne, come together with computer scientists from MIT. Instead of humpback whales, which were the whales where whale songs are first discovered, these scientists decide to study sperm whales in the Caribbean. And humpback whales and sperm whales have very, very different songs. So if you’re used to humpback whales with their crazy high and low singing voices —

Right, those best-selling sounds.

— those are rockin’ tunes of the humpback whales, that’s not what sperm whales do. Sperm whales have a totally different way of communicating with each other. And I actually have some recordings that were provided by the scientists who have been doing this research. And so we can take a listen to some of them.

Wow, It’s like a rhythmic clicking.

These are a group of sperm whales swimming together, communicating.

So whale biologists knew already that there was some structure to this sound. Those clicks that you hear, they come in little pulses. And each of those pulses is known as a coda. And whale biologists had given names to these different codas. So, for example, they call one coda, one plus one plus three —

— which is basically click, click, click, click, click, or four plus three, where you have four clicks in a row and a pause and then three clicks in a row.

Right. And the question would seem to be, is this decipherable communication, or is this just whale gibberish?

Well, this is where the computer scientists were able to come in and to help out. The whale biologists who were listening to the codas from the sperm whales in the Caribbean, they had identified about 21 types. And then that would seem to be about it.

But then, an MIT computer science graduate student named Prajusha Sharma was given the job of listening to them again.

And what does she hear?

In a way, it’s not so much what she heard, but what she saw.

Because when scientists record whale songs, you can look at it kind of like if you’re looking at an audio of a recording of your podcast, you will see the little squiggles of your voice.

And so whale biologists would just look at that ticker of whale songs going across the screen and try to compare them. And Sharma said, I don’t like this. I just — this is not how I look at data. And so what she decided to do is she decided to kind of just visualize the data differently. And essentially, she just kind of flipped these images on their side and saw something totally new.

And what she saw was that sperm whales were singing a whole bunch of things that nobody had actually been hearing.

One thing that she discovered was that you could have a whale that was producing a coda over and over and over again, but it was actually playing with it. It was actually stretching out the coda,

[CLICKING] So to get a little bit longer and a little bit longer, a little bit longer.

And then get shorter and shorter and shorter again. They could play with their codas in a way that nobody knew before. And she also started to see that a whale might throw in an extra click at the end of a coda. So it would be repeating a coda over and over again and then boom, add an extra one right at the end. What they would call an ornamentation. So now, you have yet another signal that these whales are using.

And if we just look at what the sperm whales are capable of producing in terms of different codas, we go from just 21 types that they had found in the Caribbean before to 156. So what the scientists are saying is that what we might be looking at is what they call a sperm whale phonetic alphabet.

Yeah, that’s a pretty big deal because the only species that we know of for sure that has a phonetic alphabet —

— is us, exactly. So the reason that we can use language is because we can make a huge range of sounds by just doing little things with our mouths. A little change in our lips can change a bah to a dah. And so we are able to produce a set of phonetic sounds. And we put those sounds together to make words.

So now, we have sperm whales, which have at least 150 of these different versions of sounds that they make just by making little adjustments to the existing way that they make sounds. And so you can make a chart of their phonetic alphabet, just like you make a chart of the human phonetic alphabet.

So then, that raises the question, do they combine their phonetic alphabet into words? Do they combine their words into sentences? In other words, do sperm whales have a language of their own?

Right. Are they talking to each other, really talking to each other?

If we could really show that whales had language on par with humans, that would be like finding intelligent life on another planet.

We’ll be right back.

So, Carl, how should we think about this phonetic alphabet and whether sperm whales are actually using it to talk to each other?

The scientists on this project are really careful to say that these results do not definitively prove what these sperm whale sounds are. There are a handful of possibilities here in terms of what this study could mean. And one of them is that the whales really are using full-blown language.

What they might be talking about, we don’t know. I mean, perhaps they like to talk about their travels over hundreds and thousands of miles. Maybe they’re talking about, you know, the giant squid that they caught last night. Maybe they’re gossiping about each other.

And you have to remember, sperm whales are incredibly social animals. They have relationships that last for decades. And they live in groups that are in clans of thousands of whales. I mean, imagine the opportunities for gossip.

These are all at least imaginable now. But it’s also possible that they are communicating with each other, but in a way that isn’t language as we know it. You know, maybe these sounds that they’re producing don’t add up to sentences. There’s no verb there. There’s no noun. There’s no structure to it in terms of how we think of language.

But maybe they’re still conveying information to each other. Maybe they’re somehow giving out who they are and what group they belong to. But it’s not in the form of language that we think of.

Right. Maybe it’s more kind of caveman like as in whale to whale, look, there, food.

It’s possible. But, you know, other species have evolved in other directions. And so you have to put yourself in the place of a sperm whale. You know, so think about this. They are communicating in the water. And actually, like sending sounds through water is a completely different experience than through the air like we do.

So a sperm whale might be communicating to the whale right next to it a few yards away, but it might be communicating with whales miles away, hundreds of miles away. They’re in the dark a lot of the time, so they don’t even see the whales right next to them. So it’s just this constant sound that they’re making because they’re in this dark water.

So we might want to imagine that such a species would talk the way we do, but there are just so many reasons to expect that whatever they’re communicating might be just profoundly different, so different that it’s actually hard for us to imagine. And so we need to really, you know, let ourselves be open to lots of possibilities.

And one possibility that some scientists have raised is that maybe language is just the wrong model to think about. Maybe we need to think about music. You know, maybe this strange typewriter, clickety clack is actually not like a Morse code message, but is actually a real song. It’s a kind of music that doesn’t necessarily convey information the way conversation does, but it brings the whales together.

In humans, like, when we humans sing together in choruses, it can be a very emotional experience. It’s a socially bonding experience, but it’s not really like the specific words that we’re singing that bring us together when we’re singing. It’s sharing the music together.

But at a certain point, we stop singing in the chorus, and we start asking each other questions like, hey, what are you doing for dinner? How are you going to get home? There’s a lot of traffic on the BQE. So we are really drawn to the possibility that whales are communicating in that same kind of a mode.

We’re exchanging information. We’re seeking out each other’s well-being and emotional state. And we’re building something together.

And I think that happens because, I mean, language is so fundamental to us as human beings. I mean, it’s like every moment of our waking life depends on language. We are talking to ourselves if we’re not talking to other people.

In our sleep, we dream, and there are words in our dreams. And we’re just stewing in language. And so it’s really, really hard for us to understand how other species might have a really complex communication system with hundreds of different little units of sound that they can use and they can deploy. And to think anything other than, well, they must be talking about traffic on the BQE. Like —

— we’re very human-centric. And we have to resist that.

So what we end up having here is a genuine breakthrough in our understanding of how whales interact. And that seems worth celebrating in and of itself. But it really kind of doubles as a lesson in humility for us humans when it comes to appreciating the idea that there are lots of non-human ways in which language can exist.

That’s right. Humility is always a good idea when we’re thinking about other animals.

So what now happens in this realm of research? And how is it that these scientists, these marine biologists and these computer scientists are going to try to figure out what exactly this alphabet amounts to and how it’s being used?

So what’s going to happen now is a real sea change in gathering data from whales.

So to speak.

So these scientists are now deploying a new generation of undersea microphones. They’re using drones to follow these whales. And what they want to do is they want to be recording sounds from the ocean where these whales live 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And so the hope is that instead of getting, say, a few 100 codas each year on recording, these scientists want to get several hundred million every year, maybe billions of codas every year.

And once you get that much data from whales, then you can start to do some really amazing stuff with artificial intelligence. So these scientists hope that they can use the same kind of artificial intelligence that is behind things like ChatGPT or these artificial intelligence systems that are able to take recordings of people talking and transcribing them into text. They want to use that on the whale communication.

They want to just grind through vast amounts of data, and maybe they will discover more phonetic letters in this alphabet. Who knows? Maybe they will actually find bigger structures, structures that could correspond to language.

If you go really far down this route of possibilities, the hope is that you would understand what sperm whales are saying to each other so well that you could actually create artificial sperm whale communication, and you could play it underwater. You could talk to the sperm whales. And they would talk back. They would react somehow in a way that you had predicted. If that happens, then maybe, indeed, sperm whales have something like language as we understand it.

And the only way we’re going to figure that out is if we figure out not just how they talk to themselves, but how we can perhaps talk to them, which, given everything we’ve been talking about here, Carl, is a little bit ironic because it’s pretty human-centric.

That’s right. This experiment could fail. It’s possible that sperm whales don’t do anything like language as we know it. Maybe they’re doing something that we can’t even imagine yet. But if sperm whales really are using codas in something like language, we are going to have to enter the conversation to really understand it.

Well, Carl, thank you very much. We appreciate it.

Thank you. Sorry. Can I say that again? My voice got really high all of a sudden.

A little bit like a whale’s. Ooh.

Yeah, exactly. Woot. Woot.

Thank yoooo. No. Thank you.

Here’s what else you need to know today.

We allege that Live Nation has illegally monopolized markets across the live concert industry in the United States for far too long. It is time to break it up.

On Thursday, the Justice Department sued the concert giant Live Nation Entertainment, which owns Ticketmaster, for violating federal antitrust laws and sought to break up the $23 billion conglomerate. During a news conference, Attorney General Merrick Garland said that Live Nation’s monopolistic tactics had hurt the entire industry of live events.

The result is that fans pay more in fees, artists have fewer opportunities to play concerts, smaller promoters get squeezed out, and venues have fewer real choices.

In a statement, Live Nation called the lawsuit baseless and vowed to fight it in court.

A reminder — tomorrow, we’ll be sharing the latest episode of our colleagues’ new show, “The Interview.” This week on “The Interview,” Lulu Garcia-Navarro talks with Ted Sarandos, the CEO of Netflix, about his plans to make the world’s largest streaming service even bigger.

I don’t agree with the premise that quantity and quality are somehow in conflict with each other. I think our content and our movie programming has been great, but it’s just not all for you.

Today’s episode was produced by Alex Stern, Stella Tan, Sydney Harper, and Nina Feldman. It was edited by MJ Davis, contains original music by Pat McCusker, Dan Powell, Elisheba Ittoop, Marion Lozano, and Sophia Lanman, and was engineered by Alyssa Moxley. Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly.

Special thanks to Project SETI for sharing their whale recordings.

That’s it for “The Daily.” I’m Michael Barbaro. See you on Tuesday after the holiday.

• May 29, 2024   •   29:46 The Closing Arguments in the Trump Trial
• May 28, 2024   •   25:56 The Alitos and Their Flags
• May 24, 2024   •   25:18 Whales Have an Alphabet
• May 23, 2024   •   34:24 I.C.C. Prosecutor Requests Warrants for Israeli and Hamas Leaders
• May 22, 2024   •   23:20 Biden’s Open War on Hidden Fees
• May 21, 2024   •   24:14 The Crypto Comeback
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• May 17, 2024   •   51:10 The Campus Protesters Explain Themselves
• May 16, 2024   •   30:47 The Make-or-Break Testimony of Michael Cohen
• May 15, 2024   •   27:03 The Possible Collapse of the U.S. Home Insurance System
• May 14, 2024   •   35:20 Voters Want Change. In Our Poll, They See It in Trump.

Hosted by Michael Barbaro

Featuring Carl Zimmer

Produced by Alex Stern ,  Stella Tan ,  Sydney Harper and Nina Feldman

Edited by MJ Davis Lin

Original music by Elisheba Ittoop ,  Dan Powell ,  Marion Lozano ,  Sophia Lanman and Pat McCusker

Engineered by Alyssa Moxley

Listen and follow The Daily Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTube

Ever since the discovery of whale songs almost 60 years ago, scientists have been trying to decipher the lyrics.

But sperm whales don’t produce the eerie melodies sung by humpback whales, sounds that became a sensation in the 1960s. Instead, sperm whales rattle off clicks that sound like a cross between Morse code and a creaking door. Carl Zimmer, a science reporter, explains why it’s possible that the whales are communicating in a complex language.

On today’s episode

Carl Zimmer , a science reporter for The New York Times who also writes the Origins column .

Background reading

Scientists find an “alphabet” in whale songs.

These whales still use their vocal cords. But how?

There are a lot of ways to listen to The Daily. Here’s how.

We aim to make transcripts available the next workday after an episode’s publication. You can find them at the top of the page.

The Daily is made by Rachel Quester, Lynsea Garrison, Clare Toeniskoetter, Paige Cowett, Michael Simon Johnson, Brad Fisher, Chris Wood, Jessica Cheung, Stella Tan, Alexandra Leigh Young, Lisa Chow, Eric Krupke, Marc Georges, Luke Vander Ploeg, M.J. Davis Lin, Dan Powell, Sydney Harper, Mike Benoist, Liz O. Baylen, Asthaa Chaturvedi, Rachelle Bonja, Diana Nguyen, Marion Lozano, Corey Schreppel, Rob Szypko, Elisheba Ittoop, Mooj Zadie, Patricia Willens, Rowan Niemisto, Jody Becker, Rikki Novetsky, John Ketchum, Nina Feldman, Will Reid, Carlos Prieto, Ben Calhoun, Susan Lee, Lexie Diao, Mary Wilson, Alex Stern, Dan Farrell, Sophia Lanman, Shannon Lin, Diane Wong, Devon Taylor, Alyssa Moxley, Summer Thomad, Olivia Natt, Daniel Ramirez and Brendan Klinkenberg.

Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly. Special thanks to Sam Dolnick, Paula Szuchman, Lisa Tobin, Larissa Anderson, Julia Simon, Sofia Milan, Mahima Chablani, Elizabeth Davis-Moorer, Jeffrey Miranda, Renan Borelli, Maddy Masiello, Isabella Anderson and Nina Lassam.

Carl Zimmer covers news about science for The Times and writes the Origins column . More about Carl Zimmer

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