Notes from Fordham Law School Visit Last Week (Beware of Fordham Law)

Key Observations

A. Front-of-House / Reception

• Initial interaction with Fordham's security/public safety felt disorganized and dismissive. She wasn't aware of there being a tour scheduled for that day.

• When she found out, she didn't care. There was no actual check in process.

• Complete lack of clarity and professionalism around visitor reception.

• Noticed a significant contrast between Fordham and Harvard/Yale/Columbia where tours are treated as routine, are highly organized, and prospective students are treated with immediate respect.

B. Campus Environment (Lincoln Center)

• Physical footprint felt very compressed: vertical layout, narrow corridors, limited open commons. Not much of a campus.

• Environment did not seem optimized for voice projection, debate, or large-room discourse.

• Overall spatial design did not seem to accommodate goals of intellectually expansion.

C. Student Demeanor (Observed Informally)

• Students generally appeared more constrained in confidence and presence.

• Lower emphasis on public articulation, polish, or intellectual dominance compared to elite undergraduate or law school environments.

• Overall did not signal any sort of assumption of excellence or rigor.

D. Tour Guide Performance

• Tour guide appeared very nervous, insecure, and poorly prepared.

• Not well groomed. He wore a bacon collar Hanes white t-shirt under a loose fitting sweater

• Overshared his personal shortcomings with prospective students (e.g., low GPA, did not place into Big Law, shared LGBTQ status and desire to find a man, which did not seem appropriate?).

• Excessive self-disclosure unrelated to representing the Law School.

• He had a tendency to minimize, deflect or redirect prospective students' questions.

• Failed to hold the role cleanly as a representative of the Law School.

• Psychological dynamic: he relied on his authority as a law student / tour guide as a buffer against insecurity, rather than confidently embodying the institution and its values.

E. Voice Compression

• The Fordham Law School environment felt like it would require keeping one's voice down rather than training students for public speaking roles.

• Fordham's Law School felt more closely aligned with an early undergraduate (freshman year of undergrad) dynamic rather than an advanced professional setting. One can hardly differentiate the Law students from undergraduates.

• Overall, Fordham Law School, as an institution needs to put more time and effort into rigorously vetting the individuals they put forward to represent their institution

• Fordham Law is very lucky to be ranked T50,

• T80-T100 seems much more appropriate, but they place well into BigLaw due to NYC campus location

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5832158&forum_id=2Elisa#49653879)

https://www.reddit.com/r/streetwear/comments/2jxvxx/how_to_fix_this_bacon_neck/

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5832158&forum_id=2Elisa#49653883)