Is Fordham REALLY that much better for NYC than BU?? Forum

[OperaSoprano]

Both schools are regional. The usual rule applies: If you want to work in Boston, go to BU. If you want to work in NYC, go to Fordham. Cost should be taken into account as well, but generally, you should try to go to a school in the city you want to work in.

Fordham - NYC
BU - Boston

This isn't entirely accurate. Fordham absolutely "locks" you into NYC in a way that BU doesn't "lock" you into Boston - BU offers portability where Fordham offers none. BU can get you out of Boston, Fordham won't get you out of New York (generally).

Fordham's relative advantage here is that most people want portability in order TO GO TO New York City, heh.

Credited. As always?

But yea, Informative, only about half of BU's class stays in the MA/CT/RI/VT area. About 1/4 go to NYC and from there about 10-15% go to the West Coast and the rest spread around randomly, but most of the stragglers under up in the DC area.

I think Fordham is around 90% NYC, correct me if I'm wrong.

96% based on their latest employment data. I tend to be skeptical of all school-released statistics, but that's one I happen to believe.

Fordham students overwhelmingly self select to stay here (89% go to NY, NJ and PA). 96% of entering students polled said they wanted to work in NYC, so this isn't the biggest shock ever. I also wrote that on my survey. However, it is ridiculous to claim that we are locked in. I just saw our preliminary OCI list. The way it works is that most big firms send people from their NYC office to interview us, then let us indicate if we are interested in any of their other national offices. If I decided to buck the trend and try to get a DC job, I would look for firms with DC offices, and indicate my preference thus. Getting a PI job outside NYC would be even easier, because most people don't get PI jobs through OCI in the first place. I would have to do the footwork myself for any PI job, though as with any school, networking ability would give me a leg up on jobs in my home city.

Basically, the school interviews students about their preferences in order to tell employers what kind of jobs Fordham students are hoping for. Our dean actually said he wished more of us would say on the survey that we wanted to work in Boston, or California, or just elsewhere, because this would be encouraging for employers to see.

Statistics are here: http://law.fordham.edu/career-planning/17281.htm

[Blindmelon]

I don't think anyone is saying that a Fordham degree only works in NYC, but just that I would be extremely hesitant to go to Fordham with the hopes of working anywhere but NYC/NJ. If you can get into Fordham but want to practice somewhere else, it would be silly to not go to a strong regional school in that area over Fordham that has similar acceptance stats (Want to work in DC? Go to WM. Want to work in Boston? Go to BC).

That isn't the case however for schools like GW/BU/BC that are strong in their region but are also strong elsewhere like NYC. These schools are still regional to an extent, but their region is just bigger than Fordham's. A school like BU's region encompasses (sort of DC) up to all of New England and can travel to CA.

[OperaSoprano]

I don't think anyone is saying that a Fordham degree only works in NYC, but just that I would be extremely hesitant to go to Fordham with the hopes of working anywhere but NYC/NJ. If you can get into Fordham but want to practice somewhere else, it would be silly to not go to a strong regional school in that area over Fordham that has similar acceptance stats (Want to work in DC? Go to WM. Want to work in Boston? Go to BC).

That isn't the case however for schools like GW/BU/BC that are strong in their region but are also strong elsewhere like NYC. These schools are still regional to an extent, but their region is just bigger than Fordham's. A school like BU's region encompasses (sort of DC) up to all of New England and can travel to CA.

While I agree that these schools tend to have more placement outside their immediate region, I have never seen evidence that Fordham's greater regional concentration is the result of anything but student selection. Our OCI list is focused on New York, but with the specific notations I mentioned, that firms will consider us for their other offices upon indication of our preference. I agree that it's best to go to a regional school in one's preferred region, but I wanted to address the false comment that a Fordham degree locks someone into practicing in New York. You might say that it gives students such a leg up here that it makes sense to take advantage of these connections if at all interested in the NYC market. Applicants know this, which is why people who are New York centric pick Fordham over much higher ranked schools. I have seen people decline UCLA, Cornell, and even UVA to take money from Fordham, if they plan to practice here, and especially if they are already established in New York. The NYC market is by far the largest in the country (even ITE), and though Fordham's "region" may be geographically smaller, we are still in the legal capital of the US.

[Mattalones]

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[hannah87]

I don't think anyone is saying that a Fordham degree only works in NYC, but just that I would be extremely hesitant to go to Fordham with the hopes of working anywhere but NYC/NJ. If you can get into Fordham but want to practice somewhere else, it would be silly to not go to a strong regional school in that area over Fordham that has similar acceptance stats (Want to work in DC? Go to WM. Want to work in Boston? Go to BC).

That isn't the case however for schools like GW/BU/BC that are strong in their region but are also strong elsewhere like NYC. These schools are still regional to an extent, but their region is just bigger than Fordham's. A school like BU's region encompasses (sort of DC) up to all of New England and can travel to CA.

While I agree that these schools tend to have more placement outside their immediate region, I have never seen evidence that Fordham's greater regional concentration is the result of anything but student selection. Our OCI list is focused on New York, but with the specific notations I mentioned, that firms will consider us for their other offices upon indication of our preference. I agree that it's best to go to a regional school in one's preferred region, but I wanted to address the false comment that a Fordham degree locks someone into practicing in New York. You might say that it gives students such a leg up here that it makes sense to take advantage of these connections if at all interested in the NYC market. Applicants know this, which is why people who are New York centric pick Fordham over much higher ranked schools. I have seen people decline UCLA, Cornell, and even UVA to take money from Fordham, if they plan to practice here, and especially if they are already established in New York. The NYC market is by far the largest in the country (even ITE), and though Fordham's "region" may be geographically smaller, we are still in the legal capital of the US.

ME!

[bslno8]

I'm in the same boat and I'm going with BU because they gave me a lot more scholarship. These days, I think the cost of law school should definitely count more than in the past when making a decision.

[ilovelawapps]

Thanks everyone for all the replies. There's a lot of great info in this thread, hopefully it's been as helpful to other people as it's been for me.

I sent the deposit to BU (ironically from the post office down the street from Fordham). While Fordham is a great school and I'd definitely like to come back to nyc some day, I just personally liked BU better and the scholarship money/lower cost of living were hard to pass up. Thanks again everyone!