Fordham University

First word of advice , CONSIDER EVERYTHING. Here's my top ten advice:

1) The cost. If you can't afford it without taking out a 30,000 dollar private student loan per-year, then look somewhere else. Seriously, the interest means you'll be paying about 83,000 a year (yes, that's me). Without meaning to be harsh, throw out your romanticized idea of the fact you'll get a good paying job and it'll be easy to pay back. 400,000 isn't easy no matter how you look at it, especially if you need to go to graduate school to get a job that even pays close to what you need (which can be much more expensive). And don't think it's worth it to spend the money to get into Fordham Law afterwards, out of the 1200 enrolled at the law school, less than 50 are actually Fordham kids. (Dean told me this)

2) This is a private, jesuit college. When they mean no opposite sex guests, they mean it, and you WILL get in trouble. This is a catholic school and while they emphasize diversity, the students are not so open, trust me. And if you're of a different religion, you'll feel it.

3) A lot of students are rich and have no problem blowing all of their money on alcohol or stupid things. Which they do quite frequently. Not only that, but when you talk to some of the rich-kid stereotypes, they have no fucking idea what to do with their life. I'd kill to have the kind of money to not be transferring right now.

4) The only "social life" is drinking on the weekends. Yes there's little italy and the city but good-luck finding people that actually want to take the trip that far. Drinking's the easiest thing to do, so it's done.

5) THE FOOD. Okay, it's not that bad. Better than some places now that they've fixed it. But it does get repetitive and sometimes you just don't eat because you can't stand it. I've barely been here a semester and i've taken to eating once a day. It's so blah.

6) If you aren't "preppy", or loud, or like to get really drunk and fuck anything that moves, then you might not be happy here. If you have just ONE OUNCE of individuality (no, if you're a hipster, you're not individual. You'll fit in fine. We have a cafe for you) then Fordham isn't the place for you. If you have a PC instead of a Mac, prepare to be death stared everywhere you go. You WILL be the odd one out and it's going to suck. All because of that rich private school mentality.

7) Teachers tend to think you have no other classes but their own so you have about 13 hours a week of studying to do... PER CLASS. If you think i'm kidding, then subtract half a letter grade per hour. I'm serious. You WILL do tons of work and you WILL NOT have free time without sacrifice. It gets hard to maintain if you aren't used to it.

8) Speaking of which... I'm paying WAY TOO MUCH for the quality of education. I'm not learning anything new, the professors make me fall asleep much too easily and those that don't, probably have a dead bug up their butt. Because they're jerks. And those ivy-league guys? Yep, they're the worst. Because we're not good enough for them. And some of them even bring it up.

9) Oh and Fordham cares too much about their alumns and newly accepted students. Almost every even on campus is for them. There is rarely anything to do on the weekends except drink. There are plays and debates or "talks" with people on various intellectual topics, but they can be a bit hard to follow and sometimes they're at difficult times, mostly during the week which sucks because many students are commuters or live close by so they go home on the weekends when you actually need something to do.

10) Overall, if you were a cheerleader in high school or enjoy being EXTREMELY LOUD ALL THE TIME or drunk. Then this is the school for you. If you're coming here for an enriching education and lots of opportunities, you might be able to get that here if you go out of the way. If you're coming here just for the name, trust me it's not even worth it. That's what I'm struggling with right now. It saddens me to leave the "name", but what's the name without the whole package? A ton of fun-sucking bullshit. Unless I'm convinced otherwise, i'm transferring next semester. Hopefully, it'll be a better experience.

Either way, good luck and PLEASE consider all options before you decide to come here. Don't jump on a school for it's name, think about everything. It'll be worth it in the end.