CORNELL LAW SCHOOL

Yesterday was our final school tour: Cornell Law School. We drove 6 hours from Boston to Ithaca, New York, and boy was that a drive. The last hour was ALL back roads, with beautiful views, but very little going on. It wasn't until we were about 3 minutes from the school that we started to see any life; it sort of appeared out of nowhere. Once we got into the city, it felt a little more lively, as it is actually the size of Ann Arbor, approximately, but it sure is far more secluded than Ann Arbor! We were able to speak with the secretary in the office here rather than an advisor, and for that reason I don't think we got quite as much information as we wanted. But we went on our self-guided tour and found their Squash Courts (SO important, haha) and a homey little study space. The Moot Court was fairly impressive, but overall the campus just felt too secluded. Maybe it was partly because it was summer, but we felt that every other school had a lot more energy than this school did.

And so now, today, we are home. We drove through wine country and stopped to let the boys do some tasting along the way. Dinner was in Buffalo, NY, where we tried the original buffalo chicken wing. Jimmy's is WAY better. Then we continued through Canada to see Niagara Falls and finally made it home around 2am. It was an incredible trip with lots of laughs and lots of information; now we just have to sort it all out and start applying! Thanks for traveling with us. :D

BOSTON COLLEGE LAW SCHOOL

Today is our penultimate school: Boston College. We started with a bad taste in our mouths, simply because the public transportation stop labeled "Boston College" was only for the main campus. The Law campus is 1.6 miles away from there. We had no buses or shuttles. So we walked. Whew. BUT! Once we got on campus, we decided it was worth the trek. The campus was quaint and cute and everyone was quite nice. We met with a current student (rising 2L) who was able to answer most of our questions and took us on a tour of the law campus, which consists of only 3 buildings, which are all connected. It was such a nice little visit. And of course our qualms about transportation were calmed because a shuttle runs to near train stations. It's still less convenient than Boston U (and most of the other schools we've seen, for that matter), but could be a good option if necessary.

After seeing this school, we headed back into the city, and since it began to rain we stopped into a bar for some refreshing drinks to wait out the rain. It finally cleared up so we headed to the train station but it didn't last long. We ended up walking all over Boston in the pouring rain; but I must say that Brandon always found the driest route because he knows I don't like being rained on. :) But we ended up getting a ferry ride across the harbor and we saw the USS Constitution (Old Ironsides) which was pretty neat. By 7, we said our goodbyes to Boston (for now?) and now we start for home.

BOSTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW

Brandon behind the Judge's desk

Boston from the 12th Floor

Yesterday our last school of the day was Boston U. It is located VERY close to downtown Boston and the campus is beautiful! The metro system runs right through the center of the campus, making it really convenient to access any area of Boston in virtually no time at all. Fenway Park is also just blocks away, which is pretty neat. The entire Law School is contained in one building, which is 15 stories high. We spoke with an advisor who was very helpful and kind. She, as expected, spoke very well of her school, and gave us all the information we needed to know, including what to do in Boston for the rest of the day. We briefly looked around the campus, saw the classrooms and courtrooms, and of course the views and were very pleased. For the rest of the afternoon, we walked the Freedom Trail in Boston, which took us past Paul Revere's house, the North Chapel--where he lit the lanterns to warn of the British approach-- and Copp's Hill Burial Ground, where Prince Hall was buried (He was the pioneer of Black Freemasonry). It was a very fun day!

HARVARD LAW SCHOOL

Here we are at Harvard Law School. Again, we were not able to speak with anyone at admissions, but it was certainly nice to look around the law school. It was located just a few stops west of downtown on the red line and the metro took us right into campus. The campus itself was really pretty and quite large-- there were several buildings that made up the law school campus. The boston area itself was quite pleasant while we were here; it was warm but with a nice breeze! We are very glad we stopped by.

YALE UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL

Here we are with ANOTHER surprise school! We decided that we should swing by Yale and see it since it was only an extra 5 minute drive out of the way. It was about 8:30am when we got there, so no offices were open to speak with us, but at least we got to walk around the campus. It looked shockingly similar to the Michigan Law School, but upon further research, we found that Yale totally copied UM, not the other way around (UM- 1859, Yale- 1930). Sloppy copy cats. It was nice to see it, but we have little to report.

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW

Well, here is a little surprise for you! We decided to stop by Columbia after all. We aren't in New York all the time and we figured since we were close and we were going to apply anyway, it was worth swinging by to see it. It turns out that the campus was beautiful and the staff was friendly! We are definitely glad we came. The adviser that we spoke with was incredibly helpful was so accessible, especially in comparison to the other Ivy League School we visited. The
campus is rather large, especially since it includes the Undergraduate campus, but after a little bit of a walk we found everything and had a great little tour. It's also located next to Harlem, which has quite a bit of history. We continued from here to find a good pizza joint and we found John's Pizzeria down by Time Square. It was quite good! The rest of the afternoon was spent walking around and finding all the good tourist locations like 5th Avenue, Rockefeller Center, and Central Park. For the evening, we decided to venture all the way down to Coney Island! It was a really great night. Brandon and I rode the Cyclone, one of America's oldest roller coasters and we all indulged in one of Nathan's hot dogs. As we headed back to the metro station, Jim got caught in a broken pier board and now has a bit of a swollen knee, but other than that it was a great day and overall great weekend in NYC!

FORDHAM UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW

Next stop today was at Fordham University School of Law. Located next to the Lincoln Center, we found this school to be in a really great location. We spoke with an adviser who was very candid about Brandon's unique potential. We took a quick tour around this building as well and found we were quite pleased with the atmosphere. Though it is number 29 (according to US News), a little lower than our typical range, it is still a viable option because of its good location on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

FUN FACTS:

- The apartments on the corner of this campus start at around $2000 for a single. 

- Fordham is nationally ranked in the top 15 for 3 programs (Dispute Resolution, Intellectual Property, and Clinical Legal Education). 

YESHIVA UNIVERSITY BENJAMIN CARDOZO SCHOOL OF LAW

This morning we started off in mid town at Yeshiva University, Benjamin Cardozo School of Law. They are a little lower on the list, but we decided to visit since the application will be free here (Fee Waiver). We did a short self-guided tour and were able to meet with a counselor briefly, though she seemed somewhat uninterested in speaking with us. The facilities were nice: you can see here the main floor student lounge as well as a student lounge with lockers up on the 3rd floor. Overall, it won't be a top choice, but it will be a fine backup option.

FUN FACTS:

- Cardozo is located on 5th avenue in Greenwich Village. 

- The Innocence Project was started at Cardozo 20 years ago.
- Named after Supreme Court Justice Cardozo.

NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW

We got into new york around 11am this morning and Brandon was happy to have gotten the opportunity to drive through Manhattan. We picked up our friend, Leonard (from UM), who is working at 200 West this summer in Manhattan. By around 1pm, we had dropped off our car at the hotel and taken the metro back into the city. We stopped by NYU, but since it was a Sunday, we didn't get to meet anybody or do a tour. For this reason, we decided to forego any other visits for the day. We had Fordham on the schedule, but since they would actually be pleased to speak with us tomorrow, we decided to reschedule them for tomorrow instead of Columbia. So tomorrow will be tours and perhaps meetings at Yeshiva Cordozo and Fordham schools, and maybe a swing by of Columbia if we decide to make the time. As far as first impressions of New York, it was a fun day. We found a small cafe for lunch and a nice german place for dinner and we saw plenty of sights in between-- the most exciting: Leonard took us on a personal tour of Goldman Sachs. We saw views of the city from the 43rd floor of the building, right across from the new World Trade Center. It was an incredible view and a beautiful building. Thanks, Leonard!

OUR DAY OFF

 We spent our day off -- yesterday-- looking around the historic sites of Philadelphia. Here you see Elfreth's Alley, the Nation's oldest Neighborhood; Christ Church, and Brandon sitting in George Washington's pew; Independence Hall, a court room. It was a really fun and relaxing day! We spent another night in Philadelphia (well, New Jersey) before heading off to New York this morning.

TEMPLE UNIVERSITY JAMES E BEASLEY SCHOOL OF LAW

Next we traveled to the north side of the city and paid another outrageous $14 fee for parking. But it seems it ended up actually being far more worth it than our visit to Penn. We were continuously surprised by Temple. The campus was quite a bit larger than (at least I) expected. The law school was comprised of TWO separate buildings. Of course, we found the wrong building first, haha. So we kept going and found the admissions office. We explained that we were a day early and the Associate Dean of Admissions was more than happy to welcome us into her office and speak with her. She spoke well of her school and of her city, and her enthusiasm was certainly contagious. She had a spunky personality and was a pleasure to talk to. She told us everything we could have wanted to know and then some. She definitely made Temple stand out as  real possibility. We then continued to our self guided tour-- back to the original building we found! We saw their Moot Court, a few classrooms and their law library, and though it wasn't as high tech as most of the other schools we have seen so far, the prestige of the programs keeps the school towards the top of the list.

FUN FACTS:

- Temple is top 2 in Trial Advocacy Programs.

- Temple is top 10 in Legal Writing Programs.

- Temple is top 15 in International Programs. 

- The Broad Street Metro Station, which runs right to the city center, stops right at the Law School.

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA LAW SCHOOL

We arrived in Philadelphia today around noon and went straight to our favorite lunch spot for the best cheese steaks in town-- By George in Reading Terminal Market. We each enjoyed most of our sandwiches--only most because we simply got way too full. So we packed up what was left for breakfast tomorrow morning and headed for U Penn. Once on far west side of the city, we payed the outrageous $12 for parking and headed in to the Ivy League school. We checked in with both security checkpoints and were finally able to get up to the admissions office with hopes of speaking with a counselor since we were here on a weekday instead of saturday! Unfortunately, no such luck. The receptionist in the office insisted that no counselors were available to meet with us, however she would be happy to answer our questions. Yet our questions were mostly answered with, "You'll have to check out website", so we quickly realized that we were not going to get anything special from these people. So we walked around the school briefly before departing. We saw they had a relatively pretty campus-- it was especially nice to see a lush, green courtyard in the middle of a bustling city. The Moot Court Room and Classrooms were on the higher end of average, and the student lounges--"The Clock" and "The Goat"--looked comfortable and well loved by students. The goat (pictured at left) for which the lounge is named carries with it a legend about how ancient courts used to decide the outcome of difficult cases; they would bring out the goat, and he would butt only the guilty. An interesting story.

FUN FACTS:

- Students at Penn Law are encouraged to pursue a dual-degree during their 3 years.
- Students are required to complete 70 hours of Pro Bono service.
- Philadelphia is the 5th largest city in the nation.