By Tara Martinelli
The old saying “third time’s the charm” is one that Jess Corcoran, FCRH ’18, knows all too well. Jess’s journey to Fordham is a little different from that of most of the student body. Not only is she a transfer student, but Jess has transferred twice since beginning her college career. Some may see this as indecisive, but Jess sees it as finding herself and exploring her passions.
“I always had two true passions growing up: the arts and social justice,” said Jess. She was in private art classes all through her childhood while also staging a sit-in on the soccer field when the boys wouldn’t let her play at recess. However, when she started thinking about college, art appealed to her more than anything else:
“I just thought, ‘what the hell?’ I’m just going to go full force into the arts and see what happens.” And that she did.
She was accepted into the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York and started her college career there. Jess looks back on her time at Pratt with happy memories and many life lessons. “Art school is like its own little world.,” she said. “People would walk around in tutus to class and no one would look twice. It was the most accepting, nonjudgmental community I have ever been a part of.” Along with being exposed to many different types of people and personalities, art school also taught her to deal with criticism.
“Homework isn’t just homework in art school,” she said. “When you turn in a project, you really feel as though you poured your whole heart and soul into it. It’s so personal. And when a professor takes one look at it and just says ‘ehh,’ it really hurts.” Jess admits that art school made her grow up and develop a thicker skin.
As many young people do, Jess reevaluated her life plan. “I loved being there and the community was great but I knew that fashion design was not what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Because Pratt only offers art majors, I knew I had to leave,” said Jess.
After one semester at Pratt, she decided to transfer to Pace University in Manhattan. “Pace has this thing called ‘Transfer Tuesday.’ You go, give them your application and find out within 20 minutes whether you are accepted or not. Needless to say, it was an easy decision.”
However, after just one month at Pace, as a communications major, Jess still did not feel like she found her place. “I wasn’t being challenged academically or socially and I missed the community at Pratt,” she said. She described how going to school of mostly commuter students created very basic friendships. Pace’s Manhattan school does not have much of a campus either, which is something that she found to be important to her. So she, yet again, hit the drawing boards. This time, she applied vigorously to about a dozen schools.
Jess has found her way to Fordham University and can not be happier about it. Jess had a moment of realization regarding her compatibility with the university last year.
“One day in October, I was walking by Keating as the leaves were falling all over Eddie’s,” she said. “I can honestly say that I had never felt so peacefully happy in my whole life.”
Jess is pursuing her other passion of social justice by studying political science and humanitarian affairs. To those who do not know her very well, Jess seems like a very spontaneous, indecisive person. However, upon getting to know her, she is clearly a very passionate, strong-willed young woman. “I saw what other people had at their respective schools,” she said. “I didn’t want to settle for what I had, so I didn’t. And I could not be happier about my decision.”
The one constant in her journey to find her dream school has been New York City. All three of the schools that she’s attended have been here. New York City, she said, is the one thing that she was not willing to give up.
“When I applied to Fordham, I applied to a bunch of other schools as well. But when I went to visit their campuses, I just kept thinking about NYC and how I really didn’t want to be anywhere else.”
Jess is living out the motto that is plastered all over Rose Hill. New York has always been her campus, but now, Fordham is her school.
