STAFF WRITER

As the promise of freedom in the form of winter break approaches, Fordham students begin the last leg of their fall semester.

Starting final papers days (or hours) before their deadlines, frantically searching for class textbooks that have long been neglected — these are the struggles of Fordham students once the tables are cleared on Thanksgiving evening.

Students who still make the daily trek from their apartment or dormitory to Dealy, Keating, Faculty Memorial Hall, etc., that is. For recent graduates, there is no more finals week rush.

The assignments these graduates may leave until the last minute are not the end results of semester-long classes that burnt holes in their parents’ pockets, but rather are assignments that fill their own pockets.

Just a year or two ago, time was spent cramming for final exams or putting finishing touches on hasty, but nonetheless well-crafted, papers. Now though, it is spent in the hustle and bustle of collaborating on projects that must be completed before the holidays or before the end of the fiscal quarter.

It is a brave new world when you step outside of the gates of Rose Hill’s scenic campus, inevitably raising an important question for Fordham students and parents alike: Was the Fordham experience (and, perhaps more important, the Fordham bill) worth it?

Brendan O’Grady, GSB ’13, speaks positively of the benefit of a Fordham education. Currently employed by Ernst & Young (recently rebranded “EY”), one of the Big Four accounting firms, he stresses the importance of networking in his field, an aspect of business for which he believes the Gabelli School of Business prepared him well.

“I think [Fordham] was worth the price, but not necessarily because of the classes,” said O’Grady. “I feel like the business school gives you plenty of networking opportunities and you learn through trial and error how to keep in touch with people who you’d like to stay in touch with.”

O’Grady believes that some of the important things he learned at Fordham took place outside of the classroom.

“Now that I’m working, networking is an integral part of what I do, and what clients I work for.”

Madyson Spano, FCRH ’13, who was offered a job by the tech company QWASI, echoes O’Grady’s praise of the opportunity to make connections provided by Fordham and believes that the education, though pricey, was worth it.

“I learned a lot at Fordham and made a lot of good connections, the most important of these connections being my current boss,” Spano said.

However, some graduates believe that the value of a Fordham education is highly dependent upon the  school in which you were enrolled.

Christopher Cavanaugh, FCRH ’12, an employee of Sony Music, criticizes the apparent effort disparity between the Gabelli and College at Rose Hill schools.

“I think that if you were a student in the business school, Fordham is definitely worth the money,” Cavanaugh said. “The business school is very well known and the connect[ions] the students in the business school are able to build are priceless. In FCRH, it didn’t seem as though Fordham tried as hard to help us build those connections that the business school students were making.”

What remains consistent among these graduates is the review of their experiences during their enrollment at Fordham: The people, the atmosphere and the academic stimulation were all met with overwhelming positivity.

“I loved my time at Fordham University,” said Cavanaugh. “I made great friends that I still keep in contact with who made my time at Fordham a really enjoyable and unforgettable experience.”

Keeping in contact with college acquaintances may end up having more than a social benefit.

Who knows, that person you sat next to in Composition II and decided to befriend could one day be your ticket to a job with your own desk that is not next to the bathroom—but, if you are lucky, even a window with a view.

In a world where knowing who seems to be more valuable than knowing how, connections are an invaluable resource that upperclassmen beginning to think about life after graduation cannot overlook.

“Get internships and get experience,” O’Grady said. “Figure out what you like and don’t like within your major, and develop relationships with people at the companies you intern for. Having connections and experience in your field will make a big difference when applying for jobs.”