As a junior undergraduate in the Professional and Continuing Studies program, I have always been partial to the Lincoln Center campus. It’s where I started my college career five years ago and where I met the most wonderful professors and my fellow students. Yet, I do admit that I have a soft spot for the Rose Hill campus in the Bronx. 

One of Fordham University’s best features is that students can take advantage of both the hustle and bustle of Manhattan and a more traditional campus setting in the Bronx. 

Still, many students have a favorite campus. Use this helpful guide to learn about what each campus has to offer. Who knows, you might just realize you have a new favorite. 

Urban Escape or Medieval Beauty

Comparing the two campuses is a bit difficult. Each has its own ambiance and unique aesthetics to share with everyone who walks the great halls of Fordham University. 

Let’s begin with the Lincoln Center campus. Here we are surrounded by tall buildings of mortar, steel and glass. Many of these buildings are quite modern with their unique architectural styles. 

In the gardens of the Plaza is our Ram Mascot, standing tall and proud and protecting all who come within the confines of the Plaza.

Just before one enters the Leon Lowenstein Center, they are greeted by Saint Ignatius standing tall with his hand held high to the canopy of the sky, his sword and shield planted securely in the soil. One has to understand that this depiction of our patron saint is the actual moment when he had his cannonball conversion to Christ and became a Christian. The statue pays homage to the Jesuit values Fordham was founded on. 

In the gardens of the Plaza is our Ram Mascot, standing tall and proud and protecting all who come within the confines of the Plaza, a greenspace meant only for staff and students. When the sun shines down on this place, the Ram glistens, as do the windows around the arched Lowenstein entrance and the atrium of the Ram Café located on the Plaza level. 

But Lincoln Center lacks what the Rose Hill campus overachieves: medieval and natural beauty. 

The Rose Hill Campus is a place of vast nature where the canopy of the trees seem to take to the sky and keep us safe in the face of Mother Nature.

When you drive up Fordham Road in the Ram Van, you enter a campus that looks like King Arthur’s Camelot with its medieval ambiance or, for more contemporary readers, Hogwarts. Either way, one could imagine the Knights of the Round Table greeting them by Keating or Dealy Halls, or maybe Albus Dumbledore or Severus Snape strolling across the grounds with their magic wands. 

The Rose Hill Campus is a place of vast nature where the canopy of the trees seem to take to the sky and keep us safe in the face of Mother Nature. During the snowy season, Rose Hill looks like a dreamy wonderland of flaky crystals within the shelter of the trees; the layers of white look like they’re straight from a Thomas Kincade painting.

Transportation

When it comes to our beloved Fordham Rose Hill Campus in the Bronx, I could take the M train from Queens, get off at West 4th Street and take the D to Fordham Road, then walk to campus. But, I often chose the Ram Van shuttle. The students who run the Ram Van advised me that the Fordham Road station is quite a distance from campus. In the winter, the walk is quite cold, and in the summer, miserably hot. 

At night, the walk from the Rose Hill campus to the D train can be dark and desolate. Our Ram Van staff recommend taking the Fordham-provided shuttle connecting campus and the subway to be safe. At the Lincoln Center campus, it is usually only a two-block walk from the 59th Street-Columbus Circle station to school. Day or night, the streets of Manhattan bustle with people, and you are never alone. Students walk in from the street, show their student IDs to security and enter the building. It is much simpler. 

Classes and Campus Culture

Lincoln Center is also known for its modern interior. All of its classes are held within three buildings. While the majority of courses offered are for undergraduate liberal arts students, Lincoln Center also hosts a global business major in the Gabelli School of Business and is also known for its law and other graduate programs. Here, one can choose a program in liberal arts, theater, business, the visual arts, education and more. 

Another huge pro of the Rose Hill campus is that it provides students with more opportunities to get involved in athletics, either as an athlete or a spectator.

As for me, I am an English major, and I love to take advantage of Lincoln Center’s vast community of liberal arts students. Most classes at Lincoln Center are held in the Lowenstein Building, and students are always just one elevator ride away from their classes. But if you decide to take the stairs and avoid this overfilled vessel of transportation, your class may be on the 11th floor. That is a lot of stairs to climb while toting a heavy backpack.

I have taken classes at Keating Hall at Rose Hill, and I must admit, it was a culture shock to me the first time I was there. The inside looks like a brick-and-mortar, old-world labyrinth of classrooms. Its library is unique with cornices that crown the room, decorated with paintings of history surrounding the inquisitive minds of students like me, like all of us. 

In the center of the first floor, one can find a small museum. Glass display cases with pictures and other historical documents show the beginnings of Rose Hill as it was built in 1841, and wooden pews and a long conference table sit in the dead center of the hall. One must wonder if our first students who lived there sat with their professors and principal at that table, dining and talking about the affairs of the day.

Another huge pro of the Rose Hill campus is that it provides students with more opportunities to get involved in athletics, either as an athlete or a spectator. Although I love Lincoln Center, it’s so much fun to cheer on our football team at our home stadium in the Bronx — go Rams! 

Which One to Pick?

As for this student, I am partial to my Lincoln Center campus. For me, as our motto hanging by the escalators reads, “New York is my campus. Fordham is my school.” Yet for anyone who wants a different place to enjoy class, go to Rose Hill for one semester and take a walk through history. Maybe King Arthur or Dumbledore will be there to greet you on the way in. Just take the adventure — I highly recommend it.