As a recent Fordham graduate I believe I have my two sense to add. Both homeowner and iyhbyu have made valid points. First off, it is definitely true that undergraduate writing is very very different than law writing, and for homeowner to suggest otherwise is either dishonest or things have really changed since his days in law school. That being said, there are many yeshiva guys that lack even the basic high school writing skills. They don’t know any english, have no idea where to put a comma, etc. It is those yeshiva guys that are in for a big surprise when they get to law school. A yeshiva guy who had a decent secular education in high school, and learned how to write properly, will not be too far behind an english major. In fact, many of my more intelligent classmates expressed frustration at the “dumbing down” of legal writing from the writing they were used to. Another issue is that some people just dont have the knack for expressing their ideas in writing, and a yeshiva guy who never went to college will have no idea if he falls into that category. ihybyu- I don’t know how you could be so confident after one semester, at this point, you probably have gotten one, maybe two papers graded, you’ve got a lot ahead of you.
In Fordham, the writing course is not pass/fail, and I don’t know of any school that does it that way. However, it is only a 2 credit course. That being said, prospective employers care more about your grade in legal writing than any other course. Someone in the top 3rd, who got a B in legal writing, will be at a tremendous disadvantage.
Fordham took a lot of BTLs for the class of 2013. I would say around 10-15. However, almost all of them had trouble getting in. As far as the study that was done, they determined that yeshiva guys almost always finish in the bottom 5 percent OR THE TOP 5 PERCENT. If you don’t believe me call Dean Brown, the dean of admission. I heard this directly from him.
IMO, the reason many yeshiva guys don’t do well is because everyone works hard in law school. The only exception, in my experience, is some yeshiva guys. This is due to a variety of reasons including that many have wives, families, or their lack of discipline in their yeshiva years. If you have any questions that I could help with, feel free to ask.
homeowner- Relax, it’s the yw coffee room, don’t take everything so personally.