I am glad people attending the school are having a good time, and that they are appealing to people from around the world. I do hope they rise, and that their graduates give back by providing opportunities for internships and post-grad employment to the ones behind them. And I can see there was a real need for folks in Orlando to have a law school accessible to them (plus, unlike many of the rest of non-Miami Florida law schools, it's actually located in a city with an international airport). UF and FSU might be the highest ranked, but they really do not have any curb appeal being in rather racist small town locations.
I wouldn't consider it because of previous experience with FAMU's administrative side...(and not wanting to live in Orlando).
How have you found the experience with financial aid and such?
I am not a native Floridian, but have lived in various part of the state. When my wife and I moved to Miami in the 80's we never experienced any issues at all. We both are from NYC and harbored some stereotypical thoughts about how an interracial couple would fare in the South. So anyone concerned about going to the either of the top ranked law schools in Florida should not use the poster's comments as a factor in their decision.
I think generalizations about a city or town being "racist" are uncalled for. Tallahassee and Gainsville in 2010 are not the same as the "old South"
Say what you want but with a black school pumping out graduates by the truckload, and many with good grades/resumes at that, seeing tallahassee full and overflowing in the government and public sector with FSU GRADS at every level kind of quietly, subtly bunks your claim.
EDUCATED black people are not getting ahead in Tallahassee compared to other cities that have an HBCU in their midst (DC metro, Atlanta metro, e.g.) nor compared to FSU grads and if you check out the more family friendly side of town with good schools (Killearn) versus where most of the black people in town live (SE side off Lake Bradford/Roberts areas) you realize what I am saying. There is a bias in hiring practices there for any REAL jobs that a college graduate would be angling for that favors light, bright, and white FSU grads. And that's saying a lot since the place is not that sharp of a job market to begin with.
As an actual student though who has none of these real world concerns, or as a family with two working people (any kind of job), this doesn't matter...the college side of town has tons of fun no matter the colour, and families can find affordable housing on the NE side of town where the good public schools are if they are both working.
But when it comes to law school the point is to look at not just IF anyone is getting jobs in the area you want to live and work after you get your JD, but WHO is getting the jobs...
Same way i looked at around at OVERALL (not the exceptions) who gets ahead in Tallahassee...there is a majority black school right there the town should have much better representation at all levels of professional and government life of that ease of access to educated talent. A ton of companies have great relationships with FAMU and come every year and scoop up folks...most of the blacks that stay in tallahassee are stuck in a rut of a life, and the only way to progress out of it is to use any experience they got while there to transfer out of town.
Being able to have an interracial relationship in a college town doesn't prove anything about the racism that affects people getting ahead with that first foot in the door professionally and financially. The amount of interracial sex going on between the major college campuses and even the minor ones, I don't know that anyone would know the difference between the casual sleeping around buddies and the husband and wife types unless they were looking for the ring. Racism is everywhere but it's more pronounced in smaller places and I have friends that have encountered racism in Gainesville they didn't see in Tallahassee, and thats going from a masters program to a PhD. Not from the school from the people in the community and at their child's school.
I have encountered some nasty condescending attitudes and lack of professionalism and competence from FSU's law school so definitely I wouldn't apply there personally if my life depended on it, but I wasn't even talking about the schools themselves when i said racism I meant underlying things observed with the towns and reports from the upwardly mobile (or trying to be) in these towns.