<p>Hi I am currently deciding where to go for University.</p>
<p>I just wanted to ask for some insight on which of the three schools would be best in terms of academics, athletics, prestige, campus dining, facilities as well as dorm life. The three schools being College of the Holy Cross vs Bentley University vs Fordham University.</p>
<p>Thanks so much.</p>
<p>Can’t help on Bentley, as I don’t know. Holy Cross and Fordham are both Jesuit. There are several threads here in the CC archives, under Fordham and other places which compare them. Check those. </p>
<p>But in short, very close schools academically, though Holy Cross is smaller and a true LAC. Fordham is larger and in New York and has a significant graduate school and law school population, as well as a large business college. Fordham also has a campus in Manhattan at Lincoln Center. They play each other in football every year. Patriot League.</p>
<p>Do you prefer Boston to New York? Its up to you.</p>
<p>My cousin went to Bentley. Something about AP credit policy allowed him to graduate a year early. You may want to look into that.</p>
<p>You have three excellent choices, congratulations! I think you need think about what you want to study in college.<br>
-Bentley is strictly a business school – if you don’t want to major in some aspect of business (accounting, finance) it is not a good fit. Bentley was one of my S’s final choices but in the end he felt that he wanted a school with a full range of majors and students with a variety of interests. But that was a personal choice.
-On the other hand, I don’t think (but I could be wrong) that HC has a big business program – it seems to be more of a traditional LAC. If you want business (which I’m guessing is the case if Bentley is a top choice) just be sure that HC has the type of program that you want.
-Fordham has both a full business school and a full liberal arts program. Lots of internship opportunities as well.
Picking a college is a very personal choice. You just need to figure out the best fit. Good luck.</p>
<p>HC has a well regarded economics/accounting program and has some strong alumni networks into Wall Street.</p>
<p>Hey. I just chose Fordham over Holy Cross specifically because I was much more likely to get a job on Wall Street (Finance) graduating from fordham rather than Holy Cross. Holy Cross does not have a business school and their closest degrees to business are Econ and Accounting. They do have a pre-business program but it doesn’t come up on top business school rankings.</p>
<p>Welcome to Fordham! Its a great school.</p>
<p>Holy Cross is much more highly ranked, but you probably already know that.</p>
<p>It’s difficult to compare Fordham and Holy Cross’s rankings. Fordham is a national research university competing against all of the Ivies, top tier public schools, etc. while Holy Cross is a true liberal arts college that competes with other top tier LACs. According to U.S. News, Fordham is the 61st national university while Holy Cross is the 36th LAC. I’d say those rankings are fairly comparable.</p>
<p>I’ll take the exact opposite POV on LACs versus universities. Setting aside the mania that attends the USNWR rankings, I think you have the scale tilted in the wrong direction…</p>
<p>The debate over the perceived superiority of a true full service national research university (made up of several colleges and professional schools) or a liberal arts college is as old as many of the schools in that debate. The lines have been blurred by many schools adopting the name “university”, while some LAC’s also have graduate programs and/or professional schools. Fordham is a true University, with several colleges and professional schools and a total enrollment of nearly 15,000 students. Its a very large school in the aggregate, but broken up nicely into smaller collegiate communities. Its what makes Fordham so special. Holy Cross is a true Liberal Arts College, focusing on undergraduate education in essentially one college. Its a fabulous school. </p>
<p>I dislike pitting one school against another, though in a college selection process we must all make decisions, some of which is highly subjective and personal, and some of which is based on objective criteria, which may or may not matter to any one individual student.</p>
<p>There is no question that Holy Cross is a fine institution that produces very well educated, Jesuit enhanced, graduates who go on to do great things in their lives, both professionally and personally. </p>
<p>While there is a pecking order among Jesuit colleges, that too is also subject to criticism. I know people at Marquette who are enthralled and getting a superb education. I would venture to say that even some of the lesser known Jesuit colleges are also producing fine graduates, have superb faculty and serve their communities with dignity and great aplomb.</p>
<p>That a student picks Holy Cross over Fordham or Fordham over Holy Cross or BC over either of them, or vice versa is just a matter of individual preference, perhaps only for location. In our immediate case, we strongly considered applying to Holy Cross, but chose not to because it was another several hours north (distance and convenience) and did not feel that if accepted would have ended up there. It had nothing to do with the quality of education, ranking, size. Fordham is in New York City, Fordham is about as Jesuit as they come, and its relatively convenient for travel with JFK and LaGuardia at your doorstep, plus train and bus service.</p>
<p>Some people seek out small New England colleges. In fact, there is an athletic conference made up of LAC’s in the Northeast: Middlebury, Bates, Bowdoin, Connecticut College, Tufts, Williams etc. Holy Cross is in the Patriot League, with Fordham in football. Fordham moved from the Patriot League in basketball to the larger and more prominent A10. The Patriot League is well known as a superb academic conference as well with Bucknell, Lafayette, Lehigh, Colgate, Holy Cross. </p>
<p>Truth be known, I wish that the Jesuits would move around on circuit to each Jesuit college every 5 years or so, so that one Jesuit school can’t hoard the best professors and administrators to the detriment of others. Some get transferred on orders from their Provincials, and sometimes from Rome. Fordham has had several distinguished Jesuits teaching there “on loan” for several years. </p>
<p>Its normal to be competitive with peer schools. But I really dislike getting too caught up in all of that. Some really good Jesuit schools among the 28 in the USA are often missed entirely by applicants.</p>