Based on several of these posts, I’m very surprised that my S18 did NOT get a fee waiver. Visited in early summer, very high test scores and GPA. Maybe because he’s a public school student in an area unlikely to send many students to the Bronx?
@byadg123 - I know one of her Gabelli friends took Spanish for a year. Foreign Language isn’t a requirement for Gabelli students and he just took improve his Spanish.
My daughter at one point, unfortunately decided to enroll in PreHealth at Fordham and that greatly limited her choices to take anything “fun” because of the heavy class load. If she hadn’t done that, she would have loved to have taken The Philosophy of Harry Potter (really, this was a class) or even another music class. Sometimes there is a class that can be taken that will also satisfy a Core requirement. She had taken Intro to Music, it was a core requirement and she loved that.
@appalachymom - I doubt there are hard and fast rules. It might be a decision of your local admis guy, not the general office and she might have arbitrary rules. D did a really good job of post-visit sucking up, plus met a dept woman on her April visit - one from each campus!. No one from our NC school has ever applied so maybe that’s something?
I’ve also read that some schools don’t try too hard for kids who are “overqualified” - maybe your S’s numbers are high enough that they assume that they are his safety. My D is a match, not a slam dunk.
Based on your handle, do you have someone at App State in Boone? It’s both my daughters’ safety.
@MomTheChauffer - She doesn’t have the faintest idea of what she wants to study beyond something that will pay enough that she doesn’t have to move home!!
@byadg123 Thanks for the response. No, I don’t have anyone at Appalachian State, we are just from a (different)Appalachian state. And an area with few Catholics, so maybe that also played a role? We are Catholic, but not sure if there was anywhere to report that.
Fordham is a safety for my son, but we are very interested in merit aid and the Honors Program. We all loved the campus!
My son should probably contact our regional admissions officer. There are some questions we have about the science programs.
I doubt the Catholic thing means much anymore. I recall reading it’s only 50% these days but I’m not sure where i saw it. Don’t know if it’s different at RH vs LC.
I’ll be really surprised if D doesn’t get in but I only call it a safety if you’re well above the 25-75 range and she isn’t. I really can’t guess since I have no idea what the range or average is for LC. Please share if you’ve seen the split by campus.
@appalachymom I wasn’t searching for this but stumbled upon it in the Marist forum https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB991083160294634500
@byadg123 Thanks! I was only able to read a little of the article, because of the paywall, but I understand the concept. I"ve heard of schools doing that referred to as suffering from “Tufts Syndrome”. I hope that Fordham doesn’t do that in our case; we really like the school!
@appalachymom - a good suck up email never hurts: “I’m really upset that my parents won’t let me apply early decision!”
@appalachymom - Marist has a good science program. In fact a co-worker of mine, her son went to Marist as a chemistry major and went on to do his Masters and now his PhD at NYU.
Even though Fordham just recently received a very large donation to the science department, it’s too little too late for us. My daughter did PreHealth at Fordham and she saw just how outdated the labs are. She had to attend a seminar at Gabelli and she was amazed at how up-to-date their facilities are compared to what FCRH kids have to deal with.
Marist is a beautiful campus, much like Fordham. I live in the Hudson Valley and it’s less than an hours drive from me.
Mu daughter had applied to Marist and it was her only “waitlist” result. She didn’t show much interest in it, mainly because it was too close to home (meanwhile Fordham was literally an hour away).
@byadg123 @MomTheChauffer Thanks for the latest info. I have been a bit concerned about what I’ve read about science facilities at Fordham. It sounds like some of the smaller Liberal Arts Colleges on son’s list (that also offer merit $) might have better facilities. But Fordham has other things that are SO very attractive that I hoped that for basic undergrad science the Fordham facilities would be adequate. Since my son may consider grad (PhD, not professional) school, I thought that moving to another university for that would be good enough. If a large merit scholarship is offered, we will return to Fordham to really check out science facilities.
Good info about Marist. It’s a bit outside of our preferred radius. Fordham is also a little far, but the access to public transportation and family in Manhattan increase the attractiveness.
I’m so glad that my D’s aren’t talking about graduate $chool!
Warning - Unasked for advice: Make an appointment directly with the department chair or at least some professor in the field that he’s considering and ask which graduate schools last year’s seniors are attending. Don’t go through admissions who may try to steer you. We called the head honcho for design at each campus and their offices were great. At RH the vice-honcho spent an hour with us and took us into studios to hang out with working students. At LC very few people were around so the Honcho’s secretary who’s been there forever (and I think runs the joint) walked us around the studios, gallery spaces, and general areas outside the official tour - she introduced us to everyone we saw. Woman at LC told my D to pick I few items from her portfolio and send directly to her with the application. (You don’t submit a portfolio for admission - this is outside the standard process) If the department liked what it saw they could put in a good word at admissions and maybe even throw some scholarship money her way! It might be $500 but who cares? Might be $5,000. Or 0.
My younger son got the fee waiver. He is in Southern California. He has a 4.5 and 1470 SAT with an 800 Math. He was not considering Fordham but for free, he will throw his hat in the ring. My older son goes to LMU.