<p>on Fordham's faq page (<a href="http://www.fordham.edu/faq/%5B/url%5D">http://www.fordham.edu/faq/</a>) they have a question about "required" gpa and sat scores, and say that the required gpa is 3.7.... does this mean i can't get in with a high 3.5/ low 3.6??</p>
<p>No. The answer on that page says, “The high school GPA requirement for admission to Fordham is typically an A- average (which is equivalent to a 93 average or 3.7 gpa).” Average GPA is not a required GPA. There is a certain percentage above that average and a certain percentage below that GPA. Its more important the courses you took in high school. A student with a 3.8GPA with weak courses wont fare as well as someone with a 3.5 who took all Honors and AP courses in Junior and Senior year. </p>
<p>Admissions is getting very, very selective at Fordham because of demographics. In 2003, I think they only had 12,000 applications. A lot by most school standards. (Wake Forest averages 7,000 applications a year rather consistently). In 2007, Fordham’s applications had skyrocketed to 22,000. GPA and SAT scores have risen as well. However, if you have a strong transcript, strong character, and a good SAT score, I would not hesitate to submit your application. </p>
<p>I wish you the best of luck. The earlier you apply the better. Don’t wait until the last minute.</p>
<p>my D didn’t have a 3.7, she did for her senior year, but before not that high, and she got a merit scholarship</p>
<p>Well then she must have an SAT above 2100, correct? Because I can tell you that my child had an SAT between 2000 and 2100 and a GPA UW of 3.67, and 4.3 weighted with between 7-10 AP courses completed and all 4’s and 5’s on the AP exams and named a National AP Scholar with Distinction and marvelous EC’s…and outstanding recommendations and so forth and was offered scholarships elsewhere…but not Fordham.</p>
<p>We were told the threshold is 2100 and they stick to that pretty closely. Mind you, we didnt apply early decision or early admission and we are not from the tri-state area, so perhaps they thought we would not come…and the ones my child know’s who DID get scholarships to Fordham all have SAT’s above 2200…in one case a perfect 2400, with GPA’s that are near perfect. So if your D got one with a GPA below 3.7, congrats…but I wonder what your hook is?</p>
<p>if i retake the SAT in january, would they consider that score for scholarships?</p>
<p>My D got a scholarship based on her grades and tests, but more importantly her community service, her ECs, her involvement with her school…that made it even more special</p>
<p>I got a full scholarship as well. My SAT was above a 2100. I had all the the extras Swansong mentioned, numerous volunteer hours through my church and community, blah, blah. I really think my hook was that I was a guy from California that applied early to LC. I think cgm daughter applied from California early too. There are very few kids from California at both LC and RH. Maybe CA was the hook maybe it wasn’t. I know Fordham loves community service as well. It will be verrrrrry interesting to see what the stats for the class of 2012 will look like.</p>
<p>My D also got a merit scholarship, she did however have an SAT above 2100.</p>
<p>Drew718, did you get a national merit or a Presidential? Would you mind sharing your stats? I’m trying to figure our where my d stands. Thanks.</p>
<p>Nice to see another Fordham alum.</p>
<p>Reading your past posts I can tell that you are up on the current status of Fordham. My son is a freshman at FCRH and loves it, so I hope the best with your daughter and this whole chaotic application process. Fortunately, I have a 5yr hiatus before I need to go through it again.</p>
<p>I wish I could give great advice on the merit scholarship process at Fordham, but it is unpredictable because so many “soft” factors are considered after the student meets a minimum class rank/SAT threshold. This, I gathered from speaking to a few of the admissions counsellors last year.</p>
<p>The Fordham website seems to be true on the big scholarships to some extent. The Presidential and Jesuit scholarships appear to be limited to at most 20 students, where the SAT has a minimum 700V/700M and a class rank in the top 10%. This scholarship (from my observation) seems to be used to attract those special students (whether from the US or International) that Fordham thinks they would not get if not for this very generous full tuition/room/board scholarship. I also think that there are various reasons that come into play as to who they offer this scholarship to. But, no doubts about it, it is an extremely selective scholarship. And when you consider these 20 offerings are being split between students from Jesuit and non-Jesuit high schools, it’s virutally unpredictable from a parent’s viewpoint if their son/daughter has a good shot at it, considering there will be over 22,000 applicants. </p>
<p>The National Merit scholarship which covers full tuition only is sort of interesting. It doesn’t matter if the student is a finalist or not. In fact, being a semifinalist doesn’t mean that the student will automatically qualify for this scholarship. The student needs to be in the top 10% of the class. Also, if a student has a very high PSAT score and may have missed the semifinalist cut-off for his/her state but would have easily been considered a semifinalist in most of the other states, they could still offer this scholarship to the “Commended” student. I think Fordham has about 45 National Merit scholarship recipients in the Class of 2011.</p>
<p>The next level of merit scholarship, the Dean’s Scholarship, just says that a minimum of 670V/670M with being in the top 10% of the class is required to be considered. And, without showing a need based component, it seems that the scholarship is at $10,000.</p>
<p>But, one thing that I can definitely say, is that Fordham gives very strong consideration to the essay, the showing of a genuine commitment to social service, and how genuine and strong the interest and desire is to go to Fordham. Especially, now there are large enough numbers of excellent students who are applying that WANT to come to Fordham. My son applied very early in the early action session, and it definitely seemed to have been noticed by a couple of the admission officers that he came to the big Open House for prospective applicants in the October/November time frame. They remembered his application.</p>
<p>I also think a lot can be deduced from what happened with Fordham College’s small Honors Program on Rose Hill this year. They normally take in a maximum of 25 freshman to the program, and can usually predict how many kids to offer a spot to in order to achieve this number of 25. In this year’s freshman class, they offered the Honors Program to 36 students (thinking that about a dozen would turn it down because of not attending Fordham), but 35 of the 36 accepted (making this the largest Freshman Honors class at FCRH ever). Extra sections needed to be added in order to keep the class sizes down to do its seminar format. All of these kids could have gone off to an Ivory League school, but chose Fordham instead. In fact, I think the lone one that turned down a spot went to Harvard.</p>
<p>This is why it is so difficult to figure out who will get a particular merit scholarship. But, good luck, it’s a process that I’m glad to be finished with for awhile.</p>
<p>aren’t national hispanic scholars included in one of the scholarships?</p>
<p>Yes, National Achievement and National Hispanic Recognition falls into the same catagory as National Merit Semifinalist, with the same qualifier of being in the top 10% of your class.</p>