<p>" But before they get all excited about the “novelty” of going to college in Canada, I was simply making the point they need to consider all the factors in that."</p>
<p>Novelty? All the people I know who were interested in Fordham chose it because it was the best school they could get into in the NYC area. They couldn’t get into Columbia, NYU, or Barnard, but were desperate to be ‘New Yorkers’ for their undergraduate education anyway. Take Fordham out of the area and it is hardly competitive with any top school using any method of consideration.</p>
<p>My close friend went to Fordham in Fall '08. He is now working on transferring to another school for the Spring term because he says he “can’t stand to go to Fordham another day.” He describes it as the opposite of academic, and says it is full of spoiled rich brats who just want to be in the area.</p>
<p>Edit to say: I am applying to McGill as a safety of sorts, even though I have many qualms about the size (impersonal, yes) and, of course, the weather. 
However, McGill is still an academic great in the world and, I think, still has name recognition in the states (still, depending on major).</p>