<p>Well, BC and Notre Dame waitlisted me, and I was rejected by Georgetown, but I am still relatively happy with my choices. I have narrowed it down to Villanova and Fordham, but am having a tough time deciding because they are so similar. Right now, I'm leaning towards Villanova.</p>
<p>What I have been considering so far:</p>
<p>-I think Villanova is considered to be slightly more academically prestigious than Fordham (althugh, that may be because of Villanova's business and engineering schools). I am majoring in political science, and I think their programs are comparable.
-Athletics are a bigger part of the college experience at Villanova. While I don't play sports, I enjoy watching them, but the tradeoff it seems is that Villanova is more of a jock school.
-I'm interested in being a member of the band in college, and I think it would be more fun to be a member of the band in Villanova, which is the more athletically competitive school.
-I definitely prefer Fordham's campus.
-I definitely prefer Villanova's location.
-Villanova's core curriculum seems a lot more daunting and less appealing to me than Fordham's which is more lax.
-I like the idea of Villanova's learning communities for freshmen.
-Fordham initially gave me less aid than Villanova, but I asked them to consider giving me more, and they ended up giving me another $5000. While cost isn't a major issue, I thought that was really nice of them. As of now, both schools are offering me about the same amount of aid (a little over 17k) and will cost about the same. Fordham's aid is almost all merit (they chose me as a Dean's scholar being in the top 6% of their applicant pool) whereas Villanova's is mostly need-based. Villanova said its aid was non-negotiable.
-Fordham has expressed more interest in me.</p>
<p>If anyone can offer any other opinions, comparisons, or thoughts, I'd greatly appreciate them.
Thanks!</p>
<p>nova is a "better" school, just felt like a fun place to go to (at least it felt that way for me) and while daunting, the CC gives you a liberal arts perspective, which is kind of cool for a university of its size.</p>
<p>although, i'm a little biased, as I will be enrolling this fall =)</p>
<p>the quality of life at fordham is similar to the monotony of drexel - boring and bad food. Definitely villanova. I know friends at both and the nova students are much more enthusiastic about their experience than those at fordham, plus, nova just has better academics overall.</p>
<p>I agree, Vanilla-nova/Villa no fun is an overrated, provincial school in the middle of nowhere. Atleast Fordham has NYC and is gaining in prestige every year (admission rate @ Fordham is now 40%).</p>
<p>WOOOOOOW if you think Villanova is a no name school that is overrated, I am assuming you didn't get in or have something absurdly wrong with it? Villanova is a great school that is probably underrated to some degree. I would get to know your facts and actually listen to how many people actually know about Villanova all over the country.</p>
<p>I felt obligated to respond to this post for the fact I was a former member of the Villanova community and then choose to transfer to Fordham which was the best move I ever made. I just graduated this past spring and am now working as an analyst in IB at Goldman in Midtown. Villanova definately had its benefits regarding a nicer secluded area, but Fordham has stronger overall connections, a better rep in the business world, and if you are thinking about going to law school Fordham undergrads are much more highly respected then Villanovas according to my observations from my peers in both classes and where they got in. Villanova is definately not a bad choice I mean I choose it intially too but Fordham was the better choice and I am definately glad I fixed a mistake I made and you might be too.</p>
<p>Well, each has strong offerings, but let's look at how the expert's rate each. USN&WR Ranks Fordham 61st among ALLL major, national universities in the US. That is, all major PhD granting research univerities. This includes the Ivies, southern Ivies, major national universities, etc. Villanova is ranked #1 in the northeast regon of master's granting programs. That is only about 200 schools in the Northeast vs, 2,000 major national univertsities.
So, USN&WR does not even compare these school as they are apples and oranges.<br>
Consider there are 6 regions USN&WR reports, so there are 6 schools ranked #1 in each. Per USN&WR, Villanova is one of six #1 schools...and regionally #1 as only compared to schools like Scranton, Farifield, Marist, Quinnipiac etc. One of six #1's sort of makes a #1 less meaningful, while Fordham is 61 in the MUCH larger pool of major universities, like Yale, Michigan, Harvard, MIT, Notre Dame, Princeton, UPenn, etc. Another way to look at it; Villanove is a big fish in one of 6 little ponds, Fordham is a not so big fish in the biggest pond with the biggest fish. Best Colleges books rate them about the same.
Fordham has more resources and opportunites, Villanova has some excellenct programs. But let's be very clear here, as each is in a different category, it cannot be proven that Villanova is academically better than Fordham as an equal argument can be made that Fordham is academically better that Villanova.
Each are fine schools. Each are a notch below BC, ND and Georgetown.
Pick the school that meets your needs.</p>
<p>I hate to break the cycle here but Fordham is a better school than Villanova. I was accepted into Villanova, NYU, and UPenn but I went with Fordham. I don’t mean to degrade Villanova but the campus was a little unorganized. The business department at Villanova may be better but the political science department, and philosophy department are better at Fordham. I am planning to attend Georgetown this upcoming semester for my masters, and Fordham being a Jesuit university has definitely helped me in my acceptance.</p>
<p>benjjay… why in the WORLD would you go to Fordham over Penn…</p>
<p>i think Villanova is more selective than fordham (judging from people who get in and stats). I didn’t really like Fordham’s location, badish area… i wasn’t crazy about nova’s either… kind of felt secluded</p>
<p>i would definately put nova’s campus over fordhams however </p>
<p>also, a good portion of undergrads at fordham commute… which is a negative </p>
<p>Here are the numbers on the two schools if it helps.</p>
<p>Villanova: 39% accepted, 1295 (88/89th percentile) Average SAT of those who actually attend, 11 to 1 student to faculty ratio.</p>
<p>Fordham: 47%, 1225 SAT (81st percentile), 12 to 1. </p>
<p>Considering that Villanova and Fordham probably have similar professors in all of their departments (Smart individuals with PhDs mostly from the Ivy League and major state schools like Michigan and Cal), I’d choose the school that seems to get the better students (based on SAT scores) and offers smaller classes. And that school seems to be Villanova.</p>
<p>For 2011 the 50% mean range of SATs for Fordham is 1890-2050, or a 1275 (86st percentile), acceptance rate is now 42%. Fordham is now ranked 53rd in National Reseach Universities group in 2012 USN&WR.</p>
<p>Given that Fordham has a School of General Studies -Ignatian College (Jesuit mission to serve the community) whose (lower aggregate) SATs are included in the FU reporting average and that Villanova has no such comparable school, I would say if we removed the School of General Studdies, the SAT profile between the two schools are pretty much the same now.</p>
<p>It would be fair to say Robothouse84’s 2010 statement is pretty much nullified in 2012.</p>
<p>Just bumming;
…Funny…I know kids at both and while all say the food is better at VU, my friends find the kids at Fordham have more to do, more internship and job opportunities, love their school as much if not more than kids at Nova. As for academics the current numbers speak for themselves and you really can’t prove VU is “Better” than Fordham as they are ranked in a smaller category.</p>
<p>Both schools are practically a toss up as to which is better. There are positive qualities at each school. So, I suggest you think of yourself 4 years from now. </p>
<p>If you go to Fordham, you will be in the location you loved and with a more lax (your word) core curriculm. Graduating from Fordham you will get to put “Dean’s Scholar” on your resume. At Villanova, you don’t seem to be in their Honors program, excuse me if I’m wrong, nor did you receive a Dean’s scholarship.</p>
<p>To me, Fordham is the stronger choice. And as for missing the marching band-maybe Fordham has a cool jazz band. If not, perhaps you could start one ?</p>
<p>Funny how people at Villanova do not see fordham as a competing institution, but rather for those on VU’s waitlist…</p>
<p>Villanova avg SAT score as reported by collegboard 1300
Fordham avg SAT score as reported by collegeboard 1245 VU is 55pts higher</p>
<p>Fresh retention rate at Nova 95%
Fresh retention rate at Fordham 90%</p>
<p>According to USnews student/faculty ratio at Nova is 11:1
At Fordham the ratio is 13:1</p>
<p>I am not sure of the validity but this link shows how students accepted to both generally attend Villanova reassuring my original point that usually Nova waitlisted students go on to attend Fordham.</p>