Getting a little worried!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Fordham University
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<p>So, I'm applying to Fordham early action and I'm starting to question my chances. Could anyone take a look? Thanks! </p>

<p>ACT: 31
Weighted GPA: 3.6
UW GPA: 3.0
ECs:
400+ hours of community service
2 jobs (one of which is frequent)
Captain of state finalist volleyball team
Captain of nationally competing club VB team
Hooks: I'm Catholic, so maybe that will help?
High School: Top ten public schools in
Illinois</p>

<p>Schedule: All honors and AP classes
Grade Trend: Slight dip junior year</p>

<p>I also posted this on a different college section as an FYI. Any tips would also be appreciated!</p>

<p>Thanks! </p>

2

<p>The ACT is likely fine. The gpa not so much. Depends on how they value the quality of your classes on your transcript, which sound good…and that often covers the gpa if your B’s came in AP courses. I think you will be fine overall. </p>

<p>Now about EA. Its non binding. Fordham gets over 10,000 applications in the EA cycle. They can pick and choose the creme de la creme and offer scholarships. Not saying they will defer you to RD, but it can happen. Its a complicated matrix and nobody here works there and knows what they will do. To some extent it depends on your competition in the applicant pool. </p>

<p>If they defer, they may wait to see how you do THIS semester, so be certain to work your behind off and get the highest grades you can, so that you look good in the RD cycle. Kids DO get in RD from the deferred list every year. Its not a death sentence. </p>

<p>Then again, if you are a male, there are fewer male applicants than female and that will help some. And being from Illinois, a state they like to recruit applicants, that will also help. </p>

<p>My kid came from a top public school (nationally ranked) and had a boatload of AP courses. And got in. </p>

<p>Make sure you file your CSS early and your FAFSA as soon as possible/practical, in the event you dont get scholarship money and need university grant money to afford Fordham. They are being more generous with financial aid since tuition has risen so much.</p>

<p>Years ago, you would be admitted with a blindfold. Not anymore. 1260 median SAT score and gpa 3.6. I dont know if that is weighted or not, but suspect they take that into consideration as strength of your coursework matters. </p>

<p>Every college uses the basic question: “Will this applicant be successful at our school?” My answer for you is yes. On that basis you get in. But I am not them and I have no clue what factors will influence them this year or how strong the applicant pool is and so forth.</p>

<p>Good luck.
p.s. go ahead and have a Plan B. Its ALWAYS wise to have several schools in mind. Admissions by its nature is quirky and not always fair and often very frustrating. Write a powerful essay that comes from your heart and is genuine, true and shows your intellect, skills and compassion. </p>

<p>Don’t fret over it. Make Fordham your top choice, then also apply EA non binding to other schools, or wait for the RD pool. </p>

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<p>Thanks so much for taking the time to help! Unfortunately, I had 3 Cs junior year, (English AP, Math Honors, Physics Honors). I am worried that the letter grade drop in those classes will turn off Fordham and any other colleges, what do you think? </p>

<p>On a side note, they were all within 1% of a B, but that does not matter at all when it comes to admissions :(( 8-X </p>

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<p>Great to hear you are interested in Fordham. My DD just started and really likes it. So, here is my opinion: you have a decent chance of getting in since EA demonstrates strong interest. However, your weighted GPA probably includes some fluff classes like PE, Art, etc. These classes are taken out and your GPA is recalculated. So, it will most likely NOT be a 3.6 by the time Fordham considers it. My DD had over a 4.0 and they had her GPA as a little above a 3.6 on their formal records, after they “recalculated it.” I would try your best in your classes and perhaps retake the ACT. Also, with your current GPA, merit money might not be in the stars for you. Fordham is expensive, so keep that in mind. Good luck. </p>

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<p>@mexusa Thanks for the insight. Do you know what they consider “fluff” and what not? For example: Web Design, Business Ownership etc.? Also, are the reported admission stats using recalculated grades or the initial grades that students come in with? </p>

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<p>JackintheBeanStalk:</p>

<p>Just kidding. </p>

<p>Well, nobody here can say for certain what happens. Only what happened to us and every year the pool changes and all sorts of surprises happen, both up and down/in and out. It never hurts to try. </p>

<p>Those C’s in core classes, AP level and Honors are not good. It depends on the strength of your school. It depends on why you got a C. Will the teachers in those classes write good recommendations or explanations of your grade? What will your counselor say? </p>

<p>I would include YOUR explanation with the application. Don’t blame the teachers. Be honest and genuine and tell Fordham what you learned from the experience. But I suspect they defer you EA and wait to see what happens with grades THIS semester. </p>

<p>Fordham is a school that requires a lot of paper writing. Old fashioned reading, note taking, researching and paper writing. The core includes English, Philosophy, Theology, History, Science and Math. That means Fordham LOOKS at similar courses in high school as indicators of your likelihood of success. </p>

<p>Also some schools grade on the 10 point scale. Some grade on the 8 or 7 point scale. Thus with the former its easier to get a B with a score of 80, whereas on a lower scale its a C. That needs to be explained if that is the case. </p>

<p>Dont be a whiner when explaining your situation, but tell them what happened. If you just blew it, then say you “lost focus” and paid a stiff price from which you learned not to let happen again. Tell them you own it. Then prove that right with good grades now. </p>

<p>Plan on a deferral. That isnt fatal. It means you wont know until end of March what will happen. Make some choices for solid match schools, to cover your tracks. Every year too many kids have delusions of grandeur and apply ONLY to reach schools and get hammered. I knew a kid with great scores and great grades and a HUGE ego. Applied only to Ivy schools and got denied…then was VERY bitter, nasty and surly. Really? Hate to see hopes dashed, but you gotta be grounded too. </p>

<p>Fordham may take you. The SAT/ACT counts a lot…its a good indicator of raw horsepower. But your grades indicated you might be lazy. They will want to know what happened. Sickness? Sadness over a loss? Too many extra curriculars (kiss of death?) Tell them what happened.</p>

<p>Good luck. </p>

7

<p>Bump?</p>

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<p>Not sure what more anyone here can tell you – nobody works in admissions. The 2017 class profile is below and you can see for yourself how you stack up. To me, It looks like you have a shot but you are not a shoe-in (especially with the C’s junior year). All you make your application as strong as possible (ex. good essays, recommendations etc.) and hope for the best. Good luck
<a href=“http://www.fordham.edu/admissions/undergraduate_admiss/applying/class_profile_28473.asp”>http://www.fordham.edu/admissions/undergraduate_admiss/applying/class_profile_28473.asp&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Bump? </p>

10

<p>As always Soverigendebt gives excellent advice. Perhaps my Ds experience might be something of an indicator. When my D applied 5 years ago, she had a 3.8 from a public HS recalculated to 3.7, ACT 32 and some extra curricular, clubs plus volunteer work. She got into the following: College of New Jersey, Marist, Scranton, Manhattan, Fairfield, Drew, UCONN and Villanova…all offered some $. She liked Scranton but there were things about Nova she didn’t like.</p>

<p>She was wait-listed by Lehigh and deferred by Fordham pending her final grads. She got good grades her last year and got into Fordham; she was happy as Fordham was her first choice. I was surprised that she was deferred given that she is a legacy (I am an alum).</p>

<p>So, with some C’s you really need to have a good showing your senior year as FU is a bit tougher than it was 5 years ago.</p>

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<p>I’ll give you my daughter’s stats since she’s in the class of '17:
SAT: 1760
ACT: 28
Class Rank: 9/126
AP US - 3
AP Euro - 4
All honors classes and graduated with advanced designation. Member of National Honor Society and Spanish National Honor Society.
GPA: 3.8 (not weighted)
Accepted to: SUNY Albany; College of St. Rose, Manhattan College, Fordham (attending), University of California-San Diego; University of California-Santa Barbara, Elon, Flagler College.</p>

<p>Rejected: University of Miami, University of Southern California, Boston University, Northwestern, UCLA</p>

<p>Waitlisted: Marist</p>

<p>She also attended a Catholic HS in NYC, which I think helped A LOT with the Fordham acceptance. They had accepted one of my daughter’s friends with a Presidential Scholarship for EA, and her stats were much higher than my daughter’s. My daughter received a small Jogues scholarship, but great grant money. She received merit money from most schools (except the UC’s).<br>
Her extra curricular’s were clubs and lots of volunteer work. </p>

<p>It is getting harder and harder to get into Fordham. I think if she was applying this time around, she might not get in because of that SAT score. So your ACT is good, but those C’s might hurt. I would seriously consider doing regular decision. We did EA for Miami and Elon and she only got into Elon, but the offered no merit and very small grant, which was fine by us, she didn’t really get a good vibe from Elon. </p>

<p>Fordham was the next to last school to hear from and I was quite surprised to see she got in with such a good FA package. I’d rather have a small scholarship and bigger grant so there’s less stress to maintain that GPA to keep the scholarship. Fordham is tough. It is really testing her. Things came easy, but not now. She is actually having to work harder than she ever had to before. If your ECs are strong along with your essay to make you stand out, you might have a chance.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

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<p>Realized that I did not answer your questions: the GPA used in stats has to be the recalculated one since everyone I know at Fordham came in with a GPA well above 3.6. As for “fluff” classes, it depends on where you are applying. If you are going for Gabelli, they will count business electives. However, art classes probably would only count for someone who is interested in that field.
Good luck and hit the books. </p>

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<p>@MomTheChauffer‌ Why do you recommend regular decision? I am very curious. </p>

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<p>@RamRay‌ Was her GPA unweighted or weighted or weighted if you don’t mind me asking? </p>

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<p>Mom:</p>

<p>Thanks for that information. I am glad your kid got in and got money. But it underscores my point that Fordham financial aid is beyond quirky and biased. Its a private school and they can do what they want…and they do. My kid had SAT scores substantially higher than your kid, she had 9 AP’s and with all 5’s (I am not kidding) and an unweighted GPA of 3.9, in a nationally ranked public school here (southern state) and a BOATLOAD of her classmates went to Duke, Wake, UNC, UVa, Davidson, Furman, NCState. What did Fordham offer? A decent grant but NO merit aid. I know several stories from her classmates of kids who went to catholic schools in the tristate area or other cities and had scores below hers and they got scholarship money. Its very very vexing. We had to just bite our lip and move along…grrrr.</p>

<p>Elon is a very beautiful campus with an excellent reputation and increasingly a high percentage of kids from the northeast. Its Disciples of Christ by its formation but they are rather secular in how they run the school and no religious indoctrination occurs. They are very inclusive. They offered my kid a huge scholarship, but she had wanderlust to go far away and be in New York. So it goes.</p>

<p>Jack: I wont speak for Mom. But I suspect she feels like I do that you may risk being deferred EA with those grades Junior year. If you do apply EA, be prepared for that…don’t be bitter. And hang in there as they regularly take kids RD who were deferred EA. The EA kids who get in, tend to be in the upper part of the applicant pool and very high scores and grades. No harm in trying, but don’t be expecting miracles. Is it fair? I dunno. Depends on your perspective. Only you know what happened Junior Year. As I said, they will want to see your grades THIS semester and if they are As then you are probably good to go. Just saying.</p>

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<p>Okay, could we please stop putting people down? Each student has their own profile to offer a school, and that includes a variety of stats, ECs and even personal struggles. So, try your best and apply where your heart tells you to. Best of luck to you and may you end up in the school that embraces you and your special talents. </p>

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<p>mex:</p>

<p>If that is aimed at me, I dont understand where it comes from. I was NOT putting anyone down. You have promoted your kid’s stats a lot on this board. I was merely stating that Fordham admissions/scholarshipcomittee/financial aid is quirky and very arbitrary. Anyone who gets the money should take it and run and I said so and congratulate them. I was criticizing the PROCESS, not the person.</p>

<p>If it were up to me, there would be no merit scholarships and there would ONLY be very generous financial aid (grants, not loans) to those with demonstrated need, and people who have the money (i.e. annual income) should just pay the freight. What that figure would be, I don’t know. The Ivy League I believe says anyone with an income below 160k a year gets generous grants so they dont have to take on student debt. Davidson does the same thing. </p>

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<p>Back to the question at hand from the OP…I think the idea of applying RD would be that you would have more time to show strong grades from senior year which could perhaps help you to over come the C’s junior year. But it is your call. If you apply EA and get deferred you will still have that chance, but if you apply EA and get rejected then you won’t.</p>

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<p>And an aside… I would say that people share their kid’s stats as a guide to others in an attempt to be helpful, When you use the phrase “My kid had SAT scores substantially higher than your kid” that will comes off to many, including myself, as setting up a comparison meant to put down others and “promote” (in your words) your own child. This is not helpful to anyone. If you want to share your D’s stats you should feel free, but there is no need to compare them to those of other students.</p>

<p>And I happen to respectfully disagree with your ideas about financial aid, but that is a matter of opinion not for this thread. IMO, merit money does a great deal to bring outstanding students to campus who otherwise likely would have chosen another college. I find that many of these students add a add a great deal to the student body at Fordham.</p>

<p>And please don’t PM me again asking me not to disagree with you!</p>

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<p>Spirit, I agree with you. Mom was trying to be helpful and fully admitted that she thought that the Catholic HS her child attended probably helped with Fordham admissions. She was clearly not trying to promote or brag about her child’s stats. She was trying to give information from a couple of years ago because it’s more current than 5 years ago (RamRay’s info).</p>

<p>JackRedBlueGreen, good luck with your application. Most of the advice on here has been good. I would advise you to apply early action if Fordham is really your first choice and prepare for the possibility of being deferred. Work hard to get good grades this semester and if you are deferred you can try to get additional recommendations or supply them with new information for your application (accomplishments, awards, volunteer work) do it. If you end up waitlisted, don’t give up hope. Write to them and tell them why Fordham is your first choice and that if accepted you will attend. I know someone who did this several years ago and was admitted from the waitlist a week later. He is a great kid and Fordham is lucky to have him. His advice to anyone who is deferred or waitlisted is not to get angry, or feel hopeless or rejected, just keep trying for Fordham if it’s where you really want to be. Good luck with this process.</p>