My son was accepted into Fordham’s Global Business Honors Program for the Fall of 2020. Our oldest daughter is an alum of Fordham and we had a great experience . However, our son, SAT 1510 GPA 4.6, also got accepted into Georgetown’s Walsh school of Foreign Service. In the Walsh school, is their Global Business as well as its Global Economics majors. Fordham has offered him over $110,000 in merit money over 4 years - which is really helpful. However, the prestige of Georgetown is pretty hard to turn down - however, Georgetown does not offer merit money. Although money is always enticing - I was wondering if anyone else has had this choice? or has any experience with either of the programs? Thanks!
I think it is comes down to what your son wants to do in the future. While my son is not in the Global Business Honors Program, he turned down Georgetown’s Foreign Service for Fordham. He thought he wanted to go into the foreign service or work in government. I anticipated he would change his mind and felt the NYC contacts might be more beneficial down the road. Also, Fordham gave him a full tuition scholarship. In the end, I can tell you the college experience at Fordham has been phenomenal. He would not trade that for the world. He has several close friends that are in the Gabelli Global Honors Programs. Most of them appear to be majoring in finance. They have done some extra travel and all have had top notch paying internships. My advice would be have a realistic conversation about what he wants to do. Georgetown is very prestigious and a great school but is it worth $100k more than Fordham? It all depends on what he wants to do after. If he is going to work in government, etc, it may be. If he is going to graduate school or law school, probably not.
than you for you reply - I forgot to add that my oldest daughter is a 2018 grad from Fordham’s Gabelli School - she could not have had a better college experience! She has a good job in NYC and has had several great internships! However, her colleges choices did not include G-town,thats why its so hard to decide!
Congratulations to your son !
Clearly your son is highly intellgent & accomplished.
In my view, this is an easy decision–take Fordham’s offer !
With respect to prestige–which is a subjective matter–I think that Fordham’s Global Business Honors Program is slightly more prestigious than Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service.
P.S. $110,000 is enough for a masters degree and a car or a lifetime subway pass.
Its depends upon your son’s future plans and your financial situation. If $100K is a nursing home vs homeless shelter than take the money. If it’s worth is a new car or trendy kitchen upgrades then let him go to Georgetown.
@CupCakeMuffins: Why ? How much do you know about Fordham’s Global Business Honors Program ?
@ddc : Are the Global Business Honors Program students housed at Lincoln Center ?
If I recall correctly, the Lincoln Center housing was/is outstanding.
Or are the students at Rose Hill ?
P.S. Also, the two trips abroad to London and China or Latin America should be a deal clincher for one interested in International Affairs / Business.
OP doesn’t need any info about it, she already has a child who graduated from that school. OP and her son seem more excited about Georgetown’s Walsh school of Foreign Service and it’s a fantastic program so why not go where you want to go. Both options are good but Imho global economics is more interesting than business at undergrad level. That’s just my opinion not a final verdict.
It really depends on the type of career your son is after and whether you have the money or can’t afford it without a parent loan.
If you need a parent loan, then take Fordham.
G’town Walsh will open doors you don’t even know exist. It’s not for the faint hearted but the basic premise is that he’ll connect to current&future makers/shakers, he’ll be recruited (it’s a full-on “target” like HYP), he’ll learn the habitus of the powerful. It’s also super useful for the foreign service (ie’, they have training interviews with specialists, which obviously help compared to regular schools where students are a bit in the dark).
If that isn’t what he’s after, then take the Fordham offer. The program is great and offers many perks. In particular, make sure he develops fluency in a foreign language of his choice and studies abroad at least once, doesn’t skimp on statistics/business analytics, and is very involved in a volunteering organization.
In addition to finances, it depends upon whether OP’s son wants a career in “international business” or in the diplomatic corps.
For a career in international business, Fordham’s program is easily the better choice & has an arguably better location.
For a career in the foreign service, then Georgetown is the better choice if funding is of little concern.
If undecided, then Fordham is the better choice due to the study abroad trips, one-on-one mentoring, and much higher liklihood of getting published. Use the extra funds for a masters at Johns Hopkins or Tufts for international relations or for a one year masters in a business discipline.
Foreign Service positions are highly competitive. I suspect that masters & higher degrees are commonplace in that field.
As for prestige, that is subjective. Fordham’s Global Business Honors Program is limited to a class of 25 who have access to tremendous resources & opportunities.
As for the comment above regarding statistics & business analytics, Fordham is the better choice as a simple review of the required freshman courses will reveal.
Foreign language study is better at Georgtown. Housing, if still at Lincoln Center, is far superior to the rodent infested dorms at Georgetown (assuming that that problem has not been resolved).
After rereading OP’s posts, I better understand the dilemma.
If finances are not an issue, it may come down to a preference between NYC & Wash DC.
Ask the advisors at Fordham Global Business Honors Program about job & career placement.
My understanding is that in addition to the $110,000 in scholarship awards, your son will get two trips abroad with his cohort (one to London & the other to either China or Latin America).
My perspective is shaped in part by our kids prep school which places many students each year at Georgetown and is also influenced by the belief that costly graduate study is a given.
From your (OP’s) viewpoint, Fordham is a known quantity & you know your son, while I & other posters do not.
If your son is uncertain of his career goal, then it may be wiser to experiment on Fordham’s dime than on yours. Then when career goals are better defined, use the savings for a graduate degree.
It seems like your son wants to study Global Economics and Business, but I do not think Fordham’s curriculum is based around global study. When I looked at the curriculum myself, it seems like GBHP students get personalized attention, international opportunities, as well as good jobs, but they may not be in the realm of what your son actually wants to pursue. A lot of those students get finance/consulting gigs in NYC. The GBHP program is in the Gabelli Business School, and the fact that your son applied to SFS instead of McDonough shows how interested he is in global economics/business compared to the hard facts.
I can tell you that Georgetown has insanely good placement into general finance/consulting gigs, and I believe SFS has many more opportunities for students interested in global studies, etc. You can look up career placement at Georgetown online. There is a ton of emphasis on international/global study at Georgetown, which can be seen not only within SFS but also in the rest of Georgetown’s schools. The size of Georgetown and national prestige means he will get a lot of opportunities that he may not see in Gabelli. I am not sure of this however. You should definitely talk to your daughter regarding recruitment.
I will also point out that Fordham has very expensive living costs, which you probably know, while you may be able to save on that slightly at Georgetown. If money is too much of a concern, he may be able graduate a semester early as well. Overall, I think the two programs are extremely different, so this can’t come down only to the money.
My son chose Georgetown SFS! The opportunity was too good to turn down!
Congratulations on making a difficult decision between two outstanding opportunities.
Based on other posts & threads, I encourage you & your son to examine Georgetown’s housing situation as there have been repeated complaints about rodents & about food quality. Hopefully, this has all been rectified, but, if not, it would be wise to secure satisfactory housing ASAP.
Again, congratulations !