<p>Hey, so I go to a very diverse high school and diversity is important to me. The biggest thing at my school is our multicultural performance, Filipino modern and traditional, bollywood modern and traditional, k-mod, k-pop, etc. Honestly we're lucky if the dance team actually makes it. Just to give you an idea about the type of kids at my school. Fordham was/is my choice school and i didn't even consider/think about he fact that it was a jesuit school. I was just thinking NYC! Pretty campus (Rose Hill)! But after reading these forums there is a lot of mention of Jesuit/Catholic. I mean I am catholic white girl but all of my friends are atheist/non-religious, mostly indian, jewish, mixed. I usually don't appreciate white girls who post starbucks coffee pics. Is that the way most of the people there are? I mean obviously some people will be but I don't exactly want to be surrounded you know? I just want to make sure there is some liberal presence, that students are thoughtful and looking for a cultural education. I just want some debate at this school, because I guess, technically, I am a conservative Catholic white girl and I do not want to be necessarily surrounded by people like myself. What's the vibe? How are the people?</p>
<p>Also do the majority of students go for the city or the jesuit-ness? Because I want to go for the city.</p>
<p>People go for different reasons. For my daughter, it was the city. Her career will be in NYC, it only made sense for her to go to school there.</p>
<p>Most of her friends/classmates at school are very liberal. </p>
<p>You don’t have to be Catholic or even Christian to feel comfortable there. They don’t always light the correct candles on the Menorah, but at least they had one.</p>
<p>Good one lefty! Too funny. </p>
<p>Welcome to Fordham if you get in CatAttack. Fordham is diverse in so many ways. But its not a hotbed of politics either. Lots of middle grounders so to speak. My kid has/had friends from all perspectives and religions and backgrounds and ethnicity. </p>
<p>No school is a panacea.</p>
<p>The kids at Fordham really aren’t religious at all. Kids go to Fordham for the city and because it’s a very good school. Very few go for any kind of religious reason, though there are some that do.</p>
<p>Anyone who says that Fordham is entirely made up of conservative white kids has probably never even been to the campus. </p>
<p>Fordham is pretty diverse, overall.</p>
<p>@CatAttck
I was in an extremely similar position to you a year ago and am now a freshman at Fordham. I am going to be completely honest with you, compared to the amount of diversity you are accustomed to now, Fordham is pretty homogenous. Yes, its true that people here come from a variety of different places, but the overwhelming culture is upper class white- the kind of people you described. The students are generally nice but if you are not “one of them” (I wasn’t- also came from a diverse area) you will pick up on it. Your happiness with the “vibe” will be contingent on the type of people you fall in with, so try and find people with similar interests on campus. They will not be the majority, but they will be out there if you search.</p>
<p>There is a liberal presence (it’s a college campus, after all) but I am not quite sure that Fordham is the best place to get the “cultural experience” you crave.</p>
<p>Please PM me if you have more questions.</p>
<p>I go to a high school like yours (and I love it) and to be honest, I visited the first time after I had already applied, and I did not like the vibe at all. The campus was nice, but the people seemed a little pretentious. My parents were impressed, but that made me not really want to go. However, a few weeks later I was in NYC at a concert, and I met a couple of kids from Fordham who were actually really nice and cool, which made me reconsider. I’ve been accepted, so I think I’m going to go visit one more time, to see how I feel about it now.</p>
<p>Okay. Lets sort this out. A few salient points.</p>
<p>No school is perfect. No school is perfect for everyone. My kid didnt like some schools and they were “perfect” for some of her friends. </p>
<p>We are all individuals with different wants, needs and concerns. Some people embrace what is “different” and even “challenging” and others recoil and prefer to do what is common or comfortable to them. </p>
<p>A high percentage of kids at Fordham come from upper middle class families because that is the norm for an expensive private college in an expensive city. But Fordham works very hard to expand its racial, religious and cultural diversity. It has HEOP students and Pell grant students. </p>
<p>I strongly recommend attending the formal accepted student weekends that are offered before the May 1 drop dead dealine when you must decide where you are attending college. You will meet current students and also your prospective classmates and their families. Talk to people. Get as many comments as you can and then decide if its for you. Talk to administrators…including Fr. McShane. We did. He told us it would be a transformational experience and he was right. It was. In spades. That transformation took place not all at once like a magic wand, but over the course of four years, with ups and downs, dorm drama, academic challenges and frustrations, and internships. My daughter left a smallish town in the south, public school, and graduated an independent city wise self confident woman who then went onto graduate school. She did NOT want a repeat of her high school friends and experiences. Was it easy? Nope. Was it always happy and cozy and giddy? NOPE. Was it a superior growth opportunity? Yep. Did she make lifelong friends among students and faculty? Yep. Would she do it all over again? Yes, and it presently considering returning to the Bronx. (Waiting on several factors including her Fordham graduate boyfriend’s situation)</p>
<p>The best learning experiences come from being challenged and sometimes even hardship/failure and disappointment. I wont suggest you will fail or be unduly challenged and in despair at Fordham. I am saying that you have to judge for yourself the vibe and student body and the OPPORTUNITIES at Fordham, academically and with internships, whether you are up to the transformational experience that will occur. </p>
<p>Fordham is changing as well. It was a commuter school for local catholics decades ago (as were many or most Jesuit schools then). Its now a national research university with students from all corners of the country and a sizable international student group. </p>
<p>If you say its not for you, fine. You have to discern what is best for you and what you think you want, and tell your final three schools “no!” and pick the one that is your top choice. We hope that is Fordham. If its not, God’s speed and good luck where you go.</p>
<p>Madame Defarge, I dont know entirely what your feelings are about Fordham now that you are in finals in your freshman year. But remember that the cycle of love/hate with your college is normal and its heading into the worst part of that cycle, with grades, papers due, and bad weather. The transferitis virus runs rampant in the freshmen dorms this time and will continue until mid February…or so. Been there and done that. Sick of the stress. Homesick. Sick of the dorm drama. Sick even of people you like and love because living in close quarters eating cafeteria food does that. </p>
<p>I can share my kid almost bolted in January of Freshmen year. I listened. I went up for consolation and some chicken soup (She had the flu) and we sorted it out. I said, "if you leave you will lose a scholarship and you may regret this for the rest of your life. Face your challenges…queue in Climb Every Mountain, lol.) She did and by March was humming along, caught up on work, and then the blue skies came out, opportunities developed and she got to pick roomies for sophomore year and the dorm she wanted…and never looked back.</p>
<p>So yes, your experience and feelings are real and normal. But just know that its a cycle, a process and it DOES get better. Know that January stinks…grades out and dark skies, cold weather and couples break up etc. But by March it will be a new world and then sophomore year its really great…</p>
<p>Best wishes.</p>
<p>The vibe and diversity (or lack thereof) have been issues being discussed in our home. After visiting some rather ‘earthy’ totally liberal colleges, Fordham seemed very, very one dimensional when we visited. However, after talking with kids, they were open and welcoming. It still seems very much to be a campus FILLED with upper middle class white kids from Catholic schools. But, that is on appearance of a tour…that is why it is SO helpful to hear from current students.</p>
<p>However, in fairness to Fordham, they seem to be trying very, very hard to have a more diverse student body. The full tuition scholarship is offered not only to NMSF but also NASF (geared toward African American students) and the Hispanic Scholars program. We know that they are recruiting geographically given that they were in our next of the woods, far from the northeast, actively recruiting. Finally, I think it is important to note that you could find the vibe/people you click with in a school that size. If it were a campus of 1300 I would have more cause for concern.
In the end, our D will attend and accepted student day and will very much use that experience to see if Fordham will be someplace she would truly like to go. Most student have told us that you can find the more ‘chill, open’ or diverse kids you want but you DO have to look for it more than you might care to do. That seems to be the open assessment most have provided.
T</p>
<p>By the way, why does Fordham not sponsor overnight visits for perspective students? Is the only one thus far that does not set that up upon request. I totally think getting there and staying overnight in a dorm is a great way to get a feel for things.</p>
<p>They do allow sleepovers and I dont know how that is arranged. But obviously you cant have an entire class doing that.</p>
<p>In the end, its up to a student to come open minded and tolerant and reach out. Private colleges struggle with racial diversity because of the expense. </p>
<p>Assuming you dont want a large state school or an HBCU, you have to make the best of it for what it is when you pick an LAC or private school like Fordham. </p>
<p>Even though a lot of students are from upper middle class caucasian families there is a high percentage who are so called "progressive.</p>
<p>And the conservative kids dont have horns and capes. 
</p>
<p>Its good to meet people with different backgrounds and perspectives and learn from each other. </p>
<p>The athletes have a high percentage of minorities and they are in classes and the cafeteria often. But they also keep to themselves a bunch with practice sessions and some serious time management concerns.</p>
<p>Fordham has its share of party animals. Just ignore them and focus on your work and finding friends who are more responsible…party kids get bad grades and sometimes flunk out.</p>