<p>Hey everyone! Chances, please? Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>Extremely nervous high school senior. Fordham is my first choice, and I'm convinced I won't be accepted. Please tell me like it is. I went to First Look in July and fell in love with the school (more so than before). I hope I can get there. Stats are as follows.</p>
<p>Applying to Rose Hill
Caucasion female, moderately competitive public high school on Long Island.
Class size is ~190 and I'm ranked around top 25-30%
GPA: 3.56
SAT I: m630, cr680, w730 = 2040 (retaking 10/10)
SAT II: Lit-740; USH-690
ACT: (Took this morning, will know in a few weeks.)
Will graduate with 10 AP classes & all honors curriculum.
Senior Course Load: AP Stats, AP Lit, AP Gov, AP Bio, Italian 5</p>
<p>Work Experience:
Clerical work for a neurosurgeon for two summers and after school two days/week.</p>
<p>Honors/Achievements:
Honor Roll
National Honor Society
AP Scholar
A few writing awards</p>
<p>Essay will be extremely strong and my recommendations should be decent. Applying as an English major and hopefully minoring in Italian and/or poli sci. I'm really hoping to get involved with the community service and internship possibilities that Fordham has to offer. </p>
<p>I'd also like to know whether to apply EA or RD. I'd like to compete against the smaller applicant pool with EA, but I don't know if I should wait for RD so my stats can improve over the first quarter.</p>
<p>I think you will be just fine. Relax. Do a good job on the application, continue to work hard this year, all the way to graduation. </p>
<p>Its a great school.</p>
<p>As for EA or RD, that is a personal decision. I think you are going to be fine in either pool, but if you want to get it over with and stop stressing, then applying EA would let you know by Christmas.</p>
<p>Thanks so much. Ideally I’d like to apply EA. Knowing by Christmas would be pretty nice, especially for someone who is as impatient as I am. Although, a rejection would be a pretty awful Christmas present…</p>
<p>But if I let my GPA go up to a 3.7, say, in the first quarter, and was able to apply with that for RD in January, would it hold more weight than my 3.56 in November? Or would it really not matter?</p>
<p>You’re definitely Fordham material. Just an advice - since Fordham is your first choice, do not retake the SAT. Your SAT score is just fine. Instead, place your entire focus and energy on getting a very good GPA first semester of senior year. Just in case you are deferred into the regular pool, you can at least show them an increase in your GPA and more importantly the class rank. You definitely DO NOT want to fall below 25 percentile because 87% of the students at Fordham are ranked top 25% of their class. I understand you go to a competitive H.S. but at the same time Fordham is very concerned about going up in the U.S. news rankings and they are really going after students that are ranked in the top 10% of their class (51% of the students right now are in the top 10% which is still considered bad for a top tier school). Top 10% is out of reach for you but make sure that you are at least in the top 25%</p>
<p>One more thing. You are definitely being obsessively compulsive with the standardized exams. Don’t know why you took the ACT’s and now taking the SAT again. Your SAT’s are really good and a higher score will not compensate for the GPA. The only thing that can help you right now is bringing your GPA to 3.7 (Fordham’s average) and your senior course load is very hard with the AP’s. So focus on that. Good luck!</p>
<p>I would apply EA as you are competing against a smaller pool. If you don’t get in right away, you will be deferred till Spring. I can’t imagine you being rejected with your stats, but you could be deferred based on your GPA alone. Why not just apply EA if you are sure that this is your first choice? You have a 50/50 chance (or more!) of getting in and easing the tension. If you get deferred your guidance counselor can find out what they are looking for and you can work towards that.</p>
<p>I agree 100% with jptmom. You have 50% chance of being accepted and 50% chance of being deferred, 0% chance of rejection as EA. So you might as well test your luck during EA and it would be a great christmas present if you can get in. You’d be a coin flip away, it can go either way. But no rejection.</p>
Although, a rejection would be a pretty awful Christmas present…</p>