<p>Some</a> Early Returns on Early Admission - NYTimes.com</p>
<p>Fordham 9800 applications in the Early Admit pool. Pretty crowded in there.</p>
<p>THat’s because they give out a lot of free “priority” applications to get that number up.</p>
<p>^^^But the priority application isn’t new this year and still the numbers are up 8.02%.</p>
<p>Fordham is a very hot school right now. Its no longer a well kept secret for the local catholic schools in the tri-state area. Its rise in national rankings has caught the attention of parents, students and guidance counselors around the country. As it becomes increasingly a national university, that word will also spread from its present students and alumni to other prospects. </p>
<p>And many students have figured out that their chances of admission increase if they are in the EA pool at Fordham, which is non binding, so they have nothing to lose by applying. We may well exceed 28,000 applications this year. </p>
<p>Finally, this is the height of the demographic bubble, which will decline rather sharply in coming years and many colleges expect a DECLINE in applications within 2-5 years, until the next baby boom appears.</p>
<p>If your EA pool is that large, it seems like there is a point of diminishing returns there somewhere ghostbuster. We expect DS to be admitted, but his chances of a good enough scholarship look pretty slim.</p>
<p>Sylvan:</p>
<p>It all depends on the quality of the pool. I dont know how Fordham constructs its matrix between EA and the RD pool, and so forth. In general, the qualifications for scholarships has risen with the qualifications for admission the past five years. What someone could do five years ago, may not work today. Though Fordham is not alone in that quandry. I don’t work for them and have no particular insight on how they divide up the available funds. BUT…if you submit a CSS with your application, then what you may not get in scholarship you may get in a University grant. That was our story. We got nearly as much in grant money as some got in scholarship money. My D1 was between 1300 and 1400 SAT. </p>
<p>In my considered opinion, Fordham should find scholarship money for upperclassmen who perform at the highest levels, who may not have received scholarship monies coming in the door. That is the best meritocracy and so much more fair than that ridiculous SAT standard everyone uses, because EVERYONE with a brain knows that SAT scores do not correlate perfectly to success in college. The recipe for success has to do with character, determination, work ethic, and a broad range of intellectual skills that far surpass the narrow gimmick of SAT exams. </p>
<p>Good luck to you. I wish everyone the best of success this stressful college application season. I know what its like. Been there and done that. (We are doing grad school apps now and that is also frightful.)</p>
<p>S2 applied EA to Fordham. I am curious how important it is to visit the campus. He did not, since Fordham is not on the top 3 of his list. In terms of his stats, he should be at the top 10% range of the enrolled students based on some data published about Fordham. His EC & essays are outstanding. Rec letters should be pretty good.</p>
<p>They say for some colleges, if you live close by and did NOT visit, it’s a kiss of death. (we live 1 hour of driving distance).</p>
<p>What do you think?</p>
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<p>I completely agree with you that in a perfect and fair world, what you suggested should be done. However, what I think is happening is, the schools are giving merit scholarships to lure students with high scores to improve/maintain their prestige factor. The purpose of the merit scholarship is less to reward the job well done once the students are attending their schools, but rather to put together a strong and competitive incoming class. There is ample evidence that many schools’ need based financial aid tend to be “more generous” for students with more competitive stats.</p>
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It might be clear to them that their school is not that high on your list, which you have said yourself. His stats are pretty good, so he will probably be accepted or waitlisted.</p>
<p>Relax. Visiting the campus is not the kiss of life or death. However, they can sometimes discern if Fordham is “your safety” and they may take that into account. On the other hand, Fordham is accustomed to that scenario, sadly, as many Ivy League kids and uber elite LAC kids pick Fordham as a safety and that renders Fordham’s retention rate very low (15%). In other words, Fordham accepts 9500, but only 1700 accept their offer and show up in September. </p>
<p>It is what it is.</p>
<p>Interest in attending Fordham is always considered and to the extent that is conveyed sincerely and honestly it will be taken into account. I don’t have any idea how many “highly qualified” students (i.e. over 1400 SAT’s) are passed over at Fordham. Nor how many in the lower quartile are accepted. They don’t publish that information and its not available through the Dept. Of Education website. (Some schools publish it but bury it in their websites). </p>
<p>The good news is that with more dorm space available at Rose Hill, they aren’t likely to dip below 48% acceptance rate overall. Applying EA is always the best bet.</p>
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<p>Hey, gb…quit scaring off the RD pool! :D</p>
<p>LOL…mom…no not scaring anyone off…kids get in RD…in fact, just using the 48% admit rate at Fordham, means that approximately half of the total admittees get in EA and the other half come from RD (my best guestimate…because I dont know what the real matrix is at Fordham). But that also means that the 48% from EA is a real admit rate, while the remaining half that come from the RD pool is a lower admit rate because the RD pool is so much larger. i.e. at least 18,000 applications RD of which 4,800 may be admitted, yielding an admit rate of 27%. AGAIN…that is my best guestimate. I have no idea what matrix formula Fordham uses (how many they take from EA and how many the “reserve” for admissions from the RD pool.) And I seriously doubt anyone working for Fordham admissions will post the actual matrix here as that is likely a confidential factor. (For all I know, Fordham could use an “admit rate” of 27% in the EA pool and a much higher admit rate in the RD pool. But I don’t think so. I have heard anecdotally, but not officially, that they fill roughly half of their freshmen class admissions from the EA pool…largely because they view the EA pool as people with a stronger intent on attending Fordham. The early bird gets the worm. But that is unofficial and from anecdotal comments from students on campus.) </p>
<p>It is true, however, that at some schools, applying EA/ED is actually a tougher standard of admission. The vast majority of those schools are binding ED, and they often look very closely to see if you can afford to attend the school or if you require financial aid. </p>
<p>Fordham is non binding EA, so I always recommend students put their hat in the ring early and see what happens, with very little to lose. Even if they are deferred, they have a second chance in the RD pool. If they are outright rejected, its best to know that early so they can get on with their lives and look to other schools while they still have time to apply before the January deadlines, instead of waiting until the end of March. </p>
<p>Its just common sense. But if someone waited for whatever reason to apply RD, I wish them the best of luck. My D1 was an RD admittee, because she had applied ED somewhere else and got a very unjustified deferral. So we moved on. Good things can happen in the RD pool. </p>
<p>Repeat: I don’t know the matrix formula for EA versus RD admittees is at Fordham and they don’t (and likely won’t) publish it. So we are left to make our best logical guestimate, which is what I have done.</p>
<p>Trust me, Fordham will receive another 18,000 applications in the RD pool this year, twice the size of the EA pool.<br>
;-)</p>
<p>Fordham is very high on my D’s list but because she is applying for the theater program, she can’t apply EA because she has to have an audition before an admission decision. I am assuming they factor that into their EA v RD admission formula. But all this talk of the EA advantage makes me twitchy! She is submitting her app before the RD deadline. (Of course the admit rate for the theater program is much, much lower than the regular admit rate anyway; its a different animal).</p>
<p>My D applied EA to Fordham because she genuinely liked it and one other school (to which she is also applying EA) best of all the schools we visited, also after examination of the courses in their catalogs, visits to the bookstores to see what the profs are requiring for reading in courses, etc.</p>
<p>We suggested she do EA as to us it shows a more serious intent towards that school. I also believe that 12th graders should be allowed gto grow and develop during that year and not be nailed to a school they liked a lot in Oct. A lot can happen inside a kid’s head & heart between Oct & May 1, at age 17 - 18. I am glad that Fordham & many other schools realize this & offer EA and not ED. </p>
<p>She is receiving notices thst they have not gotten her transcript from the h. s., nor the 2 teacher letters (went snail individually from the teachers, who seem to have an aversion to letting the guidance office do it) nor the ACT scores (ordered online, where are they?). Is anyone else hearing this? She used the Fordham Advantage App and sent her part online; they have that, and they have the SAT scores.</p>
<p>LC Theatre Program is a different kettle of fish. The EA thingie doesnt apply to that. And don’t misunderstand me…I am not saying applying RD is the kiss of death. I repeat, I do NOT know the matrix formula at Fordham. I am only applying basic logic to the numbers of applications they receive EA versus RD, and the total number of accepted students, to derive MY formula. Which could be wrong. But common sense says its best to apply EA, and if you get deferred, you get a second bite at the apple.</p>
<p>JRZmom: </p>
<p>If its been several weeks and you are positive that the teacher recs were sent out and you are positive the ACT scores were sent in electronically and have confirmation of that, then you can call admissions and ask them why you are getting the emails from them saying they don’t have them yet.</p>
<p>The teachers both told her they put them in the mail on Oct 24. We only live in NJ so Fordham should have recieved them within two days at most. They may well have arrived and been sitting in the mailroom; it is a busy time at any college! At least Fordham took the trouble to let us know they didn’t have record of receipt of the transcript yet. </p>
<p>This has inspired another email from the guidance counselor, who never misses a chance to let me know how much she prefers the Common App and online-everything over using the USPS. They are overworked, understaffed, etc etc in her office (in the whole district, due to cuts in state aid that were made on nearly no notice this summer) and she wants to hit Send once, for everyone, using the CA. </p>
<p>Fifteen min ago I recvd an email from the school district apologizing for the disruptions in email and connectivity because apparently Verizon has been messing around with their FIOS equipment in town and the school has been losing its connections all week. I wonder when they found out? </p>
<p>Now I am wondering if the guidance counselor’s package got to the Common App schools to which D is applying. She knows she hit Send; did it make it out of our system?</p>
<p>I do not like the Common App. The more I see it in action, the less I like it. I well appreciate the efficiencies, etc. But it only lets the students choose one essay prompt for all schools, when a different essay might have been more suitable for one or more of the schools to which the student is applying. And it nails kids into essays and material created in Sept-Oct or earlier (in our school, every Junior wrote their Common App essay last spring. I do not believe that an essay written in April of 11th grade reflects the student who will walk onto a campus 2 Septembers later). There are schools with deadlines in Feb, even March— if a student realized during the winter of Sr year that s/he really wants to major in something entirely different from what they thought in Oct, or if they visit a friend or cousin at X Univ and realize this is a wonderful place and they wish to apply there, and they really need to write an entirely different essay to express the changes in themselves since last spring—well, the Common App makes it hard. </p>
<p>They are rushed too hard and too quickly to package themselves—all so the Common App company can make a profit selling efficiency to h.schools and universities.</p>
<p>When recommendations are sent via the common app, you can log in to your app and see when the college downloaded the recs. You can also see if and when they downloaded the app and any supplements they may have required. Our guidance office still sends transcripts via US mail, and they usually get a postcard acknowledgement of the receipt of the transcripts.</p>
<p>Students can always create a new common app account in order to create a unique application to a particular institution. This way, one can choose essay topics to suit the school one is applying to. </p>
<p>We received the missing items email from Fordham as well. Several minutes later, they sent and email stating that the first email was an error and they had all of the scores, recs, etc. It’s quite possible they have all your stuff. Good luck!</p>
<p>Has anyone that applied early action heard back yet? I know they said mid-december, but too excited to wait :)</p>
<p>Do you think we will hear by the 1tth as rumor says or the 24th as stated on the web page</p>