Questions About Fordham, Any Inputs Will Be Appreciated

Colleges and Universities A-Z Fordham University
1

<p>Even though it is well past application deadline, my daughter is still getting emails from Fordham urging her to apply. They actually extended the deadline for her several times. Since she has received multiple emails from them, she has been looking at the Fordham web site to learn more (we previously had no idea about this university and didn't visit when we did our tours last year). The more she reads about the school, the more she is falling in love with it. The campus looks very nice (at least it looks that way from the pictures on the web). She is seriously considering applying now (they extended the deadline to 2/15). Several questions:</p>

<p>(1) For those of you who are familiar with the school (or have visited the campus), can you please provide your perspectives on the school? Academic rigor? Campus safety? General atmostphere/vibe of the school, etc.? Social life?</p>

<p>(2) What are the real difference between the Rose Hill and Lincoln Center campus? She is interested in psychology and this major is offered at both campuses. Without seeing the campus, she is having a tough time choosing one on her application.</p>

<p>(3) We are not Catholics. Do you think it will be a problem for her to go to a Jesuit school? Will she fit in?</p>

<p>(4) What do you think her chance of getting in? Her stats are:
SAT: 2170
GPA: 3.8
AP classes taken: 11 by end of senior year, all others honors
EC: several leadership positions at school
I am not sure why she keeps getting emails from Fordham - whether it is because they just want to increase the number of applicant counts or if she has some quality that Fordham wants. I want to have a better feel for her admission chance before asking her counselor to spend the time in filling out another recommendation (he has done a lot for my daughter already - and I feel bad asking him to do more). I also want to make sure I don't spend the extra cost in sending SAT score report and filling PROFILE if she doesn't have a realistic chance of getting in. How about getting scholarships?</p>

<p>Sorry for this long post, but we have no experience with this school. Any inputs will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.</p>

2

<p>I dont know the answer to your immediate question, but sometimes there are reasons. It doesnt hurt to submit an application, particularly if they have extended it for you.</p>

<p>Your SAT scores indicate scholarship money may be available as well.</p>

<p>It would take too long to explain here all the wonderful things that a Jesuit education does for students. There are numerous threads on the Fordham CC site, and on the CC site in general for you to glean all of that.</p>

<p>My D is a sophomore at Fordham and loves it. While we are Roman Catholic, we are southerners and NOT New Yorkers. If that helps. She is thriving at Fordham. Moreover, she has been intellectually challenged and learned a lot about life, particularly being in New York. She is at FCRH. </p>

<p>Rose Hill (Bronx-main) and Lincoln Center are very different campuses, though both part of Fordham University. Rose Hill is a classic college campus, with gothic buildings, large green lawns, sports facilities and many dorms. Lincoln Center is the quintessential "Manhattan college experience" much like a much smaller version of NYU. Many Lincoln Center kids are theatre, drama and art majors. Its all in one building. So its a different experience. Kids who go there love it, but its a special place for those seeking a Manhattan experience. For those desiring a more typical college experience, then Rose Hill is for you. </p>

<p>When you are accepted, go to the April Admitted Students Orientation on campus. Its a weekend of fun, learning and observing. That is what we did and that is frankly what sold us. We turned down several other generous offers to attend Fordham.</p>

<p>Of course, no school is perfect and no school is a one size fits all. Every person and family are different and you have to determine for yourself if its a good fit for you.</p>

<p>Fordham is 60% Catholic student body. 40% non Catholic, with a mix of Protestants, Evangelicals, Jews, Muslims and some Hindus. Even some agnostics. Most are protestant, however. Its not a problem at all. Jesuit education is about inclusiveness, tolerance, and challenging you to think and defend your own ideas. You will take 2 Theology classes as part of the Core Requirements, but there is a wide variety of courses to pick from. Dogma is not required and really not taught at any Jesuit school. That does not mean that Catholic teaching is non existent or minimized. Jesuit ethics and ethos are omni present on campus. </p>

<p>My D has had several non Catholic Professors. You can be as religious as you desire or non religious as you desire.</p>

<p>Fordham is primarily an academic school. Its Division 1A athletics, but those are not dominant aspects of Fordham life, just a balanced part of it. Come ready to study hard, write a lot of papers, learn HOW to think not what to think. There are several dormitory choices as well, including wellness dorms. There are party animals at every college in America, even dry campuses. At Fordham the party kids tend to blow out pretty fast as the workload really catches up with them quickly.</p>

<p>Your scores and GPA are lovely. A really good fit if you ask me. My D has friends at Fordham who are on scholarship and many who are very, very smart. But Fordham is also about diversity of geographical and socio economic background as well. </p>

<p>Its a VERY safe campus. You can go into Manhattan as kids often do on weekends or on Wednesdays when many have no class. They often go in groups. The train stops literally at Fordham's gates and takes you directly to Grand Central Station.</p>

<p>So go ahead and submit an application. Good luck. I am pretty sure you will be admitted and then we can all welcome you to the Fordham Family!</p>

3

<p>With most schools reporting record applications this year, i'm surprised they have extended the application date. With the stats you listed, acceptance with a merit scholarship seems likely. If you are looking for need based aid keep in mind the FAFSA & CSS Profile deadlines were 2/1, so you may want to call admissions to clarify if a late application would pose a problem there. Frankly, I am surprised that with those stats you aren't familiar with Fordham. What schools did your D apply to?</p>

<p>Read through the Fordham threads and you will get a good feel for the school. There are many knowledgeable people who are students, alumni and parents who share info here. The Director of Admissions started a thread recently to address scholarship questions directly for EA & RD applicants. </p>

<p>If you want to read other posts by southernbbq, just search for the user name - nocousin... There are a plethora of posts for you to peruse there.</p>

4

<p>Southernbbq/Optimist91,</p>

<p>Thanks so much for taking the time to respond. I apologize if we may have sounded ignorant in regards to Fordham. We are going through this college app process for the first time with our daughter. We are middle class family - making too much to really qualify for any meaningful need-based financial aids, but definitely not enough to be able to pay for $200K for a 4-year private school education for her. She has been planning to attend the in-state university here, but applied for Yale early (her dream school - super reach - deferred), and also Rice, Northwestern, Duke, Wash U, and Tuft for their merit aids. We are non-religious and have never crossed our mind to consider a Catholic university. Hence our question on whether she would be a fit if she is not Catholic. Again, I appreciate you taking the time to provide your perspective. I really appreciate it. This topic of her applying to Fordham came up during dinner last night, and I just wanted to get some response quickly from the knowledgeable folks here. We will search the forum for more details. Thanks again for the help.</p>

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<p>To answer your questions:</p>

<p>1) The vibe (On the LC campus, haven't ventured into Rose Hill territory yet.) is pretty much the same on any school. It's fairly laid back, there's no need to worry about not being Catholic (I'm not, either.) as there's no real religious air to the school. It's easy to forget Fordham even is a Jesuit college.
I'd sum up LC as liberal and somewhat artsy, it seems like all the "normal" kids from high school were rounded up and sent to LC. </p>

<p>2) In my opinion, I'd say LC is the single ugliest campus I have ever seen. It's little more than a high-rise building that looks like it might be stuck in the 70s.
That said, it's also in the heart of the city and its location is a reason a lot of students choose it.
If she's interested in the traditional campus experience, she should go to Rose Hill. If she's interested in being more in the city and an "alternative"-esque campus, she should attend LC.</p>

<p>3) As I mentioned earlier, I'm not Catholic either. There's little religion represented in the school - I believe a few daily masses are held (that few people actually attend) and then the required theology courses, but that's it. It's not as if students will approach her and stone her if she says she's not Catholic.
In fact, most of my instructors are Jewish. </p>

<p>4) I'm useless with stats, sorry.
I'm surprised they've extended the deadline with so many people applying. I assume that may be a good sign, though.</p>

6

<p>UNMHKU:</p>

<p>You have applied to fabulous but very, very selective schools. Good luck with those. But the college experience is more than just prestige and rankings. Its about growing as a person, learning how to think, and developing social skills to become a productive citizen after you graduate. There are many many students at Fordham on scholarship with very high stats. Trust me. </p>

<p>The key is to ultimately pick the school where you fit the best, and that is a subjective test and made up of many factors: geography, weather, finances, socio-economic class, academic strengths, your personal objectives, activities on and off campus, etc.</p>

<p>While at Fordham you will work very hard, you will not be overwhelmed or stressed to the point of a breakdown, UNLESS you are a poor time management person, dont do your work and procrastinate or spend too much time partying. So there is a lot of value in finding that balance in your life, which Fordham offers.</p>

<p>Activities, clubs, athletics, theatre, orchestra...whatever is your thing. Or just making good friends.</p>

<p>Its a lot of fun, its a great school, it has superb internships and job opportunities and its New York! </p>

<p>But ultimately it will come down to your final three choices in April, and that is why you MUST visit campus during that Orientation weekend when they do an excellent job of selling the University, meeting students and faculty, seeing the dorms, eating in the cafeteria, etc. Fr. McShane is the school President. He is very dynamic and is an awesome speaker. He meets with people afterwards and learns about them. Its a very welcoming environment, I assure you.</p>

<p>In any event, being middle class does NOT exclude you from financial aid. SO apply for that immediately with FAFSA and CSS regardless of where you end up going. Every little bit helps, whether its a grant, student loan, or whatever. </p>

<p>I strongly encourage you to apply.</p>

7

<p>I think the above posters gave you a lot of good information. My daughter is a freshman and seems to be doing quite well. It also wasn't originally on our radar screen when we started looking, but the ore we found out, the more we liked it.</p>

<p>As stated above, RH campus is very traditional and beautiful, LC not so much, but perfect for some who want to be in NYC. The nice thing about RH is that you can have a campus atmosphere and yet hop on the "Ram Van", the subway or Metro North and be in the heart of NYC. The people are nice and friendly. </p>

<p>A couple of caveats:
- there is a strong "core curriculum" of requirements that may or may not be your daughter's "cup of tea". She will not choose her courses freshman year. It is similar to other Jesuits schools (maybe a bit more stringent). There are pros and cons to this, but might be a consideration. These include theology (my daughter had a Protestant minister teaching her so it is very ecumenical).</p>

<h2>-housing was an issue for us. They were overwhelmed last year with acceptances so there was a shortage. Many, including my daughter were tripled.</h2>

<p>Hope this helped!</p>

8

<p>To clarify that comment from deezmom:</p>

<p>You send in your preferences in the summer for dorms. You also send in your preferences on fall semester classes from a selection, and they try and meet your choices within that framework. They will place you in math depending on your ability or completed AP classes. Winter/Spring semester freshman year you choose your classes from the OASIS system, but yes they are from the core requirements. Students with AP classes under their belt see the BEST advantages in Sophomore year both in terms of dorm priorities and core classes covered. Sophomores have much more leeway on what they pick, depending on whether you are in College of Arts and Sciences, Business College etc. Yes, Fordham's core is stringent, but its broad based and helps you think in other areas. They ask you to take an art history or music history class as well, which can be fun. Some take Opera and go to the Met! </p>

<p>They are building another dorm as we speak at Rose Hill to meet the high demand, but tripling occurs now and again and its not always so bad. I know sophomores who REQUESTED triples this year! And you arent stuck in the same building for 4 years...you can select and move around every year, pick roommates etc. And there are many choices, including upperclassmen apartments on campus and even some apartments off campus owned by the University (very close by).</p>

<p>Plus the core classes help you get acclimated on campus as a freshman and explore different departments and majors.....Fordham is wise..they know kids come in with one notion and often change majors in the process.</p>

9

<p>Contrary to above poster, AP courses HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH DORM PRIORITIES OR SELECTION. Not in freshman year, not in sophmore year. You are not given advanced standing. In fact the current freshman are just about to participate in the housing lottery for the first time (just sent in my housing check!) The new dorms will be great and are expected to be ready in 2011 -12.</p>

<p>Don't want to get too far off the topic, but wanted to corrrect the above info. My original posting was simply to point out that there is a strong core curriculum at Fordham. Incoming freshman are placed in courses and don't choose them. There is a strong language requirenment as well that goes beyond other Jesuit schools we looked at including Holy Cross and BC.</p>

<p>Overall, it has been a great environment for my daughter. Has made nice friends and her courses are improving.</p>

10

<p>Okay, to clarify...my D is at Fordham...her AP classes DID help her with her standing, she was a sophmore by the second semester of her freshman year.</p>

<p>She was not assigned classes, she was given options in different areas, for instance, she needed to take an art class and opted for Jazz History or Art History. She got Jazz. She was given an option for her religion class, her history class etc. </p>

<p>As for dorms, when she put in her application for her second year, she was seen as already a sophmore, so she got a bit of a bump up.</p>

<p>So, yes, the core is stringent, but freshman don't take all the same classes, they all will take an english class for example, but they will have a bit of a choice for which one.</p>

<p>She hates science, so took a computer science class, while her roommate took biology.</p>

<p>So you can start framing your program within the core.</p>

<p>THere is most definately some choice when it comes to classes for freshman, not as much as some may like, but options are there, just be sure and send in your requests asap when you get the paperwork!!</p>

11

<p>
[quote]
Incoming freshman are placed in courses and don't choose them.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Actually, they do get to choose courses. An adviser might suggest a course, but at the end of the day - freshman get to make their pick.</p>

12

<p>Thank you very much to everyone for taking your time to provide your insights into Fordham. It sure sounds like a wonderful school. My daughter proceeded with sending in her application. We will just have to wait and see now. Again, thanks for your inputs. We appreciate it.</p>

13

<p>Deezmom:</p>

<p>Sorry. You are clearly wrong. Class standing is affected by AP courses completed and THAT affects housing choices. In Freshman year it also helps if you select Tierney or Queens because they will look at your background to see if its a good fit or not. Lots of Honors kids reside in Queens and Tierney. </p>

<p>AP classes also affect the class selection process, both as a Freshman (they look to see where you would be placed in Math for example and what level of Science), and on the OASIS system there is a class standing priority as well, so it DOES matter. </p>

<p>I am not saying its the ONLY factor and kids without AP courses wont get their choices. My D's boyfriend went to a school that didnt offer AP classes. He was at a disadvantage, though he was lucky and got what he wanted, but he had to be very quick on OASIS and he paired up with a roommate who had a higher priority.</p>

<p>Freshmen submit a card in June for what they would prefer in fall semester for classes and the school attempts to meet those preferences, but no guarantees. The school does make selections for fall semester but you are free to make your own selections spring semester and its up to you to discuss with your advisor about when to take what core requirement. Some kids wait until being upperclassmen to take some core classes for various reasons. You have a lot more flexibility that some would imagine.</p>

<p>Not picking at you, just getting the facts straight.</p>

14

<p>Fordham has changed their policy regarding AP classes and housing. Here's an interesting Op-ed from The Ram regarding this issue: </p>

<p>Residential</a> Life: Well Meaning, but Misguided - Opinions</p>

<p>ResLife</a> Changes Housing Lottery Policy - News</p>

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<p>"That's why we decided to sort of grandfather it in. We didn't want to have a negative, unexpected change for sophomores, so it ended up that we just made the change for freshmen, who have never gone through our lottery process." </p>

<p>Well, that is news to me, Alumn....but it seems they have grandfathered in the old rules for upperclassmen to be more equitable. Thus only current freshmen will see the change next year. So be it. </p>

<p>But thanks for that update.</p>

16

<p>I have a special affection for Fordham as my father graduated in the class of 1946. He died in 1980 when I was just 21 and his voice is still there with me, my mother and all of my siblings!</p>

<p>My father continued on with a degree in History from Fordham to earn a Masters in Math from Columbia and a PhD in Math from UPenn. He was always biased about the Jesuits! One of his closest friends is now a Priest in Retirement living at Rose Hill. They are smart, smart Priests! They are not going to have any bias against you for being non-Catholic.....as far as I know. They are intellectual to a fault and your daughter will receive a fine education. </p>

<p>Now as for my two daughters.....my younger daughter is a high school senior. She was accepted with a $10k deans scholarship but....unless we get more merit money she will not be able to attend. We will not qualify for financial need. My older daughter really wanted to attend Fordham but with only academic award money and no financial need....it was not in the cards for us.</p>

<p>Also Fordham is in NEW YORK CITY!! Both of my parents are New Yorkers so..again..while I am from Pennsylvania I have indoctrinated from a young age to know that there is no place like New York City in the world...click you heels together .... it is the finest city on earth.</p>

<p>So...accepting my obvious and overt bias if your daughter has the chance to go to Fordham at a reasonable cost....so be it! It is a wonderful school in the best city on Earth! If my daughter actually gets any more money to go there she will!!!</p>