I’m in between Villanova and Fordham because Villanova accepted me into honors and Fordham didn’t. Honestly I don’t think they’d sacrifice much increasing the size of their program, especially since National Merit kids get really cheap tuition and good scholarships.
My daughter was also admitted into the honors program at Villanova. The difference is that at Rose Hill the 36 chosen for the Honors Program take at least three honors classes each semester for the first two years that are open only to honors students, with additional honors classes junior and senior year. The honors Program at Rose Hill completely replaces the core curriculum that all other Rose Hill students take, mostly during their first two years. The honors programs at Villanova and at most other schools are nowhere near as extensive or rigorous or organic or insular as the program at Rose Hill. Honors students at Villanova take a few honors seminars over the course of four years that are limited to honors students, but they take most of their classes from the same list of courses as all other students in sections that are not limited to honors students. I, too, think Fordham could increase the size without sacrificing quality, but that is an outsider’s perspective, and some accommodations would have to be made. I dont know, for example, whether Alpha House could support a program that included 100 honors students a year. Looking at it from the outside, I am not sure how it supports 36.
Alpha House is very small and couldn’t support a program with 100 students on each grade.
The honors program used to be just 25 students until a few years ago. Apparently, one year, when they admitted 37 students and expected that 12 would turn the program down, 36 students accepted the program. They found that honors worked well with 36 students so have kept it at that number ever since then.
My D is a senior in the honors program. She has friends who were NM and were not in honors. They felt that their classes were rigorous and challenging. My D has worked very hard and has been challenged in her honors and non-honors classes. The expectations are high and there is a lot of reading and writing in all classes.
@2manybooks @candjsdad @DadUndaunted @hen4763
Hello all, I apologize for being absent from the conversation for so long, I thought that the website would send me an email when more people commented!
Anyway, the reason that the program is small is because it creates a community and it allows for small classes. As someone pointed out, Alpha house is simply too small for an honors program with 100+ people. Fordham is trying to get many top student to attend, but they are not willing to sacrifice the size and quality of their program for this (whether they should is beyond my jurisdiction in this post). Once people start to turn it down, other qualified students are invited. I hear that they accept around 200 students in the first round and then fill the class with those who accept.
As someone pointed out, the honors program is not the only place where excellent students can be found on Fordham’s campus. Just look at the Matteo Ricci Seminar, the honors societies, undergraduate researchers, STEM majors, and almost everywhere else. While I love the honors program, and it has certainly defined my experience here, so many of my friends are not in the program but love Fordham. I do have to say that it is absolutely not a consolation prize. Why put myself into $100,000+ of debt when I can come to a FANTASTIC Jesuit university in New York City, be in a small great books program, and partake in many academic and social activities that the university has to offer. I am much happier here than I would have been at the more prestigious schools into which I was accepted.
I also have to add that the Lincoln Center program is VERY different and COMPLETELY separated from ours. I have a few friends in it, and they are great people, but the experience is very different.
The way of applying to the program is to express interest in the first or second semester of freshman year. Preferably in person, but an email should work (we just changed directors, so its a tad hectic!) Again, the criteria is not vague but rather qualitative. (a discussion of whether non-quantitative data sets can be accurate is beyond the scope of this post!) The selection committee is looking for students with a passion for learning–not just for NMF and perfect ACT/GPA.
Hope some of this stuff helped!
Can you explain how a student who has already completed perhaps as many as ten core curriculum requirements through two semesters freshman year would be integrated into the Rose Hill Honors Program as a sophomore? Would such a student simply pick up with the first semester sophomore year Honors Program courses in early modern literature/art, history/music and philosophy/theology despite not having covered the ancient and medieval periods in depth junior year? If so, doesn’t that detract from the “comprehensive overview of the intellectual and social forces that have shaped the modern Western world”?
1 Like
I meant freshman year in my post above, not junior year.
@DadUndaunted Yes, it definitely takes away from the comprehensive nature to start the program later, which is why only a handful of students are able to do so. I am not sure on the specifics, but if you can get in before thats better
When my daughter was accepted to the Fordham Rose Hill honors program (incoming 2012) it was by far the most exclusive acceptance she received. She received the honors offer with her acceptance letter and at the time we were told that they accepted 40 students each year.
However, she decided not to attend for a variety of reasons (BTW she was not NMF) - she was undecided about a major and did not think the strict core requirements would help her to explore areas to major in (she was really all over the place - business, english, math - basically had no idea), they offered her the least amount of merit aid of any school she was accepted to (and had the highest tuition - which meant the highest cost to attend), she felt rose hill was not city enough for her, and she had reservations about attending a school with any religious affiliation.
She did not meet the criteria for the Presidential Scholarship - just missed the 1% mark in her very large and very competitive HS class. She had very good stats but not perfect SAT, ACT, or weighted GPA (by the crazy weighting method of her HS).
my school did not offer extracurriculars (only 50 students in the entire school) but I have a 32 on my ACT and a 3.9 GPA. Do I have a chance of getting into Fordham honors?
Hi, All. I know that people have been invited to the LC Honors Program for next year, but has anyone been invited to the Rose Hill Honors Program yet? I am wondering if they wait to extend those invitations until they’ve also posted RD acceptances…? Thank you.
Can anyone tell me if there is a housing for Honors Program students? By that I mean, do they all live together in on dorm (at least freshman year)? If so, which dorm is it? Thanks!
How do you apply? or are you just granted admission?
You do not apply. The school invites the top students ( less than 40 students) to join the Honors Program.