<p>I go to a small public school in NYC where everyone tries to be an overachiever. I am currently a junior with an 89.78 average but an 91.79 average overall. Everyone sees me as a bright student. For college, I would love to stay in NYC or nearby. As of now, Fordham and Barnard are my top schools. The only thing is that everyone thinks that I can do better than Fordham but I really like that school. What should I do? Any other schools to recommend? Thanks.</p>
<p>Those who criticize Fordham are most often those who know nothing about it. These kids are likely prestige hounds and ranking obsessed. </p>
<p>Only you can decide which schools are best for your interests and personality and abilities. Fordham is an outstanding school. </p>
<p>But since you are a Junior and have not posted your SAT scores, you should likely get a hold of the Barron’s Directory or Petersen’s Directory of colleges and look at many colleges in many locations. You should apply to at least 8 schools and maybe 10 or 12. </p>
<p>Pick schools that appeal to you on the merits, not on USNWR rankings. Good luck.</p>
<p>In my experience, the people who make comments like, “you can do better than Fordham,” are people who are in NY and maybe don’t appreciate the gem they have in their backyard. We live in south Florida, and when I tell people that my daughter is at Fordham, all I hear are comments like, “wow, she must be very smart” and “wow, that’s a great school!” Most of the people who say that are retirees from NYC or the NY area, so they obviously have a different opinion of Fordham than people who are talking to you.</p>
<p>If you look at the stats of what type of student Fordham accepts, it is a very competitive school. My daughter had a 3.8 GPA (unweighted) (out of 4.0), was in the top 5% of her class, had an ACT score of 31, had leadership experience in extra-curriculars, and took 9 AP classes. She is not unusual for Fordham. Her stats are in the median range for what Fordham accepts. That is competitive to me. How much better could a school do?</p>
<p>My daughter was accepted at every school she applied to, and was very happy to choose Fordham. Fordham was her first choice, and she is very happy there. She also attended a pre-college program at Barnard, and loved it, but Barnard did not have the same offerings for her intended major area of concentration that Fordham did.</p>
<p>My recommendation to you is to visit both schools and see where you feel most comfortable. If Fordham is the best fit for you, follow your heart, and don’t listen to those “everyones” who are telling you that you are too good for Fordham. Sounds like you would be right at home at Fordham with students who have a similar background as you.</p>
<p>My S just received an acceptance into FCLC and the theatre program and is thrilled as it has been his 1st choice school since visiting the summer before junior year. Prior to that he was certain he HAD to go to NYU and was even annoyed that his rotten parents forced him to open up his college search. 
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<p>This is our oldest child, our first going off to college. I have found that throughout his entire college search and application process, everyone we spoke to thought they knew more than we did about what was best for my son and what he should do!!! People whose kids were business majors put down some of the schools he applied to since obviously, if they didn’t like a school when they looked at it for BUSINESS, it couldn’t be a very good school for a liberal arts major. People put down his choice of a Theatre major as not being practical. People whose kids were also pursuing theatre put down his interest in BA programs and said he should only audition for BFA programs. People who liked the theatre BA put down his interest in attending a Jesuit school. People put down the idea of a large core curriculum. We don’t know yet if my S will get housing at LC but people who live near us put down the idea of commuting. People put down the idea of paying Fordham tuition instead of sending him to a SUNY. One man in our parish, a Harvard grad married to a Harvard grad with 4 kids who went to Harvard and one Stanford (yes, he tells us almost EVERY TIME WE SEE HIM…roll eyes), put down my S’s decision not to apply any Ivys and said that BC and NYU were the only good schools on his list and he should go to one of them. The bottom line is…well, you know what they say about opinions!!!</p>
<p>The truth is that there are PLENTY of people with MANY, MANY positive things to say about Fordham as well. You can listen to what others have to say, since avoiding people for the next year will be difficult, lol, but take it all, the good and the bad, and form your own opinion. There are a lot of schools in NYC and the surrounding area but don’t be afraid to open up your list to other possibilities as well. Do the research and visit the schools on your list and see how you feel about them then. Ultimately, my S applied to 7 schools each of which appealed to something different in him and he said he could see himself doing well and being happy there. But he kept coming back to Fordham and went to every visit/open house opportunity they had. The difference was that every time he was at Fordham, he said not only could he see himself doing well and being happy but he just couldn’t see himself anywhere else! He was invited to sit in on a class about 3 weeks ago and LOVED it. He felt the student body was SO smart and diverse, very welcoming and all seemed happy to be at Fordham. He came home feeling like he could have been best friends with any one or all of them! So, Fordham is a great fit for him and most likely where he will end up. If you feel the same way about Fordham, then go for it! You can’t go wrong when you follow your heart! Good luck!</p>