I hear very little about Fordham on this board, and it has seldom, if ever, been recommended by CC folks to those asking for college suggestions in the NE. We live in NJ but know only one person from town who attended, and she stayed a year. Does anyone have any experiences with the school they could share? The difference between the two campuses other than location?
Thanks.
I know a lot of kids who have attended Fordham- not all Catholic.
Fantastic programs in media, performing arts, any of the traditional liberal arts. I can’t comment on STEM- that hasn’t been the orientation of the kids I know.
As an employer, it is highly regarded. I have hired a lot of Fordham grads over the years. I think the hiring reputation gets a boost from the law school (punches above its weight due to location) and business school (justifiably well regarded) which is a good thing. I’ve hired history majors- they write well, good, logical analytical thinkers.
I recently recommended it to a kid who was growing frustrated with the rural LAC’s- wanted some of that pedagogical magic but wanted a city. It’s a reach for him but we’ll see- he really liked it when he toured.
I’ve known both partiers and non-partiers there. Obviously a lot to do in NY besides drink so I think kids can find their own peeps. Not as rah-rah a school as Notre Dame; not a preppy place like Villanova if you’re trying to place it in the Catholic milieu and who it attracts…
Good question, thegfg. I’d also like to know. Also, how prevalent is the Catholicism? I’ve visited Georgetown and the religion seemed to be mostly in the background. Villanova was more in your face and made me (Jewish) uncomfortable. How does fordham rank in that regard?
You’d never hear it from his mouth, but The Donald attended Fordham for two years before heading off to THE Wharton School at Penn.
Strong liberal arts education in the Bronx in a traditional college campus setting. More like Gtown than Nova or ND on the Catholic stuff.
The expansion of the LC campus for undergrads is a relatively new thing. Back in the day, LC was pretty much the law school and a small performing arts program. Seems like they are trying to offer an undergrad experience at LC that is along the lines of NYU. Which, like Fordham, used to have its main big traditional undergrad campus up in the Bronx.
Fordham is recommended often on CC and the Fordham page (see link above) is quite active.
–My S went to Fordham (Gabelli) and had a fantastic experience. there on every front – academically, socially, getting involved on and off campus etc. If you have any specific questions feel free to PM me.
–The differences between the LC and RH campus is the focus of many threads on the Fordham page. In short the RH campus (where my S went) is the more traditional campus (beautiful Gothic buildings), the larger campus, the place where the sports teams play, and where the bulk of the undergraduate business school is located etc. For my S it was the prefect blend between a typical campus experience and having easy access to NYC. The LC campus is one square block in the heart of Manhattan – it includes the theater and dance program so the student base is a bit artsier and there are more commuters from what I gather.
@TheGFG, I’m surprised to hear that you know of only one person in your town who went to Fordham since traditionally they draw heavily from the NY/NJ/CT area. In fact it’s not too long ago that they made the transition from a commuter school to a more residential school especially on the Rose Hill campus.
I’m a proud Fordham grad school alum myself and when my kid was doing the college search we visited Fordham twice. She decided not to attend but at the events there were quite a few students who had already decided that it was their 1st choice and were very rah-rah about it.
About the religious aspect, I heard the college president speak. He’s a Jesuit, Father McShane, but rather than talking about Catholicism, he emphasized the school’s mission for making the world a better place and said that it’s devoted to developing the student as a whole person, focusing on values and service.
My friend’s daughter went to the RH campus. Started on a small athletic scholarship for swimming and by senior year it was full tuition. They felt she was treated very fairly, loved her time there, and still lives in NYC (from California).
I went to a wedding at the RH campus. Beautiful church for a wedding. Huge, so you can have all your friends, and then some!
As with all Catholic schools, anyone and everyone is welcome but they aren’t going to change anything for you. There are core course requirements, including religion (although many choices). Religion is part of the school, and if it bothers YOU, don’t go to a Catholic school. You need to be respectful if you choose not to participate in the religious aspects of the school.
Lots of Catholic kids from our high school go to Fordham, but none of my kids’ friends so I don’t know as much about it as I’d like even though it’s in our backyard. My younger son hates NYC and wanted to be further away. The Bronx campus is right across the street from the zoo and the botanical garden. It’s also really close to Arthur Avenue which many consider the real Little Italy. http://www.arthuravenuebronx.com/
They have a great radio station WFUV where you can work as a student intern.
Fordham in general has a respectable academic reputation mainly in the humanities and social sciences.
It was generally regarded among HS friends as comparable to the stronger areas of NYU without as much of a high price tag or the large size/bureaucracy where one can get lost in the cracks.
Most of the HS classmates who went to Fordham tended to be students on fairly hefty scholarship/FA who were seriously considering pursuing law school, politics, or professions requiring a lot of writing(journalism, etc).
The STEM oriented classmates…especially engineering/tech tended not to consider Fordham. If they wanted a NYC area Catholic college within the same approximate academic ballpark with strengths in STEM…Manhattan College would be the preferred choice if Fordham was the only other choice.
I think Fordham has a bit of a split personality - there are significant differences between the bronx and city campuses. The bronx campus has a very traditional campus feel - stone buildings, big quad, stadium, etc. The city one is right next to Lincoln center and is very urban - tall dorm buildings, no green spaces, etc. They do not offer all majors at both locations.
My daughter was accepted at Fordham (into their very prestigious honors program) and chose not to attend (wanted real city and her programs would have been in the Bronx.)
One thing to note is that it is very expensive - was the highest priced of all the schools she applied to! They do give merit aid.
Our NJ Catholic high school sends a lot of applications to Fordham but not many students.
It doesn’t have the academic reputation of schools like Lehigh, Bucknell, Gettsyburg, Lafayette, Holy Cross, Boston College or Villanova and the cost of Fordham doesn’t make it attractive compared to schools on the other side of the spectrum that are perceived to be lower academically like Scranton, Siena, Manhattan College, etc.
I guess the overall value proposition is not compelling. Fordham has a very low yield of 14% so it appears the idea of applying to Fordham is better than going.
.“It was generally regarded among HS friends as comparable to the stronger areas of NYU without as much of a high price tag or the large size/bureaucracy where one can get lost in the cracks.”
If theGFG had wanted to know what everyone’s HS friends twenty years ago thought of Fordham, she would have posed the question thusly: "What did all of your HS friends think of Fordham?
She wanted to know what WE ALL think of Fordham. Not our high school friends. Please, just stop.
ScaredDad- your pov does not jive with my observations.
Fordham is not as prestigious as Holy Cross in my neck of the woods, but is perceived as MUCH stronger intellectually and academically than Gettysburg, Lafayette and Bucknell (except in engineering). Villanova is a toss up- some parents consider it a four year country club, others think it’s nirvana (but nowhere near as prestigious as Georgetown or Notre Dame).
For prospective employers I think Fordham does MUCH better than Gettysburg, Lafayette, etc. Much better location for internships, strong grad school programs which give it a reputational boost, etc.
The kids I know who end up at Manhattan college or Siena didn’t have a snowball’s chance of getting into Fordham so that’s not an accurate comparison. Those colleges attract a lower caliber of student from the git-go.
ScaredNJDad1, maybe you live near me, because that’s the impression I’ve been getting from NJ folks: people don’t think it’s worth the money for the caliber of education it offers. Growing up in a Phila. suburb I had developed a positive view of Fordham, but since people in my town simply didn’t go that far away to college I also never knew anyone then who had attended. Admittedly, I think I mostly heard about the law school. On the news shows back then, academic experts seemed to come from either Columbia or Fordham.
In my area, Bucknell has a much better reputation and is much more difficult to get into than Fordham. Need close to a 4.0 and an average of 1330 (out of 1600) for Bucknell versus a 3.5 and less than 1250 for Fordham according to Naviance. Lafayette similar to Fordham and Gettysburg much easier to get in.
That being said, kids I know that have gone have loved it. They also give out a lot of merit money and that seems to attract some kids. It is much less popular than Villanova.
How did they do with job placement? That is one complaint I’ve heard–that despite their location in NYC, kids weren’t getting jobs after graduation. Blossom, thankfully, says otherwise.
@blossom To people in this area Fordham doesn’t haven’t the same academic reputation as Lehigh, Lafayette, Bucknell, Gettysburg, Villanova. It would be equated with Muhlenberg, which student-wise they are very close peers. Lehigh, Bucknell and Villanova are significantly harder to get in than Fordham. Gettsyburg and Lafayette about the same. Gettsyburg has slightly higher SAT scores than Fordham and about the same ACT. I didn’t look at Lafayette but I imagine the same.
Yes Siena, Scranton and Manhattan College are on average less selective, but they offer more value and would not be looked down upon by people around here.
Internships? Where in the Bronx? When? During school year? I doubt that and I doubt more a kid will get on the subway to Manhattan when school is in session to intern somewhere. It just doesn’t work that way.
That’s the way we see it. Folks in this area are not chomping at the bit to pay that much for college in the Bronx.
@TheGFG I can tell you in terms of Accounting placement, Fordham does no better than “lesser” schools like Fairfield, Bonaventure, Siena, Scranton, Manhattan College.
On the ground here it is a value proposition, not a denial it is a good school. It is but not at an average cost of attendance of $50,000.
Kids need to interview for summer internships. I find it hard to believe that it is more convenient to get to an interview in Manhattan from Lehigh than from the Bronx. Not to mention more expensive.
if memory serves, GFG’s D is interested in studying Classics- still true? If so, you are looking at a different choice than a kid who is getting a degree in finance.
NJD- my observations do not jive with yours. I’m not “looking down” on Siena, Scranton or Manhattan College- merely observing that just because you see a lot more kids you know going there, doesn’t mean they got into Fordham and decided not to go. I think those kids didn’t get accepted to Fordham and therefore have opted (logically) to attend a college which wanted them!
BTW, I know a lot of kids who take the train (more expensive and less frequent) from New Haven, Princeton NJ and Bronxville for internships in NYC. No- not every day. But you get a great opportunity at the UN or Council on Foreign Relations and you’re really going to decide you can’t make it to NY once a week? Especially if you only have class three days a week by senior year???
I work in corporate recruiting and would not be impressed by a kid who doesn’t know how to use public transportation to get to a once a week internship.