<p>DS is a rising senior. We think Fordham looks like a very good potential match school for him. He would need substantial merit aid to attend. Unfortunately, we live 400+ miles from NYC, and cannot possibly consider a visit before mid October due to work. Wondering if it is worth it to try to get in a visit somehow before applications.</p>
<p>Pros: (1) determine if match is as good in person as on paper
(2) show interest, increase chances for admission/merit aid
(3) nyc is fun to visit</p>
<p>Cons: (1) time and money to visit a school which can't attend unless good merit aid rec'd
(2) get kid hopes up for a place of moderate likelihood
(3) have visited many schools only to have kid shake head - kid more likely to nod if school has accepted and offered nice $$$$
(4) whole family probably has to go for sake of family peace</p>
<p>Wait until he gets an offer of acceptance and see what kind of merit money (if any) is offered. Showing interest does not mean that one will be offered more merit money.</p>
That’s a good idea, we could probably go over christmas break, or in february, although not the best time of year to be wandering around NYC. Do they tell you what financial aid you would get early too, or is that not until March?</p>
<p>D was admitted to Fordham EA. I recall the admissions letter stating that she would get at least $X in merit aid (they are pretty good), but not an exact amount. My advice is to call the school and ask when they would let you know exactly how much aid you will get.</p>
<p>If your child is admitted and the aid package is enough, I would recommend a visit. Generally the hotel rates are lower in NYC in Jan/Feb.</p>
<p>If he wouldn’t be able to accept Fordham or any school without merit aid, no reason to visit until an acceptance – and preferably merit aid (if they offer that when they give an EA acceptance) is in hand. </p>
<p>Merit aid is used to lure desireable students who otherwise might not attend. For most colleges, one is more likely to get merit aid if a student doesn’t show lots of interest in a school. If the school thinks the student will come without merit aid, the school will use that merit aid on another outstanding student who seems more iffy.</p>
<p>Consequently, I don’t suggest that he visit before getting an acceptance. </p>
<p>If the school is literally a match school (i.e. if his stats are about equal to those of the average student at Fordham), he may not get substantial merit aid because schools usually save such merit aid for students who’d likely be accepted by much better colleges. He might get a bit of merit aid, but not the substantial amount that you’d need.</p>
<p>He’s more likely to get substantial merit aid from a school that would be considered a safety school. If Fordham doesn’t fit that category, I suggest having him apply to a school that he likes that does fit that category, and giving him every chance to fall in love with that school so if schools like Fordham don’t come through with the money he’d need, he’d happily attend the school offering big bucks.</p>
Don’t know for sure, but it sounds like this is <em>your</em> choice, not necessarily his. I could not agree more with NSM’s comments. Merit money is given when one is above the norm for an entering class, the higher the better. Merit money is used to attract the better candidates who might go to another school if not given money, and to improve the overall stats for the school itself.</p>
<p>And she is absolutely correct that it would be a good idea to find schools that WOULD give good merit money (I started a thread somewhere here on guaranteed merit money for stats) and visit those and “give him every chance to fall in love” with those schools.</p>
<p>We went through this when my son was searching. I had visions of him attending some “name” schools, but then, when searching for places that provided his major and that would be financial safeties, came up with THE place for him. We visited, he fell in love with it, and the rest is history.</p>
<p>Wait for the admissions offer. And apply EA. Fordham can be strange with its awarding of merit money, so definitely give good attention to the essay. You could also be in respectful contact with your admissions rep, who will introduce him/herself to you. Fordham is good with that. Find a couple of serious questions to ask and then email to say “Unfortunately, I won’t be able to visit before applying because of _____ and would like to know _____” which shows interest. My D applied and was accepted last year. We had been told that Fordham wouldn’t be generous, but my D’s experience was otherwise. She was a very good candidate, but had a weakness in math in both the transcript and SAT, but the rest of her package was a good one and Fordham threw money at her.</p>
<p>Wait for the admissions and merit offer. Our son was accepted to Fordham EA without having previously visited the school. He was offered the Dean’s Scholarship of $10,000/yr renewable for 4 years. Even with the merit money, Fordham was too expensive. We never did end up visiting the school. After looking at the bottom line cost, we dropped it from our list.</p>
<p>In the initial process, we limited our visits to finding a solid match school (both academic and financial match). After receiving offers of admission and merit aid, we then went back and visited the schools that we felt we could afford. To us, it didn’t make any sense to spend the time and money on visiting schools that were reaches or out of our price range until we had an acceptance and offer of merit aid in hand.</p>
<p>I’ll offer a contrary view. Fordham in January/February is bleak … great for studying, not so great for walking the NY Botanical Gardens (bordering the North edge of campus), the Bronx Zoo (East edge), Little Italy (South edge) or the lively Hispanic district on the West side. Furthermore “Can’t travel there for the next eight months but I’m sure April will be available” sounds like a plan likely to result in no visit at all. And IMHO, Fordham is one of those schools where a visit is especially important. YMMV.</p>
<p>Looked up OP’s son’s stats, which were on another thread. His h.s doesn’t rank. His stats are very strong. I think he has a good chance for merit aid at Fordham. Whether it will be enough for him to attend, though, will be the question.</p>
<p>I’m guessing that Fordham uses merit aid to lure outstanding Catholic students who’d otherwise go to Notre Dame or Georgetown, which are more highly ranked, but don’t offer merit aid. Since I think that the OP’s S would have a shot at ND or GT, I think he’s likely to get a merit aid offer from Fordham.</p>
<p>"His gpa is 3.7, but he had 2200 SAT, (1500 CR/M 760/740) and 34 ACT. His EC’s are not extensive, but he is an Eagle Scout, if that means anything. "</p>
<p>My daughter’s GPA was similar and SAT scores about 40 points lower and as I said, Fordham was very generous. She applied and was accepted to an under-represented major, however, and had an entire package to speak to her passion for the area.</p>
At one college night presentation, we were told that colleges can tell which other schools you are applying to. Since DS isn’t applying to Notre Dame or Georgetown, would that make a difference to Fordham? In other words, they could know that they are the top school he’s applying to, (except for maybe Cornell), so they don’t have to try to entice him away from some other, more selective, place?</p>
<p>"At one college night presentation, we were told that colleges can tell which other schools you are applying to. "</p>
<p>No, they can’t tell what schools students are applying to. </p>
<p>From surveying students who’ve rejected them, colleges have very good ideas about which schools they are competing with. I’d bet that in general, students with your son’s stats who apply to Fordham are using it as a safety or match school and their top choice schools would be Georgetown and perhaps Notre Dame. More than likely, that’s what Fordham would assume. </p>
<p>Colleges know that in general, if students will choose the best school that they were accepted to, so that’s why some schools offer merit aid as a way of luring students away from more highly ranked schools that provide need-based aid only.</p>
<p>Some of the college guide books list competing schools for each college.</p>
<p>You can find a summary of the Common Data Set at college data dot com. According to that, Fordham considers interviews to be “Important.” It looks like they may offer off-campus interviews.</p>
<p>If your son isn’t on Fordham’s mailing list yet, he should get on that list so he’ll be notified if any Fordham events are happening in your area this fall. Also, he might want to send mail to admissions to ask about upcoming visits to your area or the possibility of alumni interviews.</p>
<p>I’m one of those who think visiting in February is a great idea. We’re Californians, and we took our daughter back East to visit schools in February. We figured that if she’d only seen those sunny, green-leaved campuses when she made her decision, she’d be miserable during a New England winter. Plus, visiting in February allows your child to see the campus when classes are in session.</p>
<p>If you can add one or two financial safety schools to your visit to New York, then the trip could be worthwhile.</p>
<p>Anyway, if you live 400+ miles away from NYC – even if you’re south of NYC, your son will be familiar with cold weather, so I don’t think the weather involved in a Jan. or Feb. visit to NYC is likely to turn him off. If so, then it wasn’t the college for him.</p>