<p>My daughter is visiting Fordham in a couple of weeks. She is signed up for a general tour. She is interested in the honors program. Is there a separate honors tour or meeting that can be arranged? Should she email the honors program director?</p>
<p>Good question. Here is my response. </p>
<p>Fordham’s Honors Program is about 25 students, give or take a few, at Rose Hill (Bronx Main Campus.) It is uber highly selective, as Fordham gets more than 35,000 applications a year, for a class of 7,000 or so undergraduates, of which 5,000 or so are at Rose Hill, and 2,000 or so at Lincoln Center. Do the math.</p>
<p>Every application at Fordham is considered for scholarship potential. No separate application is necessary for a Fordham based scholarship, and that includes the Honors Program. The Freshmen Honors Program is by invitation only. Many times, from what I know, one can be admitted to Fordham and be invited to Honors later…such as early admission with Honors invite going out in Feb. But that is anecdotal. </p>
<p>Also, in addition to the Freshman Honors Program, there are departmental Honors programs, offered to rising sophomores based on grades and class rank following freshman year. So if one misses the cut for the Freshman Honors Program (which is a four year commitment with a very rigorous core) one can always graduate “with Honors” by being invited by a Department Chair into that program, i.e. Psychology, Philosophy, History, Theology, to name a few. That was the path of my daughter. </p>
<p>Not being invited to the Freshmen Honors Program is not a slap in the face, as there are so many applications and so many well qualified with perfect SAT scores and GPA.s through the clouds. </p>
<p>I think if you ping Dr. Harry Nasuti on the Rose Hill campus he would be glad to meet with you. I don’t know if that helps in the selection process, as much as just learning more about the program, its demanding curriculum and the four year commitment. I can assure you that if your kid is not in the Honors Program, they will still be very challenged at Fordham, from the 100 level core classes to the upper division major courses. My kid was exhausted at the end of each semester. Exhausted. It paid off, with superb grades and graduating with highest honors. And an Honors Certificate from her Department. </p>
<p>Lots of students with uber stats apply to the elite LACs and Ivy’s and then apply to their vision of “safety schools” and expect to be offered an Honors Course/Program de riguer. What they dont know is that they are not alone and at Fordham its a very very small and elite program, and that its highly demanding of their time and other paths also exist for them. (Some large universities, notably state schools, have huge Honors Programs for over a thousand kids. Not Fordham. Its 25 kids.) </p>
<p>However, Fordham does an excellent job of tagging and tapping rising stars in the rising sophomore class…been there…at least 3 departments were all over my kid and she chose the path best suited for her. And walked into the buzzsaw of some incredible faculty, who then poured on the heat…“to prepare her for graduate school.” And nearly worked her to death…but it paid off in spades. She got into VERY prestigious graduate programs (including an Ivy) and she WAS well prepared when she got there and graduated Highest Honors there.<br>
I am not bragging, though it may appear as such to some people. I am putting direct experience out there for “meat on the bone” so to speak, to offer what can happen if your kid accepts and performs well. But not all kids will be offered the Honors Program. Its fabulous. Dr. Nasuti is a gem. (We know him for other reasons: a fellowship one summer out of state that he ran and selected my kid to attend.) </p>
<p>Its all good. Best of luck. And please remember Fordham has two campuses, Lincoln Center (who has their own Honors Program of similar size) and Rose Hill. Visit BOTH campuses. Don’t let the Bronx scare you. Its a fabulous experience and we are not New Yorkers. </p>
<p>Thanks, @sovereigndebt, very much for the good info. We are visiting Rose Hill only. My D will have the stats for the NMF scholarship but honors sounds like another level entirely.</p>
<p>I need to correct one thing that sov wrote - Dr. Nasuti (who is absolutely wonderful) is no longer the head of the honors program. He took a sabatical last year and Dr. McGowan is now the director of the honors program. So you could email him with questions about it.</p>
<p>Many of the students in the honors program have the NMSF scholarship, but not all of the students have it. And not all NMSF scholarship students are offered seats in the honors program.</p>
<p>It is very intense and a huge amount of work, but very rewarding for a student who loves the humanities.</p>
<p>Thanks hen for the update. </p>
<p>I am in the Honors Program in LC, but as far as I know the only thing to visit at RH is the Honors building, so you can ask someone about it. I actually haven’t been there but I don’t think it’s anything out of this world, just a dorm/live/study place as far as I know. LC wise there’s pretty much nothing to visit regarding the Honors Program except for our own classroom we get to use.</p>
<p>Also, for those looking at Fordham University, I recommend looking at the Fordham Facebook page for all sorts of interesting trivia…and wonderful pictures. Fr. McShane was in Cooperstown New York at the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame last week. Why? Because Fordham legend Frankie Frisch (R.I.P.) is a Hall of Fame member. </p>
<p><a href=“Fordham University”>https://www.facebook.com/FordhamUniversity</a></p>
<p>Another interesting facebook page is Fordham Compliments.</p>