<p>My d got a $10,000 Dean's scholarship with a score over 1500 (don't want to be too specific) and a perfect score on the writing section. 4.0 GPA, tons and tons of honors, awards and community service. Just received recognition from two local service clubs for her dedication to the community. </p>
<p>Fordham, unfortunately, was not interested enough in her to persue her. What a huge disappointment. Unfortunately, Fordham's merit scholarships (any amount over $10,000 for the Deans) are not truly merit but are based on financial aid. And they are so focused on increasing the number of national merit scholars attending the school that the huge scholarship money goes to them, even though they may have lower stats and test scores than my d and others. They also give no special consideration for scholarship money to those who apply early, and that is from firsthand experience. I know several students who applyed regular decision and were given substantial scholarship rewards with lower stats.</p>
<p>I read where Fordham is trying to be like Notre Dame and Georgetown, but the huge difference I found is that a school like Notre Dame takes care of their own. Notre Dame has a huge endowment because the alumni give back and the alumni children are given special consideration. We have no affiliation with Notre Dame but they persued my d endlessly and offered her an extremely generous scholarship. Georgetown's offer was even better than Fordham's. My alma mater on the other hand gave me no insentive to continue to support their annual fund when other schools seem to be more interested in my family.</p>
<p>Wow FordhamAlum, I am so sorry to hear that your d will not be attending Fordham. You are spot on regarding Fordham needing to take better care of their alum base. No wonder they have such a low endowment. I know all of us on the Fordham cc respect the input you give to this board. Sounds like Fordham's loss is Notre Dame's gain.</p>
<p>I was under the impression that ND gives no merit money but will meet 100% efc</p>
<p>My d was named a Notre Dame Scholar and ND scholars are given special consideration. Our EFC was well over the cost of tuition (we receive $0 in FA from Fordham) and ND gave us more than double the Dean's scholarship that Fordham gave us. On top of that, the local ND alumni club gives a $10000 scholarship to 2 top area students.</p>
<p>Point being, if d was named a ND scholar and ND is the #1 catholic university in the nation, you would think this is the exact type of student Fordham would want. Add to that a double legacy status, early action application, campus visits, full interest, etc., - someone at FU missed the boat.</p>
<p>FordhamAlum, our S also received the $10,000 Deans Scholarship based on merit only. For those of us who fall somewhere between needy and wealthy, we get screwed in the college financial award game. As I said in an earlier post, it's becoming more and more of a reality that only the needy or truly wealthy can send their kids to top tiered private colleges. Needless to say, S turned down Fordham's offer and will be attending another college with a lower tuition/room board and an offer of a bigger merit scholarship.</p>
<p>FordhamAlum, one more thought. Try not to take this experience too personally. Your D, my S, and any other kid accepted into Fordham yet turning it down because of finances will do just fine at whatever college they end up attending.</p>
<p>FordhamAlum<br>
From your post I can see that someone truly missed the boat indeed, sorry your d will not be attending your alma mater but ND is just great too!</p>
<p>I guess I did take this somewhat (irrationally) personally as hubby and I have a personal attachment to FU as alumni, but all is well and will be fine - d was 1 in over 23,000 applicants to FU and FU is focused on improving their rank. D did not fall into any particular category that could help them do that - ie. she was NM commended not a finalsit; she's local & they are recruiting from certain far off states; she's not a minority, etc. D, on the other hand, had some fantastic choices to pick from including an Ivy so I think in the end she was happy FU didn't offer her a substantial scholarship as her dad & I would have influenced her decision to attend FU over her other choices.</p>
<p>Good luck to all. I'm sure everyone will do fine at their new schools!
:)</p>