Will my ECs/Recs hurt my app?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Fordham University
1

Hey everyone! I’m really liking Fordham Pre-Law and I have a pretty good chance at some merit money, so I’m looking at Fordham as a plausible option with a great location. After touring, I’ve realized that the students aren’t very religious/conservative, but I do worry about my extracurriculars during admissions.

I’m very politically active, and my strongest EC is Model UN, which is of course fine. Other than that though, I’m the president of my GSA, and have established all kinds of queer and trans positive events, like Trans Awareness Week and Day of Remembrance. I know that both of my letters are very likely to mention these events, considering one of my academic teachers is also my GSA adviser, and my other teacher was really impacted by a speech I gave to the staff about correct pronoun usage. I know that Fordham is a Jesuit school- do you think that these types of ECs/Recommendations will hurt my application? Am I shooting myself in the foot here, especially if I want to be considered for merit money?

2

It’s great you’re interested in Fordham. However, I suggest you do further research on the school, and the Jesuit religion. The Jesuit religion and the school itself are very tolerant of LGBTQ members. I’m an FCLC student, and we have clubs that have open discussion regarding LGBTQ topics. We also have an ally program where students help other students who are just coming out.

Fordham, well FCLC at least, is a very liberal school and does not have any issues with LGBTQ students. In fact, they are looking to put gender neutral bathrooms in a few areas of the school.

Hope this helps.

3

In general I would say that if a school doesn’t accept you because of your GSA activities, then it is not a place you should want to attend. That said, I don’t expect that it will be any issue at Fordham.