Daughter got in with approx 3.97 GPA–cant remember exactly. 35 ACT, IB classes, mostly HL. Benchwarmer in 2 Varsity sports. She has a pretty developed health-related EC list, as she is pretty focused on medicine, with a lot of service-related work at the hospital and in the community.
I think Fordham admitted students that they feel have a decent chance of enrolling. If your student has an off the hook application, that student is often looking at many very good schools. My older daughter got into Bowdoin, Tufts, Dartmouth, etc, but was waitlisted at Skidmore. (I don’t believe they expected her to enroll.) Many schools are doing this. Last, schools admit for many reasons, and many students have great grades and scores etc. There is no recipe that will get you in right now. Especially if you are an upper/middle class girl, as they seem to make up a large portion of the applicant pool these days.