Public Highschool, switching schools for senior year however
Cost Constraints / Budget Middle Class, Female, applying for fin aid but not required if thats what it takes
Intended Major(s)
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
3.6 UW
3.9 W
Class Rank: unknown
1530 SAT Score
List your HS coursework
AP Seminar, AP Lang, AP HUG: 5 (all junior year)
AP World, AP Psych: 4 (sophomore)
AP CSP: 3 (sophomore)
intending on taking 3 or 4 APs senior year
got a C in Algebra 2 Sophomore year and a D in Fin Lit (an elective) junior year
6 Bs
Awards:
Genius Olympiad Gold, business category
local award for my business
Extracurriculars
Carbon Business: created an LLC where I acted as a broker and raised money through grants and a partnership with a machine replacement company to replace small businesses in my area’s old fossil fuel machines with new eco friendly ones, raised over 20K
Youth Event Organizer: hosted a huge event in partnership with a local NGO and senator to advocate for the NGOs mission, 500 people in attendance and raised 25K. Intend to advocate the event idea to students internationally
Senator Outreach Team: Outreach team for a local senator, attend political rallies and advocates for his campaign. Presented a Policy Brief
Genius Olympiad: Won Gold in my category
Debate Team: Varsity starting senior year and hosted a fundraiser for the team
all these done junior year
Essays/LORs/Other
–Got an ISS my Junior year for skipping class
Overall wise, your #s are fine I think (non b school major). - but your math is a HUGE problem for b school. You might look at transfer options once a student. But I’m not sure any competitive B School will be in play for you.
What math will you take Senior year?
. They want a letter from your teacher. Unless the Senator truly knows you and can write about interactions and characteristics, etc., it’s likely a waste of time.
Fordham is need aware on some applicants so they can look at your aid needs if they desire and use that in the decision. If you need aid, Fordham likely isn’t a place to end up.
We had this discussion the other week. Their yield (% accepted who attend) is quite low and one poster said it’s because they don’t have a lot of money. Their average grant is about $41K - but of course, have your family do the net price calculator. Don’t include loans as “smart” in the package that shows up.
And in college - go to class - easy way to fail out is by not.
I knew two people who dropped out of university. One of them was brilliant and could easily have handled the work. The failure to attend class regularly was exactly what did him in.
And one thing that I did not fully grasp until graduate school (and it helped me a LOT when I was in graduate school): It is way, way less stressful to show up at every class, always pay attention, and keep way ahead in your work. Actually doing the work is way less stressful compared to worrying about the work that you are not getting done.
And math is important for business school. High school algebra is the basis for a lot of this (even some graduate level math classes that are in business-related subjects).
Overall stats seem fine but math grade could give pause. Will you be taking calculus senior year? Is there a reason you are changing schools for senior year?
Also you will need LORs from teacher(s) (you probably should arrange this before you exit your current school) – colleges are most interested in understanding how you learn and perform in a classroom setting. The senator letter could be a supplemental LOR (for colleges that accept such additional letters) but I expect it will only be valuable if he/she knows and has worked with you personally and can speak to specific attributes of yours which can benefit the college.
Id be taking AP Calc for math senior year, but the D wasnt in a math class it was in a required quarter class for my school called Financial Literacy. I may be able to appeal. The ISS is not on my transcript but im not sure if i have to report it. I met the senator recently and did give him a policy brief. Im not sure my teachers letters of rec will be good.
The teacher LORs will carry more weight than the senator LOR for college admissions.
And FWIW the math grade I was referring to was the C you had in Algebra 2. Hopefully higher grades in upper level courses can help to mitigate this. A D in financial literacy won’t help.
If your appeal doesn’t change this grade, I would explain the D in the common app, when the time comes.
Is this a full year grade, or a semester grade? I assume you have precalc this year, what grade did you receive first semester?
Run Fordham’s NPC with your parents to get an estimated COA. Current COA for Fordham is over $90K per year. You should get a budget number from your parents, and run NPCs for all the schools on your college list.
I assume you must switch schools, if you have a choice, I wouldn’t switch for senior year. Talk to your counselor at your current school about how to handle getting teacher LoRs from your junior year teachers. Why don’t you think your teacher LoRs will be good?
The Senator letter won’t likely carry any weight. What can he really say about you other than you had one interaction? He/she does not know you.
You want to go to B school but got a D in financial literacy - what does that say? What would be a basis for an appeal? You got a D - so it’s what you received. What am I missing?
And if an LOR isn’t good - I’m not in admissions - but I imagine that could give pause. I’m sure many are “average” and not spectacular - but if something is called out as not good is what I’m talking about. And do you even have an academic teacher than will be willing to write one?
If you got a C in Algebra, what did you take next? Math builds. Do you understand it? If not, you need tutoring, etc.
I think you can get into Fordham but not sure the B school. Hopefully you will have a safety on your list - but more importantly, if you don’t understand math, I’m not sure b school will be the right place for you.
A school like Manhattan U would be more likely. as a nearby example.
Like any student, you will need to build a list that includes an assured and affordable safety - we don’t know for sure, that Fordham is that.
I do worry about the math. And the financial literacy, even if not math based. If you say, I didn’t give it my all academically and for someone briefing a Senator, perhaps this is it- your interests were elsewhere- you’re going to need a story to sell that.
But academics are key - and that includes a commitment to them.
You’ll apply - and they’ll say yay or nay - but then how will you do the required math in b school?
The D in financial lit and the desire for business school BEGS an essay about it. You might highlight and focus what happened in that class and why/how it’s connected to your interest in business. If you get the grade appealed, all the better, but I can imagine an adcom wondering what’s going on. I’d bet there’s quite a yarn there.
I don’t know the answer but some schools you can apply to the program you want and they may admit you to the university but not the program. OP can ask Fordham if this is a possibility - or you apply direct to a program and get a yes/no, which includes the entire university. This happened to me at Syracuse. I applied to Newhouse - denied, but admitted to Arts & Sciences even though I didn’t apply there. Or even some b schools admit both directly and in directly.
If the answer is it’s all are none on Gabelli/Fordham, then yes, applying to Arts and Sciences might be a desired strategy. Here’s what would be required internally to transfer.
From the Fordham Website on Transfer
Due to the extremely limited size and capacity of the Gabelli School at Lincoln Center, only a very small number of students will even be considered for admission each year. For this reason, only students with an exceptional academic record will be considered for this program.
3.3 cumulative GPA is the minimum allowed to submit an application for possible admission.
GPA of accepted transfers to the Gabelli School (LC) is typically above 3.6
I believe that is a tough internal transfer these days. I would not suggest this route if the OP wants business. Fordham is wise to this game. In addition, some core requirements differ between the Arts & Science and Gabelli which could make choosing the appropriate classes challenging.
You have time to decide if there is something you’d like to study in the Arts and Sciences school. Plenty of majors there can lead to business careers.
But, if you want to major in some type of business, make sure to identify at least one affordable safety school and some target schools that have the major(s) you really want to study.
do you know what your official transcript looks like, exaclty what will be sent to Fordham? If not, I would suggest you ask for a copy from your school and share that here.
To me, if you want business. You apply for business. If you don’ get into business, then you go to another school. Major over school. If you truly want to study something, why go where you cant? A&S majors are great - but if you want to learn marketing or supply chain or finance, they are not these.
No one here can say you won’t get into Fordham Gabelli. You asked for an opinion and that’s what we are giving.
But I also recommended contacting admissions and asking, if you apply to Gabelli and aren’t accepted, can they still offer you a spot in A&S. Many schools do this.
And if the answer is yes, that would solve your problem.