My D is a senior at Fordham, the Rose Hill campus. She has been having a wonderful college experience in every way. All of the classes are small (there are no lecture halls) - the largest class that she has been in had about 35 students in it. Every professor has known her name and she has felt that they have been genuinely concerned about her achievement. She is double majoring in two humanities subjects and has been expected to do lots of research and writing. The academics are rigorous but the atmosphere is not at all cut-throat. The expectations are high but there is much support and assistance if a student wants it.
She, and all of her friends, have done community service almost every semester. She has had internships in her field each summer and did one during the spring semester last year. Most of her friends have also had internships during the school year. Grand Central is a 20 minute metro north ride (the station is a few steps from the campus gates) and the Lincoln Center area is a short ride on the Ram Van. She and her friends travel around the city frequently to take advantage of all that the city has to offer.
When we went on the tour, there was a lot of talk about how they are concerned about the whole person, and they really are. I am sure that not everyone there is nice, but my daughter has encountered wonderful people. At the end of one of her summer internships, she had to give a long oral presentation and two of her professors attended the presentation. Her roommates and friends are kind, caring people, who are also super smart and fun.
We are not Catholic and that has not presented any problems for my D. Religion is there for those who want to participate but no one is made to feel uncomfortable if they don’t get involved. There is a lot of respect for religion, in general. My H and I encountered Fr. McShane at family weekend and stopped to chat to tell him about the great experience our D was having at Fordham. We mentioned her religion and he immediately asked if she felt comfortable there, and seemed happy to hear that she was.
Fordham gives merit money including full scholarships to NMSF, so there are a lot of students with super high stats who might not qualify for need based aid at any school, but still are not wealthy enough to pay full tuition at other schools, who choose to attend Fordham. There are many high school valedictorians and top students from very competitive high school in attendance. In my opinion, the academics are much stronger than one would expect from its US news ranking.
I would be happy to try to answer any questions that anyone might have about Fordham.