“Now we are enabling students to come to campus and have the same opportunity to complete the program within a quick time frame as an online student would have,” said Melba Remice, assistant dean for admissions at GSS. “This is for students who really want the ability to complete the program quickly, while gaining experience, skill sets, and knowledge in an in-person setting.” 

What Are Advanced Standing Students? 

Advanced-standing Master of Social Work (M.S.W.) students already have a bachelor’s degree in social work and are now pursuing graduate school. What separates them from traditional students in the same program is the amount of coursework they are required to complete. In Fordham’s Master of Social Work program, full-time traditional students usually take up to two years to complete their graduate degree. But advanced-standing students who have already completed coursework and fieldwork in social work as undergraduates can apply their experience to their graduate programs and complete their master’s degree in less than a year. They save time—and money, said Remice. 

Saving Time and Money, While Studying in Person 

For years, Fordham allowed its full-time advanced-standing students to begin coursework only during the fall semester, not in spring, due to the nature of their coursework and fieldwork. (Only part-time advanced-standing students could begin school during the spring semester.) Starting in spring 2024, those students will be able to start their master’s program in the spring semester in either an online setting or in person, completing their degrees by the end of August. 

“The advanced-standing program provides graduate students more flexibility, a quicker timeline, and on-campus networking opportunities to advance their careers,” Remice said. 

The application deadline for Spring 2024 is Dec. 1. Learn more about the on-campus M.S.W. program.  

In May 2020, Fordham announced that for a two-year period, standardized admissions tests—the SAT and ACT—would be an optional element of the undergraduate admission application process. Last year, Fordham enrolled the largest and most diverse entering class in the University’s history. The Class of 2026 is similar in many respects.

Given our recent experience, Fordham will extend the test-optional policy for another year, to now include students applying for fall 2024 admission. This will give high school students time to plan ahead, and will enable the University to continue analyzing the data on student success and refining application assessments.

Fordham’s admission process has always been holistic. By making standardized tests optional, we have improved access for students who might not otherwise apply to the University, and have done so while maintaining our commitment to academic rigor. We strongly believe that we can fairly evaluate applicants who submit test scores—along with those who do not—and offer admission to candidates who can thrive at Fordham.

As we welcome the Class of 2026, we are confident that they have the skills and intellectual ability to excel at Fordham. Like their siblings before them in the long maroon line, they will leave Fordham prepared to be leaders of competence, compassion, and superior judgment in their careers and in their lives.

John W. Buckley
Vice President for Enrollment

Beginning with the fall 2020 application cycle, Fordham will meet up to the full cost of tuition for Cristo Rey Network students admitted to the University through either the traditional full-time admission process or the Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP-NY State).

“We’ve been working as partners with Cristo Rey for many, many years. This is an opportunity for us to take that commitment to a new level and help make a private education more affordable and possible for some of those students,” said Patricia Peek, Ph.D., dean of undergraduate admission at Fordham. 

The Cristo Rey Network is a group of 37 Catholic high schools across the U.S. that primarily serves students from low-income families. What makes the network unusual is its four-year corporate work-study program, featured on 60 Minutes in 2004. Students balance their classes with entry-level jobs at local businesses. They gain work experience and earn money that goes directly to the school to cover part of their tuition. 

Extending A Decade-Long Relationship 

For more than a decade, Fordham has shared strong ties with the network’s schools, many of which are Jesuit-affiliated. Cristo Rey students have read their poetry at Fordham’s Poets Out Loud series. Fordham Founders Stephen E. Bepler, FCRH ’64, and John Ryan Heller served as trustees at Cristo Rey schools in East Harlem and Chicago, respectively. And the founding president of Cristo Rey New York High School, Joseph P. Parkes, S.J., JES ’68, served as a Fordham trustee and received an honorary degree from the University in 2019. 

The University is especially close to Cristo Rey New York High School. Located in East Harlem, the school has sent more students to Fordham than any other school in the Cristo Rey network. Since the school graduated its first class in 2008, at least one student has come to Fordham each year, for a total of 69 enrollees in the last 11 years, said Peek.

“Every year, we always get a ton of students saying, ‘We’re applying to Fordham. We want to really get in, and what can we do to get there?’” said Martha V. Fermín, director of college guidance at Cristo Rey New York High School and a 2011 graduate of the school. “I really hope that this [partnership]  continues to flourish in many ways, and we can continue to collaborate in any way possible.”

The East Harlem school was profiled by The New York Times in 2007. A year later, the second Cristo Rey school in New York—Cristo Rey Brooklyn High School, formerly known as Lourdes Academy High School—opened. Fordham has had nine enrolled students from the Brooklyn school.

The University’s new financial pledge can also make a difference for Cristo Rey students outside of New York who aren’t candidates for the Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP-NY State), which provides eligible students with educational support services and additional financial assistance. 

“By expanding our funding opportunity, we’re hoping this will help make a Fordham education possible for Cristo Rey students at a distance,” Peek said. 

‘It Touches Me Deeply’

News of the agreement caught the attention of Jordi Giler: a Cristo Rey alumnus, junior at Fordham College at Rose Hill, and HEOP student. His younger sister is currently a senior at Cristo Rey New York High School who recently applied to Fordham, he said. 

“[The new pledge] eliminates one of the greatest burdens that a kid has, going into the college process, which is money,” said Giler, a political science major from the Bronx who wants to work in immigration policy reform. “A lot of kids from Cristo Rey—me and my sister included—we don’t come from rich homes. We come from traditionally lower-class or middle-class homes, where one of the main concerns about going to college is, are they giving me enough money? Do we have to take out loans?” 

For Emely Mojica—a Cristo Rey alumna, sophomore at Fordham College at Rose Hill, and HEOP student—the new pledge is a powerful one. 

“It touches me deeply. I’m the eldest of five children, and I’m the first in my family to go to college. I’m able to be at Fordham because I’m here on three scholarships,” said Mojica, an English major from the Dominican Republic who wants to work in corporate communications. “It’s going to be so much more helpful and accessible to receive higher education, especially for Cristo Rey students who I know deserve it and work so hard.” 

To apply to this new program, Cristo Rey students should apply to Fordham with the Common Application and complete the University’s standard financial aid process. 

Thanks to a recent renovation, the second floor of the Lowenstein Center is home to a brand new welcome center for undergraduate admission, where potential Rams can learn about all that Fordham has to offer.

For decades, the admission office at Lincoln Center served as the place where staff greeted visitors and staged tours. But the space was confined to a few small offices adjacent to the second-floor lounge, and in recent years it had become difficult to accommodate a growing number of guests.

In the 2017-2018 academic year, admission staff welcomed more than 14,000 visitors to the Lincoln Center campus. That included nearly 6,000 prospective students—a 68 percent increase in student visitors from 2010.

The new welcome center, which remains on the second floor of Lowenstein, is designed to comfortably accommodate many more people than before. Its offices have been reconfigured, and the space has expanded to include a large presentation room with a state-of-the-art display screen, a workspace for student employees, and a new seating/reception area. 

“The new space gives us an opportunity to greet prospective students and their families in a way that is far more gracious and inviting than we have been in the past,” said John Buckley, vice president for admission and student financial services.

The renovated center has replaced what used to be the second-floor lounge. But the University has taken several proactive steps to maintain the amount of study space available to students. A new lounge on the plaza level (PL-100) was recently opened and offers ample seating. And there are additional lounge options on campus, both in Lowenstein and in 140 West.

Three new seating areas are also currently being installed, said Frank Simio, vice president for Lincoln Center. In the west wing of Lowenstein’s third floor, there will be 24 new seats, along with electric outlets for laptops and phone chargers. In the Quinn Library, there will close to an additional 100 seats available in quiet study areas. And on the eighth floor of Lowenstein, there will be a smaller seating area, also with electrical outlets. The first two areas will be available to students before final exams begin.

The seats in the library will be in QuinnX (an abbreviation for Quinn Annex), an open stack area that holds more than 260,000 titles. It is located down the law corridor from the library entrance.

“Opening QuinnX answers the need for additional quiet study space for Lincoln Center students and provides for open browsing of the stacks, which is so valuable to faculty and researchers,” said Linda LoSchiavo, director of University Libraries.

The new admission welcome center will open for business this month. In celebration, the center will host a reception with refreshments for students and staff on a date to be determined. 

Of that number, 19,859 students applied for Early Decision/Early Action, a two percent increase from last year and the largest early applicant pool in University history, said John W. Buckley, associate vice president for undergraduate enrollment.

The students who applied to Fordham and successfully passed through the selection process were strong academically. The mean GPA for the early admits is just shy of 3.8 (on a 4.0 scale) and their mean testing stands at 1392.

The University admitted applicants from 49 states and more than 50 countries.

International applications continued to climb for the Class of 2021. Almost 2,000 international students sought early admission. Just two years ago, that number was less than 1,500. Fordham experienced the most representative application activity from China, India, South Korea, and Taiwan.

Buckley said the high school students who applied to Fordham also tended to be leaders and have been actively involved in community service in their secondary years. For many of these applicants, the University’s impressive track record of service provides meaningful opportunities to make a difference, he said, adding that more than 4,000 Fordham undergraduates were involved in volunteer work last year.

“Students have often said that they feel like they can get the best of two worlds here,” he added. “The inherent strengths of the University are attractive to prospective students who are seeking a high quality collegiate experience coupled with all that New York has to offer.”

“Our applicants find it appealing that we have distinct campuses with their own personalities with remarkable facilities. We also provide amazing experiential learning opportunities through our extensive internship programs.”

The Office of Undergraduate Admission connects with more than 400,000 prospective students annually through various outreach campaigns. During fall travel season, admission counselors visit more than 500 secondary schools both across the country and around the globe.

The University has focused much of its recruitment efforts on encouraging students and their families to visit campus in order to get a firsthand experience and interact with faculty, staff and current students.  Last year, more than 47,000 admissions guests visited Fordham, according to Buckley.

“We manage a significant volume of visitors, but also do our best to provide guests with a personal Fordham experience,” said Buckley.

This year’s total of 44,343 applications, which came from all 50 states and more than 125 countries, is a 5 percent total increase from the previous year’s cycle and also represents the 25th consecutive cycle of application growth, said Associate Vice President for enrollment John W. Buckley.

International student applications in particular showed pronounced growth. Applications climbed to 4,332 from 3,690, a 17 percent increase from last year.

“In addition to the inherent strengths of the University, international students love our location in New York City,” Buckley said. “It’s a global city, and students from diverse backgrounds find it very appealing.”

Another milestone was the reintroduction of the early decision option for hopeful applicants. Students who apply in this category commit to enrolling at Fordham if they are accepted. Another early program category, early action, also allows students to apply before the regular deadline but without binding them to enroll.

Because of the success of the early action program, the Office of Admissions reinstated the early decision option for the first time in more than 15 years.

More than 19,000 students applied under the early action or early decision options, Buckley said, which marked another record for Fordham. Applications were due Nov. 1 and students were notified of acceptance decisions just prior to the winter holidays.

“We’ve built strong relationships with guidance counselors nationally and abroad. I think we do a very strong job of encouraging students to visit campus, and when they visit campus we provide them with a good experience,” Buckley said.

“Our number of visitors this year was record volume. We had lots of people coming through on tours, information sessions, and open houses, which I think is critically important as part of the college search process, because it allows students and families to have a firsthand experience [of Fordham].”

Buckley said that the admissions department is currently aiming for a total of 2,135 students to enroll in the Class of 2020.

Regular decision applications were due Jan. 1. Students will be notified of the decision by April 1.

In the nearly two years since Hillary Fisk, FCLC ’12, graduated from Fordham, she has continued to be an advocate for the University—just as she was as a student.

At Fordham College at Lincoln Center, she was a member of the Lincoln Center Society, a group of student ambassadors who help prospective students get to know the University. She led tours of campus and answered questions about Fordham from high school students and their parents. Now she’s a member of the Fordham Alumni Support Team (FAST), a national network of alumni who support the recruitment efforts of the Office of Undergraduate Admission.

“Students can go online all they want to read about Fordham—class ranks, SAT scores—but if they tour the school or talk with me, they can make a more personal connection. I talk about what it was like to go to Fordham, live in the dorms, be a part of the community,” says Fisk, an executive assistant in government relations for Hewlett-Packard in Washington, D.C. “That’s a lot of what FAST is about.”

John Donahue, FCRH ’10, an admission counselor in Fordham’s Office of Undergraduate Admission, says that during the most recent admission cycle, FAST members met with prospective students at 37 college fairs in Texas, Louisiana, California, Illinois, Virginia, Ohio, and elsewhere.

“Alumni really help us be in more places than we can be as a staff,” says Donahue. “They bring a different perspective and often that perspective is something that a student can struggle to find. Sometimes it rings more true for someone to hear from an alumnus. It can be a powerful conversation.”

“I had a great experience at Fordham, and I want to give back because of what it gave to me,” says Fisk. “I love sharing my story with prospective students.”Fisk attends college fairs in the D.C. area, where she speaks to high school students and their parents about Fordham. She also attends the Fordham Alumni Chapter of D.C.’s annual regional reception, where prospective students can speak with an admission counselor and meet alumni who work in a variety of fields.

The Springfield, Mo., native began her Fordham story after meeting an alumnus. During high school, Fisk spent a summer at Northwestern University in a theater arts program. She took a class taught by Broadway producer John Johnson, FCLC ’02, who would go on to win a 2013 Tony Award for his work on the play Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. “I talked with him and heard about his experience. He loved Fordham and said to go on a tour,” Fisk says. “After visiting campus, I knew it was where I wanted to go.”

At Fordham, she studied political science and secured several internships in New York City and Washington, D.C., including positions at the congressional office of U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, NBC’s Nightly News with Brian Williams, and MSNBC’s Morning Joe.

Fisk headed back to her hometown after graduation to be director of campaign operations for former Missouri state treasurer Sarah Steelman, who was seeking election to the U.S. Senate. Steelman lost the primary election, but Fisk took that campaign experience to Tampa, Fla., in August 2012, and worked as a production coordinator at the Republican National Convention.

“It was an amazing experience to see it and understand it from the inside,” Fisk says. “Everything I had learned in my political science courses at Fordham, I got to see at [the convention]live and not just from CSPAN on my TV.”

In October 2012, she moved to Washington, D.C., where she’s found a job and community to fit her education and interests. In her position with Hewlett-Packard, Fisk supports the government relations team’s lobbying efforts in the United States and Latin America. Fisk also spends time playing bingo with local military veterans as a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, a volunteer women’s service organization.

“She’s a really good example of what people can do with their Fordham education,” says Donahue.

For more information on FAST, please contact John Donahue at [email protected].

– Rachel Buttner