With packed cars and anxious families, the Class of 2017 made its entrance on Fordham’s campuses on Aug. 25. But thanks to dozens of veteran student and staff volunteers, the day went off without a hitch for the hundreds of new resident students, who arrived from as near as Queens and as far as Azerbaijan.

At Fordham’s Rose Hill campus, perfect weather and a reassuring band of greeters kept freshmen nerves at bay. By 7:30 a.m., Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, and other administrators were stationed at the entrance to welcome families.

Father McShane flagged down cars to offer passengers water bottles and words of welcome.
“You’re moving into Alumni South?” he asked a student arriving from Pennsylvania. “Do you have a fan? Good—you’ll need it.”

The jovial warning was followed by his reassurance that everyone would be well taken care of. “When you get to the dorms, let the student leaders handle everything,” he said.

At Martyrs’ Court, Loschert Hall, and the other freshmen dorms, families received a boisterous reception from New Student Orientation (NSO) leaders, who had volunteered to move students into their dorm rooms.

Rose Hill sophomore Elle Crane donned a bonnet with ram horns for the occasion, hoping that a crazy hat might soothe especially nervous newcomers.

“I just want to make sure that when the freshmen come, they know that the people who are moving them in have found a community here and love this place,” she said.

NSO leaders also made a point of welcoming new freshmen on a first-name basis, and newcomers found the personalized welcome a memorable feature.

“My mom was holding it together pretty well, until she heard them shout my name—then she burst into tears,” said Conner Raggo, who had driven with his parents from White Plains, N.Y. that morning.

Though anxiety was unavoidable, the day’s expert orchestration was a relief to parents with sedans and SUVs filled to capacity.

“Everyone is so friendly and helpful,” said Cleveland native Karen Kruse, mother of incoming freshman Kyle. “We must’ve been asked 100 times if we have any questions or need any help.”

Inside the dorms, while NSO leaders deposited books, tubs of clothing, and miscellany into the rooms, the new students were meeting their roommates. Some had already connected with one another over Facebook to divvy up bringing the large appliances, such as refrigerators and televisions.

For two families, such planning ahead was essential. Jackie Ramos, of Long Beach, Calif., had met her roommate, Courtney Acito, through their Fordham rowing coach. To help Ramos make the cross-country move, Acito’s family invited the Ramoses to their Cherry Hill, N.J., home a few days before move-in to shop for supplies they couldn’t fly with.

“We’ve melded our families—East Coast and West Coast,” said Acito’s father, Frank.
Fordham welcomed 1,963 students to the Class of 2017, with 1,505 of those students at Rose Hill and 458 at Lincoln Center. The University made just over 17,000 offers to 36,000 high school applicants, an acceptance rate of 47 percent.

“This was our 22nd consecutive year of application growth,” said John W. Buckley, associate vice president for undergraduate enrollment.

The freshman class has a mean score of 1268 on the SAT and ACT and a mean high school GPA of 3.6. Consequently, 199 students were accepted as presidential, dean’s, and semifinalist scholars.

Members of the new class hail from 43 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. A notable difference between this class and last year’s is the number of international students who have enrolled—a total of 136, up from last year’s 87 students. Buckley said it has been one of Fordham’s priorities to develop that cohort.

“We now have two dedicated members of the team working specifically on international recruitment, and I think we’ll see even greater diversity going forward in terms of where students are coming from.”

At the Fordham College at Lincoln Center campus, incoming freshmen were greeted by orientation leaders armed with large cardboard moving boxes and hearty cheers of welcome.
Therese Meily, from Toms River, N.J., was excited by the prospect of exploring her new home with roommate Emily Rubino, of Towaco, N.J.

“I’m from the suburbs of New Jersey, so [the city]is going to be very different,” said Meily.

Meily and Rubino moved in a few days early for the Urban Plunge program, which introduced 125 new freshmen to community development in culturally diverse neighborhoods (see video below.) For Rubino, Urban Plunge was an ideal opportunity for a humanitarian background.

“I’m interested in global nonprofit organizations, so this was an excellent gateway,” she said.

On the third floor of McMahon Hall, San Diego, Calif., resident Brilynn Rakes and her mother, Deborah Rakes, beamed at the new surroundings.

Even though this was Deborah Rakes’ fourth time moving a daughter to college, both mother and daughter said the move has been emotional. Brilynn was one of just 25 students selected from 400 applicants for the Ailey/Fordham B.F.A. in Dance program. As she is both legally blind and colorblind, she faces special challenges.

“Everything with dance is all about balance so when you can’t see five feet in front of you, dancing can be very difficult,” said Rakes. “Most dancers rely on their vision 100 percent of the time, but I have to move from how I feel.”

Rakes said that being in a big city environment puts most necessities “at my fingertips.”
“I think everything’s going to work out really well,” she said.

(Angie Chen contributed to this report.)

VIDEO: Freshmen take the Plunge To watch the video, go to www.fordham.edu/urbanplunge

On a day when the sun shone with almost perfect warmth and brightness, Fordham welcomed the Class of 2016 to its Rose Hill and Lincoln Center campuses with a mix of exquisitely executed logistics and unbridled enthusiasm.

In the Bronx on Aug. 26, cars began filing through the University’s main gate before the 8 a.m. scheduled arrival time. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, Monsignor Joseph G. Quinn, vice president for university mission and ministry, and members of the New Student Orientation (NSO) team greeted them with bottled water, and directions to their respective residence halls.

Fordham College at Rose Hill (FCRH) senior Chris Hernandez was one of the students waiting for them at Martyrs’ Court. When a new student’s car pulled up, he added to the students’ cheers a distinct “HOOOOOOOOO” of a vuvuzela horn that he brought from home.

“It gets them really hyped,” he said with a laugh. “I just have lots of energy. I’m the vuvuzela guy.”

Inside, Lauren Lopez was meeting her roommate Noelle Starr for the first time. They’d conversed via Facebook all summer, but since Lopez lives in Dallas, Texas, they’d never met in person.

“My aunt lives in Connecticut, so we just happened to look at the school, and I fell in love with the campus,” she said of her decision to move 1,500 miles away from home.

“I couldn’t resist. I got a scholarship, and that just sealed the deal.”

At Loschert Hall, Montville, N.J., native Haroon Mian was mulling which of the three beds he would take, having arrived before his roommates. Mian was accepted into Fordham’s Cooperative Program in Engineering, which entails three years of study at Fordham and two at Columbia University, after which he’ll graduate with a bachelor of arts from Fordham and a bachelor of science from Columbia.

“I’m Muslim, but I admire how Catholic schools are run. When I told my teachers I was going to Fordham, they told me it was a really good education,” he said.

As the Fordham College at Lincoln Center campus was hosting a welcome for nearly 150 commuter students on Robert Moses Plaza, more than 250 new residents were settling in at McMahon Hall. The hall’s move-in times were staggered to accommodate arriving families in the dozen available parking spaces—likely the only free ones in Manhattan.

Scores of orientation leaders were at the ready with giant cardboard moving boxes and luggage racks, impulsively gleeful as they helped families unload their stuffed trunks.

On the 5th floor, freshman Jacqueline Llopis, of Arlington, Va., and her parents, were greeted by suitemates Jasmin Chacko, from Teaneck, N.J., and Alison Kowal, from Western Springs, Ill. They were expecting a fourth suitemate from New Delhi, India, to arrive.

“I like the city setting,” said Llopis, taking in the urban view from her bedroom window. “Fordham Lincoln Center’s where I want to be.”

Kowal was already unpacked; she came two days early to participate in the Urban Plunge program, where she and other freshmen spent a day painting apartments in the low-income Amsterdam Houses.

“It was a great way to get acquainted with New York,” she said.

While others unloaded from Grand Caravans and Toyota Camrys, May McCallum hoisted several shipping boxes from the dorm’s mailroom window onto a dolly.

“My mom went kind of crazy,” said the Eugene, Ore., native. “But we shipped stuff so as not to have to bring it on the plane.”

John W. Buckley, associate vice president for undergraduate enrollment, said the class of 2016—1,023 at Fordham College at Rose Hill, 420 at Lincoln Center, and 416 at the Gabelli School of Business as of Aug. 17—is a talented one.

“The acceptance rate is comparable to a year ago, quality measures across the board are up, the ethnic/cultural diversity of the freshman class is similar to the last two years, and the geographic diversity is exceptional,” he said.

Overall, 34,005 high school seniors competed for admission, a seven percent increase from last year. The University made 14,567 offers—a 42.8 percent acceptance rate—and 1,859 students chose to enroll.

The Class of 2016’s mean test score of 1264—compared with 1253 last year—reflects the trend of excellent students choosing Fordham. Eighty-five percent ranked in the top quarter of their high school class, and 47 percent were ranked in the top 10 percent of their high school class.

The incoming class includes 87 international students, as well as those from 40 states. All 50 U.S. states were represented in the pool of applicants.

Additionally, the class features 175 students who were selected as Presidential, Dean’s and semifinalist scholars.

More than 93 percent of admitted students were offered financial assistance or scholarship funds.

Commuter students like Michael Cibelli also descended on the two campuses to pick up essentials like their I.D. cards, and their on-site lockers. Cibelli, a resident of Morris Park, Bronx, and a Fordham Prep graduate, was with his mother Tina Cibelli, a 1987 Rose Hill graduate.

“I grew up on Arthur Avenue, and I could see the school from my window,” she said, proud that her son was attending. “I always dreamed of coming here, I came to the school, and I fell in love with it.

“Every time I step [back]on campus, it brings a smile to my face.”