Fordham University Top Questions

Of course there is a diversity between the students but a majority of the students are preppy and jocks. But there are definitely people here at Fordham that are are a little more outrageous, you just have to find each other!

With some good reason. If you look, though, you'll find a few less conventional types.

Some yes and some no. It depends how you look at it, and how you get involved on campus to have a true experience at any school.

Yes. Painfully accurate. This applies to Fordham Lincoln Center Campus, which is where I attend. If you're looking to go to Fordham and hope for some kind of romantic fling, then you better be a straight guy, because you'll have a chain of needy, desperate, slorry girls chasing you around. Really. It's a great deal for straight guys. Even if you're butt-ugly, you will definitely get laid here. If you're a girl, you will spend the majority of your time hating your life because you're only going to be some random guy's second choice, plus you're always going to be wondering if he's gay, or with that girl (which one? They'll start to all look alike) from your English class. And everyone will know who you're sleeping with. Or who you're not sleeping with. Or what you ate for breakfast, or what you didn't eat for breakfast, because you might develop an eating disorder from all the stress this school and it's student body put you through. That, plus the fact that everyone is nasty as all hell, and that Theater Majors will be singing show tunes in your dorm room at 5am, waking you up when you have an exam, the fact that you're not getting steadily laid is going to be a huge problem.

I don't think there are more gay kids downtown, but the kids uptown probably aren't as "out". The Lincoln Center campus is not even particularly gay - Have you been to NYU? Relatively speaking, that is an "out" school. I think the concentration of the arts program downtown facilitates the atmosphere that allows gay students to be visible. Alternately, all the NCAA sports are at the uptown campus, so that is where you will see students who are obviously "jocks" going to and from practice and games. Where can the "out" "jocks" be found? Good question! ;) Politically there is a mix on both campuses and I don't think the stereotype applies to either. Commuters being "poorer" is a joke - try paying market rent in NYC: that ain't poor. Sure a lot of commuters live with their parents - but if you already live here why pay the dorm costs? Besides, the school gives preference - and rightfully so - to out of town students. That one really was a stupid stereotype.

yes

Yes and no. I wouldn't call Fordham a suitcase school because kids rarely go home over the weekend unless they are close and its something important. A lot of the girls on my floor were from outside the tristate area and some were even from outside the US. Obviously they couldn't go home on the weekends. However, I would say we are a bit of a drinking school. A lot of the people I know like to go out drinking on the weekends and even on some of the weekdays. But there are still a good amount of students on campus who don't drink and find recreation elsewhere.

To some extent the stereotypes are accurate... However, with the pretty wide variety of people, new students will be able to find their group of friends relatively quickly.

While there are a lot of these people, there are tons that are not such as myself.

yes

The first stereotype isn't accurate because Fordham students leave the gates ALL the time to hang out in the Bronx. We shop on Fordham Road, eat delicious Italian food on Arthur Ave, take a fifteen minute walk through the Bronx to the D train and go to bars and parties in the area surrounding campus. If you never want to step foot outside of campus, it's possible to do so but I don't know anyone who never leaves campus. There's conservative groups on campus but there's also liberal groups. Both the College Democrats and College Republicans are very active on campus so it's definitely untrue that the campus is extra-conservative. The same goes for religion. If you want it, you can have it, but if you never want to attend a religious service or listen to a religious speaker, you can do that too.

not complete true but with more truth than one would immediately expect

No. Fordham is more diverse than you think it is. The student population is made up of way more than Irish Catholics. Not everyone is wealthy thouh there are a lot who are. Fordham students are extremely intelligent and more pragmatic and active than students at other schools.

The stereotype stating that Fordham students came here because they couldn't go to a better school iS ENTIRELY INACCURATE. i know plenty of kids who got into better schools but they enrolled in fordham because they loved the school. The suitcase school stereotype is a little more accurate, but still far from the truth. Fordham kids enjoy spending the weekends on campus and relaxing on Eddie's Parade or going into Manhattan.

1. Before I came to Fordham I thought all the students were going to be rich snobs, but that is REALLY far from the truth. Most students are really laid back. 2. Students are really interested in what goes on in the world, and in people who are less fortunate. There are tons of programs at fordham aimed at helping out the community (GO, service learning, etc). 3. People work hard, but they definitely know how to go out on the weekends :); however, most students are really responsible about not going out if they have a test or paper due, so you may see some of your friends going to the lib on a saturday, while the others go out.

sure

The gay part is. Otherwise, I think there are a lot of different people at LC considering it's such a small school.

Not at all...

1: It's very difficult to judge, of course. You never know who is taking out hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans, and who is paying a full tuition every year from pocket, to give extreme examples. Fordham is very caucasian, to be sure, and most of the latino student population is comprised of commuter students. Otherwise, most of the student body I see dress the part of a prepster, if not middle class.

The school is predominantly white. but commuters bring some diversity. It is most definitely a bar school, but there are parties fairly frequently in the neighborhood.

It may not be 80{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} but I live with 7 people and 4 of them are gay.

Yes they are true.

yes, but being loud and drunk is no measure of a person.

For the most part.

yes

No. There are a lot of really down to earth people that go here.

Not even in the least!

I feel that at Fordham, we do have a good mix of students, so I do not agree with the reactions of my friends. Although there are schools in New York with individuals that are generally less preppy (NYU, PRATT, and SVA for example) I do feel that our University has a very good mix of people and you can generally find any type of person on campus.

Far from the truth. Fordham is so strict that the last thing that you could call it is a party school.

No, I've been to one Mass in my 2 years at Fordham, and that was completely my choice. It does not affect me negatively.

Although Fordham is a great place for night life - bars, parties, etc. - its a great school and offers an excellent Jesuit education. Fordham is meant not only to educate one in the typical sense- but to mature and develop its students into better people as a whole. We can be in Manhattan in twenty minutes, we have endless job and internship opportunities, and we have our own world in the Bronx as well. A lot of students are blessed and are wealthier, but Fordham is not an easy university to get into and many of the students attend Fordham due to hard work and good grades.

yes and no. the student caliber is quite good here and most of the students are definitely from the tri-state area. it is especially rare to get a kid from the west coast. and the students are not wealthy, even though it costs 45 grand a year, 91{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of the students are on financial aid here.

I would say these stereotypes are pretty accurate. The athletes here are more down to earth and kind because they, for the most part, don't have the grades that the students have here. I am mostly only friends with athletes because they don't have the ego the regular students here have. The ego of my peers is DEFINITELY a big problem for me. I can't even stand my roomate anymore because of how conceided he is. When you ask for elite inteligence, you get elite narcissism.

A lot of Fordham students fit the description, but there are a lot of people that do not as well

Here is the real deal about Fordham University. Let me just put it this way: you think you know, but you have no idea. As a female freshman from San Francisco, I have a limited perspective on the school, but as far as I know, the stereotypes about this university are not accurate. Well, not entirely accurate. 1. Are the Bronx locals right? Are we rich, stuck up snobs who are going to school with Daddy?s money and get everything our hearts desire? No. We are poor, starving college students like every other campus in every other part of America. Most of us are on financial aid, most of us are in debt, and most of us have jobs. We have worked hard to come here, but we all continue to work hard to stay here. And that includes working hard for our money. Granted, there are those people who fit that rich stereotype, but the longer I am at Fordham, the less I see that stereotype ringing true. Funny enough, there is one good thing that comes out of this stereotype. The bars around Fordham as well as the liquor stores are extremely?how should I say... ?accommodating? to us underage students. I mean, we have the cash to buy it, they want the money, so they let us buy it. Works out well for everyone. 2. Do Fordham kids really work that hard in school? Don?t we just party all the time? I would have to answer yes to both of these questions. One of the main reasons why I love coming to this school is the fact that we do both. Fordham kids live by the rule ?work hard, play hard.? New York City has this characteristic buzz about it that calls for success and drive. Students at Fordham inevitably become infected with this itch to be the best, working and competing against their peers for that grade, that internship, that job. However, Fordham nightlife cannot be ignored. It keeps us going. With the plethora of themed house parties, keggers, cheap bar drink-ups, and the delicious draw of the local pizza parlor, Pugsley?s, every Fordham weekend results in horrible hang overs and hilarious stories to get us through the week. Let?s just say, the cafeteria on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon is the best place to figure out what everyone did the night before. Walking around the café, the pajama clad, sloppy, most likely sick to their stomach, students attempt to piece together what the hell they did last night while they stuff their mouths with waffles and omelets. (The food tastes a lot better when your stomach has been filled with Giorgi vodka and Budlight for the past 8 hours.) The hangover breakfast may also be accompanied by an awkward encounter with that guy who came back to your room last night, and you can?t even remember his name. Or if you ever learned it in the first place. Not that I know from personal experience or anything? 3. So number #2 admits it. Fordham kids are druggies and drunks, right? Wrong. Ignoring the exception of Hughes Hall, the freshman dorm which quite possibly houses every single drug user on campus as well as future alcoholics and inmates, Fordham is no different than any other party-hardy campus around America. Just be warned, all the things you hear about New York City are true. The city never sleeps. There is so much at your fingertips, including that alluring white powder and other mind-altering magic. If you end up living in Hughes Hall, it?s pretty hard not to join the drug club and start popping whatever pill you can get your hands on. But other than that, I really don?t find drugs to be an issue at Fordham. We drink. We smoke. We get fucked up and regret it the next day, just like everyone else. Work hard, play hard.

I would say the majority of students ARE in fact white, and come from wealthy backgrounds, as Fordham's tuition is un-godly high. Fordham students do well after graduating, but as a pre-med major with less than perfect grades, I am one of a smaller percentage who gets shafted in the future career department... I find that you are screwed if you do not have a 4.0.

There are a good amount of "rich White kids" whose parents are paying their way, and for their latest Gucci bag, excursion into the city, and dinner on Arthur Avenue four nights a week. Those kids will ride the gravy train and they make their "free money" situation known. But from being at Fordham for nearly four years, I still think that's the minority. The majority of the population has work study, and internship, or an outside job... and have the "budget" of an average college kid. As far as location, about half the kids are from NY, NJ, CT.... but the other half come from all over the place!

For the most part.

yes

It is true that the two campuses are vastly different from one another. Rose Hill, however, is very diverse and has students from every state in the United States and many nations around the world. Rose Hill students do not fear their Bronx community or neighbors, but rather go out into the neighborhood for service projects. There also does not appear to be a large underlying tension between the two campuses. Rose Hill and Lincoln Center students take classes together and interact often.

Although I feel as if Fordham is more conservative than other universities, I've met enough students to know that our body is very diverse with regard to political opinions/stances etc. Also, despite Fordham's well-known business program, Fordham is also big on liberal arts. To say all students are business-minded or money-driven would be inaccurate and unfair.

The Rose Hill vs. Lincoln center stereotype is largely true in my limited experience with Rose Hill students.