Fordham University Top Questions

This is a seriously overpriced education. You will learn nothing past your last exam and you will not care because what you're learning is 100{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} Bullcrap. Why is that? Because you have to take about 20 Core Classes that you will never need, want, or like. Like three English classes, two history, a math, Biology or Physics, Chem or Psychology, a freshman seminar, a senior class, a fine arts requirement, two social sciences, a globalism class, a pluralism class and oh, the absolute best, an entire FOREIGN LANGUAGE CURRICULUM. That's right. To completion. And if you've never taken a language before, prepare to kiss any hopes for a good GPA goodbye because you will be expected to learn, comprehend, speak, read and write the language well in order to get to intro language to exit level on that language. That's another potential 5 - 6 classes. I hope you're ready to give your time and money to a buttload of classes you don't want to take, because that's what Fordham has for you. And also, for all those classes you'll be forced to take that you'll hate, you get to take a trip down to the Fordham Bookstore, which has a really awesome system that screws you coming and going. You'll get to pay hundreds of dollars a semester. This is not a joke or an exaggeration. Try anywhere from $200-$500 a semester. That's half a year. That means you can double that for each year you're at Fordham. And, okay, all right. You're right. Textbooks are going to be costly no matter where you go. But remember that's $1000 a year you're paying for books for classes that you're being forced to take. And the glittering jewel in the crown for the Fordham Bookstore has to be, absolutely has to be, Book Buyback at the end of each semester. Let me give you a little play-by-play on Book Buyback. What you're doing, is buying books from Fordham for your classes at their bookstore, using them for four months, and then, because you think you're the winner here and you're going to get some money back, you take them down, stand on line and return your books. No, not for full refund. Obviously not. Not for half price. Not even close. For a fourth of the price? We're getting closer now. It's fractions, FRACTIONS, of the cost of the book that you bought. So what is happening for Fordham, when they buy a $100 textbook and put it on sale for $150 and then sell it back to you for $20, they are making a $30 profit off books that they will take and resell again next year to someone else, making another profit. This is absolutely insane! You're paying their restocking fee! But you're going to do book buyback because you need that 20 bucks. And this, my friends, is called Academic Sodomy. You're being ripped a new one by a Jesuit Institution.

Class sizes are awesome. The students who show some maturity and develop a rapport with professors are almost always able to do so. I have been disappointed sometimes by classmates who want people to "ask fewer questions" in class and just "get through" the lectures so they can "get out of there", but I think there are folks like that everywhere. One favorite class - to my surprise - was Faith and Critical Reasoning with "Telly". Just awesome. Bruce Berg for Political Science intro, and John Davenport for Philosophy also stand out.

Grades are tough. Students are competative

Actually, most of my professors do know my name. I was actually surprised that my Gen Chem professor knew my name since are class is one of the larger ones at Fordham. But she did know my name and that really made my day. There is probably a tie for my favorite class between Gen Chem and Faith and Critical Reasoning. My Faith teacher was absolutely phenomenal and made the class ten times more interesting then any other theology class I had ever had. In terms of how long students study, it really depends on the student. My roommates freshman year rarely ever studied. I swear I never saw them crack open a book except around finals time. However, I also knew a couple of students who did anything but study and I rarely saw them outside of class. I think it depends on a student's major and work ethic. My major is Chemistry. I spend time with certain professors outside of class. Sometimes I go to discuss an interesting topic or argue with them when I feel like my point was not made during class. The professors always welcome you during their office hours and the one on one attention is great.

Academically, it is relatively tough. Especially tough if you don't take it too seriously. Balancing your social life with studies is a neccessity if you are looking to actually excel at Fordham academically.

Classes at Fordham are small. The largest class I have ever had was with about 60 students. Most classes are more along the lines of 20. Therefore your professor will learn your name and you will get to know a lot of the other students in your class. I study a few hours every week. The work load is hard but definetly managable. Class participation is very common. Participation is often times factored into your final grade. My major is Middle East Studies and it is still a developing department. However the professors in the department are awesome and it only continues to grow and get better. Fordham has a lot of academic requirements. If you have no AP credits coming in it will take you almost the first 2 years of school to complete them. However they can be useful for figuring out what you want to major in, or just for giving you the opportunity to learn something that you may not have tried otherwise. The education at Fordham is geared to helping its students become well rounded people. The core is set up so that students learn a little bit of everything because learning is the most important thing. However students, especially in the buisness program are geared toward getting a job as well and have great connections for getting them.

pre-med is an amazing cut-throat program

So far, every one of my professors has known my name. Class participation is crucial, almost all students, even the ones who don't seem like they would, take studying seriously. So far I have had mixed feelings about our core curriculum. While it's social science requirement has let me discover Anthropology, which I have decided to declare as my minor, it has also forces us to take two semesters of Philosophy and Theology. They say the core is so we can learn what we like and what we don't like, but after already taking one semester of each, I am certain that I dislike both and don't need another two semesters to assure me of that. The education at Fordham is a perfect balance of preparing students for jobs in the "real world" and learning for its own sake. The core is a big part of the second part, because it means we are taking classes we may never really "use" or "need" in the future, but that will always be interesting and nice to know. Fordham has TONS of opportunities for internships and guidance when it comes to preparation for the future. I'm only a freshmen and I'm not worried at all about not being prepared for the real world.

As I said before, simply beyond what I had expected. These professors are passionate about their field and completely captivating. They are able to change my way of thinking and challenge the world in ways I would have never expected.

All of the classes I have had at Fordham have been relatively small. The smallest was a seminar class of 8 people. There is always a lot of room for discussion in these classes. Professors are extremely helpful and want to get to know you. They encourage you to come to office hours and put in extra effort. My favorite class was my creative writing/ short story writing class. My professor encouraged us to be as free and creative with our writing as we wanted. I also learned to feel comfortable reading my work to a group of people as well as how to take criticism. The English department was a little limited in its course selection but I had good relationships with many of my professors.