How Should You Prepare Yourself for Candidacy?
Where do you begin?
The first focus of your potential candidacy is your academic performance. Academic excellence is in large part up to you; excellence in your selection of classes depends on clarifying your goals with your academic advisor. Also, if you have multiple interests you should make these clear to your advisor.
You should track your own progress.
Be very involved in planning your own curriculum and record any questions that you have for your faculty advisors, dean, and mentors. Even though you are the only person who knows all of your interests, there are many others who can help you figure out how to explore them fully. You must devise the questions, so that your advisors and faculty and the Campion staff can help you find the best scholarship program available for your needs.
How do you prepare yourself to meet the qualifications of various fellowship programs?
Make good use of the following resources readily available to you at Fordham:
The Campion Institute/Office for Prestigious Fellowships
Our office is here to assist you as you seek appropriate scholarships. We can guide you through the application process for the various programs. We can review your applications, help to revise early drafts of your personal statements and essays, and, if you are invited for personal interviews, our staff can help you prepare.
Academic Advising
Make your goals—and your concerns—clear to your advisors, and make sure that you meet with an advisor at any point if you encounter an obstacle that you cannot overcome on your own. Keep a clear record of all of your courses, honors tutorials, extracurricular projects, and volunteer service assignments, as well as any special initiatives, research or internships.
Campion Summer Fellowships and other Student Mentorship Opportunities
You should partner with a faculty member and begin to work on a research project or an internship in your major field as early in your undergraduate career as possible. You are also encouraged to seek outside internships and engage in outside research.
Community Service and Campus Ministry
You should make an effort to join community service and volunteer programs on your campus. Fordham is involved in many community service and volunteer opportunities, so it should be easy to find a program or programs that interest you.
International Study Abroad Program
Introduce yourself to this office early in freshman year, discuss your goals and interests, and continue to study any foreign languages that may be required for your desired study abroad. This office can help you locate the best foreign institutions and programs for continuing course work toward your degree, while our office can help you locate and apply for appropriate scholarship funding for study abroad. Please visit Scholarships and Study Abroad for infomation about possible funding opportunties.
Fordham University Honors Program
With its strong emphasis on scholarship and academic excellence, the Fordham Honors Program can help you stay on the proper academic track and guide you in making strong curriculum choices.
The Matteo Ricci Society
The Matteo Ricci Society is a distinguished honor society open to high academic performers at Fordham. Students are invited to join based on their academic success as early as freshman year, and on an ongoing basis throughout their college careers. It can provide funding for certain approved summer research opportunities and prominent internships.
