As fall draws near, we here at the Prep are spending our days preparing for the arrival of the class of 2021. I am happy to report that this year’ s recruiting season, my second as Director of Admissions at the Prep, was as exciting as the first.

At our annual Open House in October, we hosted over 1,300 people including 590 prospective students. Feedback from that day was overwhelmingly positive as the entire Prep community welcomed our guests. We are thankful that some inclement weather held off until the very end of the day! As always, the people who make our Open House truly special are our faculty and staff, student volunteers,

parent volunteers, and our incredible Physical Plant staff!

Fordham Prep was represented at over 50 high school fairs and in-class visits this fall. I always enjoy going out on the road to speak directly to prospective students and their families. I am grateful to Mr. Pedro, Dr. Gelpi and Mr. Brian Carney who stood in for me when I was double-booked!

All of this hard work yielded the Class of 2021 on March 1, Registration Day! It is interesting to note that over 45 % of our new freshman class will come from one of the five boroughs of New York City: 25 % from the Bronx, 20 % from Manhattan and 1 % from Queens). Speaking of New York City, the class truly represents the diversity found in the New York metro area: 38 % of the class identifies itself as young men of color, and we are excited to welcome five new freshmen from the REACH program! Additionally, we saw a 2 % increase in yield over the Class of 2020 and a 5 % increase over the Class of 2019.

It is important to me to understand how prospective students and their families first hear about Fordham

Prep, and it was no surprise to learn that well over 70 % of the Class of 2021 first experienced our community through someone in it already: a current student, parent, alumnus or feeder school teacher / administrator. This is a remarkable statistic. It shows the power of the Prep community, and confirms something I say often, that we all have a hand in admissions.

Fordham Prep continues to attract highly qualified candidates, and I have no doubt they are attracted to our long-standing commitment to faith, scholarship and service, our outstanding facilities, and our dedicated faculty and staff!

I am so very grateful for the efforts of the entire Fordham Prep community this year, but especially for Mrs. Tina Porco. This cannot happen without all of you.

As admissions work is never ending, we have already begun work on recruiting for next fall.

Onward to the Class of 2022!

Brad Serton’ 95 Director of Admissions