Fordham University boasts one of the most prestigious alumni bases in the entire country. Whether its Denzel Washington, Vince Lombardi or Lana Del Rey, students are always talking about the most famous Rams. However, little attention has ever been given to the celebrities who failed to graduate. With this idea in mind, here are the top five Fordham University dropouts.
1. Donald Trump: 1964-1966
Long before his days of firing people on the Celebrity Apprentice, the Donald was a student on Fordham’s Rose Hill campus. After graduating from the New York Military Academy in 1964, Trump began studying business in the Bronx. However, after two years Trump transferred to the University of Pennsylvania. The billionaire thought he was too good for Fordham and made that crystal clear in his book Trump: The Art of the Deal, “I began by attending Fordham University, but after two years, I decided that as long as I had to be in college, I might as well test myself against the best”. I can’t see the Trump comb-over having any success with the ladies on Eddie’s anyway.
2. Amanda Seyfried: 2003
Yes believe it people; Karen Smith from Mean Girls went to Fordham but she only lasted one day. Seyfried left the Bronx after being offered to star alongside Lindsay Lohan and Rachel McAdams in the 2004 hit Mean Girls. Seyfried’s acting career took off from there as she went on to star in Mama Mia (2008), Dear John (2010) and Les Misérables (2011). Let’s just say Amanda would have been a crowd favorite on Arthur Avenue.
3. Melanie Moore: 2011
Time to give some love to Lincoln Center with the winner of Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance Season 8. Moore was 19 years old and a freshman at Fordham University’s Manhattan campus when she won the competition. The visual art major ended up leaving Fordham soon after to start her professional career. Melanie has since made appearances on the Oxygen Channel’s All the Right Moves and season 4 of Glee.
4. Smush Parker: 2001-2002
You know you have a sad athletic tradition when Smush Parker is one of your most famous athletes. Smush spent just one year in the Boogie Down Bronx after transferring from the College of Southern Idaho. The Brooklyn native averaged 16.5 ppg in his only season as a Ram, scoring 20 or more points in eight games. Parker entered the NBA Draft after his sophomore year at Fordham, but went undrafted. Smush went on to play for six NBA teams and is today known infamously as Kobe Bryant’s least favorite person in the world. Of course the one guy to make the NBA from Fordham in the last 20 years is hated by one of the NBA’s greatest ever.
5. David Copperfield
Before he became the most commercially successful magician of all time, David Seth Kotkin was a freshman at Rose Hill. Three weeks into his freshman year, Kotkin was cast in the Chicago based musical Magic Man. Soon after, he took on the stage name David Copperfield. The young magician dropped out of Fordham following his role in the play. Since his time in the Bronx, Copperfield has won 21 Emmys for his TV magic specials and has set 11 Guinness World Records. There is no question that Copperfield was easily the coolest kid on campus in 1975. Who doesn’t enjoy a good magic trick!