Bentley University

Date: Dec 20 2006
Major: Economics (This Major's Salary over time)
My first semester has overall been a very positive experience for me. The school does a lot to make the students feel welcome, but at least with the freshmen I know, most are pretty afraid and stay within small groups of friends. As far as I can tell, the cliquishness is pretty normal and can be broken through with time and effort. Otherwise, you're stuck in your clique which can be frustrating. The people are rich for the most part, especially the international students. The campus is majorly white, rich kids who can have an attitude. However, they're mostly chill people who have been sheltered all their life.

Classes are always small, with caps at around 28 students, including freshman introduction classes which is great. You get to know the people in your classes as well as your professor which is a great help to both social and academic life. The professors are amazingly accessible, many requesting to be called by their first name and give out their home phone numbers. They are also for the most part fair in discussing grades and very flexible. The workload isn't that bad, and at least for the first few years, you'll get a B+ if you just do the work.

Many students suffer an inferiority complex because they didnt get into their top choice schools. This can get frustrating at times. The students are focused on having a good time, but care about getting the work done, and getting a good grade on it. A lot of times the motivation is more to get the grade than to learn, but its not hard to learn for the sake of it, and you can find people like that.

It's a small school that makes it really easy to meet a lot of great people if you make the effort. My roommate sits in the room all day and therefore doesn't know too many people. Just be open to new people and experiences and you'll be surprised.

The new gym and library are great, and have been very well received by the students. I love going to the gym and plugging in my headphones and watching tv, and the study rooms in the library are great for demanding general business group work.

The college will become a University soon, with a great majority voting for the name change, which shows the school is working to rise in the rankings and recognition. They care about student opinion and it shows.

The cafeteria food is pretty easy to get sick of, but the corner take-out place (harry's corner) in the stu center is a popular alternative.

Final thing you need to know.. watch out for the stairs to class and the gym.. the hilly campus can get really frustrating and discourages movement around the campus. There's a lot of walking and often, people dont want to go to class, libary, or gym because of it, especially in the cold weather. A lot of discipline is needed for this.