Bridgewater State University

Don't let the low tuition cost fool you. You get what you pay for. I currently work in the Accounting and Finance field but worked my way up the ladder. I didn't have the education to back up my position, so I decided to go back to school 2 years ago. Basically, I am transferring out this semester and am not looking back.

The professors at the accounting and finance dept are condescending, no help, and make you jump through hoops just to get anything done. I work my tail off, so, I have a 3.80+ gpa, but, they make no secret about the fact that they try to overwork the students just to weed them out of their program…This is not a lie. Isn't the idea of an institution of higher learning to teach students a particular field of interest? Instead they try to play God. Try approaching a professor for help…Good Luck.

We had a female student break down in tears during a Business Law I class becuase of the way the professor was talking down to her for not completing homework. Totally uncalled for. The could have been more professional ways of handling such an issue rather than degrading them publicly in class.

Also, forget about the use of any technology. I have had 4 Accounting/Finance Professors tell me that they do not believe in using technology to teach their courses. Nice!!!. So, what this means is, when you graduate from this place and start looking for work, you'll have zero knowledge on how to use the accounting and Finance software currently being used by Professionals in this area. They don't even show you how to use Excel? It's a complete joke. This is 2010 and they claim they don't like using technology? The dept is literally stuck in the 80's, still using scrap paper and a pencil to work your calculations. They'll even tell you that it's so you can learn the concepts better, but, try looking for work on careerbuilder or monster…employers want knowledge of software programs, not knowledge of calculators. I currently work with a person who graduated with an Accounting degree there recently and he claims that he had a hard time finding a job due to his lack of familiarity with Excel and Peachtree.

Every person I deal with in my Accounting and Finance profession has advised me to go to leave this place. I even had 2 professors tell me that the Accounting and Finance degree at Bridgewater is not worth what degrees from other surroundings schools like Rhode Island College, Providence College, and Johnson and Wales University, all who do not have an AACSB Accredication, but, have the same NEASC Accredication. I have been lucky that the institution I am transferring to is accepting all of my credits. So, I am jumping ship.

Here's another one. Once you matriculate, they will not accept credits from another institution. NO EXCEPTIONS. so, if they are not offering a class you want or need, you have to wait until its available. This is no joke either. If you are taking certain classes in a certain sequence, and, you would like to continue from one semester to the other, but, the course is not offered, you have to wait. You can't take the class at another institution. Nice huh!!!.

One last thing, their Gen Ed Requirments are absurd. For their Accounting and Finance Track, you are required to take 5 writing classes, 2 Art Classes, 2 Humanities, 2 Global Culture, 4 Maths…Can't remember the rest becuase I did take them at another instituion 9before I matriculated) which they accepted. But, basically, you have about 15 Gen Ed's to take. So, Let me get this straight, We take 4 yrs of English in Highschool, to go to Colege and spend 5k on 5 more English classes? What am I going to learn in 5 English classes that i can't learn in 2…like most other institutions. Or, what is that, as a business major, I have to take 2 art classes? What is that going to do for me. If you want the students to have some liberal arts background, doesn't it make more sense to make it a requirment that you have a select liberal arts minor from a list of programs? That's an AACSB accredited insitution like Bryant University does? But, that make's too much sense, so, they won't do that.

All in all, avoid this place like the plague. And if they tell you they are getting university status soon, so that they may get that prestigeous "University" tag in their name, they've been saying that since a fellow co-worker of mine graduated back in 1999….