Bentley University

Date: May 31 2006
Major: Finance (This Major's Salary over time)
Bentley has been a great experience so far. I came as a transfer student from SUNY Purchase, and this environment is so much better. The resources are incredible and they actually work. The new library is awesome and is so comfortable to just hang out in. However, people feel free to use their cellphones in the library whenever they want to, which is very rude.

The kids here are very bright but sometimes it doesn't show because many of them lack a passion for what they are doing in school. The other comments about the international students being wealthy is very true. The occassional Prince or child of a foreign diplomat is commonplace at Bentley. For some people, it's hard to adjust to this school because people are very unapproachable at first, but be patient and you'll find that these kids can be the nicest you'll ever meet. The only real negative thing I can think of is the fact that they are violent drunks. Be careful when drinking at this school.

The Career Services department is wonderful as well. The administration really goes out of their way to try and get companies into the school to talk to kids about opportunities within their firm. Bentley has strong relations with the Big 4 accounting firms, Morgan Stanley, Northwestern Mutual and Fidelity, to name a few.

As far as Financial aid is concerned, I think it's done completely at random, so don't ask me.

If you're wondering why Bentley doesn't rank higher in many of the rankings like USNews and Business Week, it's because of a few reasons. First, many of the professors are actually professors. They are teachers first and foremost, rather than researchers for their own projects. Second, the school has been growing rapidly and has been really getting noticed just in the last few years. Third, some of the campus was under construction and made it hard to see how nice it is. Lastly, the departments other than Finance and Accounting need a little improvement. They're good, but not as good.

The real negatives about this school, from my perspective, are overshadowed by the positives. One is the housing. Most of the buildings are old and need to be renovated. Not only that, but the way they give out housing is really bad. Plan to live off campus here. Also, class picking is a big mess as well. People usually get crummy schedules, unless you're in the honors program. Everyone also takes practically the same classes, so a diveristy among education is lacking at Bentley. Similar to that, every class (freshmen, sophmore, etc..) goes along the same track. A freshmen will probably never have a class with an upperclassman, so it's hard to interact with the other classes, academically, and since housing is based on seniority, socially as well.

I would seriously consider Bentley as THE business school to attend, but if you do, bring a passion for what you wanna do, even if you're not quite sure yet.