My son is deciding between these 3 undergraduate business programs as a transfer student. Can anyone give us some input on key differences between these schools, especially related to social life/quality of life and job placement? Thanks in advance for your comments.
Seeing you’ve received no responses, I’ll put in my two imperfect cents. My son is graduating high school this year and will be starting college this Fall (if it opens) as a business major. We toured Bentley, Providence and Fairfield. He will be attending 1 of them.
Bentley is an excellent business school whose reputation has grown greatly the past 20 years. Alumni outcomes are very strong when measured by alumni income. Campus is very nice. But my overall impression of Bentley was that this school prepares you for a career and to be a good corporate employee. It didnt offer all the other majors you would typically see at a liberal arts school, it is really focused exclusively on business preparation, which is fine if that is what you are seeking.
What I personally preferred about PC and Fairfield is their broader core requirements address the whole person and thus give more than career preparation, but preparation for life. Both schools are Catholic, run by the Dominican and Jesuit orders, respectivelty, and thus there is a spiritual dimension at those two schools you don’t find at Bentley. Their campuses felt more like well rounded colleges as opposed to the singularly focused business school which is Bentley. At PC and Fairfield a business student would be exposed to students whose focuses were other than business, which is broadening and educational. PC just opened a stunning new building for its business school a few years ago, and Fairfield opened one this year. In all candor, Bentley’s approach left me cold, but for someone who wanted that singular business focus in a secular setting, Bentley would be the way to go.
My feeling is Fairfield and PC offer a more well rounded overall college experience. Big time basketball and hockey programs at PC give it an advantage for sports-minded students. Fairfield alone of the three has Phi Beta Kappa, and has the biggest endowment. Fairfield’s and Bentley’s safe suburban locations are definite selling points at this turbulent time.
Regarding outcomes, all three schools produce successful alumni. Fairfield is located in Connecticut’s hedge fund belt, and its proximity to NYC may give its alumni an advantage there, whereas the other 2 may have an advantage in Boston. I honestly dont think you can go wrong with any of the three for business, or at PC or Fairfield for something other than business.
I don’t have personal info but a friend’s son who is a finance major transferred from Fairfield to Bentley and is much happier at Bentley.
The OP likely has already picked a college but FWIW my S chose a Jesuit college (not one on the OP’s list) over Bentley. In the end he preferred the Jesuit school because: 1) he wanted more diversity in the student body (not all business students) and; 2) if he didn’t like studying business he wanted to be able to move into a liberal arts major without having to transfer schools. But that is one opinion. All of the options are strong and different people could reasonably make different choices.
There can be many reasons a student would transfer. Bad experience with a roommate, had an awful professor etc. Bentley had a pretty big protest of their food service provider and I heard a lot of students transferred out because of it. It doesn’t make one school better than the other it just makes one school a better fit for that particular student. My son will be a junior at Fairfield University and 2 years ago he had the hard choice of picking between Bentley and Fairfield. He chose Fairfield because it just felt right to him. Both business schools are top notch and the career center and alumni network very strong. A student would be successful at either of these schools. The big differences are Fairfield is a Jesuit school and not just a business school. A student has to take religion and philosophy classes and thankfully they have decreased the number of core classes. You’ll mingle with nursing, Engineering and history majors. My sons roommate switched out of the business school and is now an education major. If you are not 100% sure or your major then bentley may not be a good choice. Also my son felt he could get internships in Connecticut and NYC and commute from home. @TwinsRock what school did your son choose?