Daughter thrilled at getting into Boston College CSOM. Loves the campus and sports. Great reputation for business school. She has narrowed it down to BC and Bentley University. Bentley is known for its business programs and career center.May be a few more internship opportunities because they have 1 credit ones that you can do 1-2 days a week if you come in with AP credits. Both schools she will get a great education, so no need to worry about that. Schools are within $1000 of each other in net price for us. I am primarily concerned with involvement on campus freshman year. My daughter is very involved in HS which kept her happy. Concerned about her getting involved and making friends at BC. At Bentley she has met a couple girls in the Women’s Leadership program and everyone was very welcoming. BC admitted students day no one really chatted or talked initially. It was very serious and kinda isolating. She did end up talking to several girls who showed their dorm rooms and they really helped save the visit. If BC which do you think would be a better transition Upper or Newton. I am a BC Alum and personally had a difficult time adjusting as a freshman and I lived on Upper but that was 25 years ago! My husband went to Bentley and was in a fraternity and had no issues adjusting. She is much more outgoing than I was however. Any insight is greatly appreciated!
Bentley University (Women's Leadership Program)vs Boston College (CSOM) concern being involved year1
Although S attends a different school, he visited and applied to both in '17. They are both great but VERY different. S attends a southern school that is quite similar to BC in many ways so I think it’s a fair comparison. Although he received a nice scholarship at Bentley, his concerns were (for him, of course):
- Too business focused (and he's a finance major). Business students have a certain MO / intensity about them. He thought it would be more interesting being surrounded by a well rounded group of kids. As it turned out, he's happy with business and has lots of friends in the B school, but also lots of friends that are premed, polisci, psych, etc.
- Thought it was a bit small as he attended a no frills HS and wanted college to include all the frills. Big time sports, school spirit, etc.
Personally, I would choose BC over Bentley (but that’s just me). Yes Bentley has a great career services team but BC’s alumni is fierce and they place extremely well across the business spectrum in the NE and beyond. Go to Linkedin and look up the alumni of each school. Look at the companies (and the roles - important as not all jobs are equal) and you’ll see both do quite well but BC tends to get the higher end firms and spots.
I spend a fair amount of time researching these things. What I’ve found is just because a firm recruits out of college X and Y, things are not always equal. For example (not specific to either BC or Bentley), Deloitte may recruit at X and Y. At X it may recruit for Audit and Tax (typical Big 4 role). Whereas, at Y it recruits for Audit and Tax, Advisory, Consulting, etc. So a cursory look at Linkedin would suggest both are heavily recruited by Deloitte but Y will send you on a different path, more options, than X. Of course you can network your way to any of these spots but it’s a lot harder if they don’t actively recruit for specific things at your school. And for some of the higher profile positions, it’s almost impossible.
Thank you for adding to this discussion. The more knowledge she has about these schools, the better. She also felt Bentley to be small but loved the energy and the people she met. BC has always been her dream and admitted students day just didn’t live up to it. I just read a great article about over thinking your college decision once you have narrowed it down already. There is no wrong decision once you get down to 2 great schools. You can’t know everything about a place until you in it and then you adjust what doesn’t quite fit!
Carroll and Bentley offer really different educational opportunities. If she is interested in accounting, Bentley would be great. For finance to marketing it’s not super comparable.
There are a million activities to get involved with at BC. My d is in a women’s mentorship group, you have the freshman weekend on the cape she can sign up for to meet people as well. If she’s service oriented you can participate in alternative culture spring break with the appa club. There’s business school clubs. There’s the sports to follow and get involved with as well.
It’s a bit more intense than you might except in terms of work load. It’s a universal piece of feedback and based on observations with some other family members current ug experience.
My d did have some roommate drama and struggled first semester to find her group. It’s been super since.
Best of luck. But I think you’re passing up the full university experience with a Bentley selection. But it might be perfect for you.