Hi,
I just got accepted to two schools and I am torn between them. I have a semi- scholarship in Bentley. What school should I attend? I am attending a business course.
Will you be a first year student? What’s your budget?
Can you calculate and post the following (tuition, fees, room, board)-(scholarships, grants)=. … For each?
Have you visited both schools?
Bentley is smaller and in a suburban setting (though not so far away from Boston and Cambridge – I’m pretty sure Bentley has shuttle buses to Harvard Square). I don’t know for sure but I assume that housing is guaranteed all four years. I don’t think BU guarantees housing all four years.
@madgemini4 BU does guarantee housing all 4 years for all students.
I’d focus on the differences between the two schools. They are both good choices and it really depends on where you want to be the next four years. IMO two reasonable people could have two different answers. Pick what is right for you. Here are some differences I would take into account in making a choice:
- Affordability – is the scholarship to Bentley meaningful? Will it take financial stress off your family? Do you need to keep a certain GPA to keep the scholarship?
- Size – Mid size university v large University
- Location/Campus - Urban location/no distinct campus v suburban location with traditional campus.
- Diversity of majors - Business focused college v well rounded college (are you 100% sure you want to study business and be around students who also are studying business)
- I think they are both good academically but Bentley may more of regional reputation (not quite as well known nationally) since it is a smaller school.
@hxyalee While I am biased in favor of BU, I would be quite shocked to hear someone choose Bentley over BU considering how good Questrom is (at least in terms of the jobs my peers get and the access they have to firms that recruit at BU) and how you also get access to the entirety of BU’s resources across disciplines. In Boston, Bentley is known as a pretty standard business school quite a trip out of the city, while BU is effectively in the city and a top school across most academic disciplines.
@undergrad2018 I have been researching Bentley a lot and it has actually become very highly rated. It has been coming increasingly harder to get into too. Bloomberg rated Bentley #10 best undergraduate business school, BU was #29. CNBC has Bentley as the #15 school where students earn the most money.
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/15/the-30-colleges-where-students-go-on-to-earn-the-most-money.html
@jcd716 I happen to like Bentley and think it is a very reasonable choice if the money is significant and/or if the OP prefers the size/location/vibe of the school. However, I would not read a ton into the CNBC list – if you look closely it is a combination of top tier school and school that send a lot of students directly into business/engineering. Bentley would have an edge over BU in this type of study as virtually all of the students get jobs in business while BU has students majoring in various courses of study which may not prove to be as employable.
Thank you @happy1 for bringing that to my attention. Now I won’t feel so bad if he doesn’t chose Bentley. I believe you already commented on my thread about the business schools at Loyola Maryland and Fairfield. At this point I just want my son to make his final choice (still waiting on Villanova too).
My son was trying to decide between BU, NU, and Bentley. Bentley is a nice school for a kid who is interested in pursuing business/finance/accounting in a smaller, less hectic environment than downtown Boston. Bentley seems a little less diverse, but very supportive of their students. My son chose NU, while his good friend chose Bentley. His friend loves Bentley, he likes knowing more kids on campus and joined a frat. My son has been enjoying the city life and figuring out how to be more independent in a busy city setting. He’s met kids from all over the world.
BU was more similar to NU than it is to Bentley. Questrom is decent business program, but I think I’d give the edge to NU and their co-op program for overall value.
So, your kid needs to decide what kind of scene he wants for 4 years. More traditional suburban campus, or access to the city right outside the dorm room,
@happy1 @jcd716 Well of course the average salary of all Bentley students will be higher than that of BU; Bentley has a substantially higher proportion of its students entering high-salary fields compared with the more diverse range of fields entered by BU graduates. Even then, there is only a ~4K difference via pay scale. If you look at Questrom’s average salary it trumps Bentley’s.
Regarding the Bloomberg ranking, it was discontinued because it received widespread criticism; 75% of the ranking is merely survey data, with 35% of it consisting of student responses.
No one would consider Bentley a better school because it simply is not.
@undergrad2018. Please do not put words into my mouth that I did not say.
–I fully understand that one canot compare the average salary of a business school like Bentley to that of a school which has students in many disciplines many of which will not have as strong employment opportunities (and have made that point on other threads).
–I fully understand that the Bloomberg survey is a joke (and have made that point on many threads).
– However, I do feel that if a particular student feels a mid-size surburban school is a better fit or if there is a significant money difference that one could reasonably choose Bentley over BU. On that point I guess we have to agree to disagree.
@undergrad2018 There are two things my son absolutely does not like and that is large schools and urban schools. He never even thought about applying to BU for exactly those reasons. In our case Bentley is the better school because it is a better fit for him which I believe is the point @happy1 is trying to make. He will also graduate with mimimal student loans. According to the US department of education the average salary for Bentley graduates is $80,600 so to me that is an excellent school.
My son was just accepted to Bentley ED. He also does not like large schools or urban schools, and I think Bentley will be a great fit for him. I was wondering if your son did end up going to Bentley, and how he likes it so far.
@Patonsplace my son is not at Bentley but it was a very hard decision. In the end he chose Fairfield Univ because it was closer to home and they offered him more money. He loved Bentley and his good friend is there and loves it. When we were there for Accepted Students Day we found many of the seniors already had job offers after graduation. There Career Center is top notch. I am not sure where you are from but Boston is one of the best college towns. Good luck to your son!