Rank these good but not elite biz schools, and give me advice!

College Majors Business Major
1

<p>Babson College
Bentley University
SUNY Binghamton
Bryant University
University of Connecticut
Fordham University
Lehigh University</p>

<p>I will be a finance major, math minor most likely.</p>

<p>I think my top choice is Bentley since I got a half tuition scholarship from them, but are they well known outside the new england area? I've heard that it is "on the rise" and is getting more and more competitive each year, especially with the new acquisition of "university" status.</p>

<p>I want to work in NY though, so Fordham might be a better fit, except I only got 2K in merit money and will get no other aid.</p>

<p>If you're wondering, 1350/2000 SAT and 95 HS average (no GPA system).</p>

<p>Any responses appreciated.</p>

2

<p>bump......</p>

3

<p>My opinion on the ones I'm familiar with:</p>

<p>Babson is the hardest to get into but I would rate it with Bentley. Bryant is next although I think it is moving up and may be real competition for Bentley in the future. Major difference between the two is the location of the campus (Waltham vs RI). Bentley has a much better location than Bryant.</p>

<p>The others are out of state from me so I couldn't say much. I also expect Babson and Bentley fans to post differently than me.</p>

4

<p>Although Bentley is a great school, it was once ranked higher in business education than it is now, while Bryant is rapidly gaining recognition and prestige. Now that Bryant is D1, they will be far more well known outside of the new england area while Bentley is rarely known. Babson is clearly the best simply because it is a small and student-based entrepreneurial school. Bryant is much like Babson because it is small and student based, the unistructure provides that "brotherhood" Also the majority of kids live on campus. Bentley is the largest one and is not student based at all. You will recieve a great education at all 3 however, to get all that you can out of a business school, the smaller the better.</p>

5

<p>Also, Bryant's career placement service is 9th in the nation, you are guaranteed a job there simply because of it's networking abilty. 98% of graduates either get a job or are enrolled in and MBA program within 6 months.</p>

6

<p>First, no school guarantees you a job. Let me make that clear to Soxfan.In addition,even if a schools has great placement, it usually varies by major.</p>

<p>I am familar with both Bentley and Babson ( somewhat). Thus, I will comment the most on these two institutions.</p>

<p>As for reputation, between the three B schools ( Babson, Bryant and Bentley), it really does depend on the major and area. Generally Both Babson and Bentley are considered a notch or two above Bryant now.</p>

<p>Babson is the hardest to get into and is very good. However, Babson's major strength is entrepreneurship. They are considered top in that field. Even though they do have other majors, most of their majors are also designed with entrepreneurship in mind .</p>

<p>Bentley is the only one that is a university. It has a number of graduate offerings that both Bryant and Babson don't have. This also provides students with five year combination BS/ MS or BS/MBA or allows students to be able to take some graduate courses as an undergrad if available.</p>

<p>Secondly, Bentley started off as a school to train in finance and accounting. These two areas are their strongest areas and are excellent. Check out Bentley's trading room. It is second to none. Also check out their ACELAB,which has a plethora of accounting software.</p>

<p>Bentley is also bigger than Babson and maybe even bigger than Bryant. The consequence of this is that Bentley does have more choices in majors for undergraduate and certainly for graduate school. For example, Bentley is one of only four schools in the country to have a masters program in financial planning. They even have a major in philosophy with an emphasis in business ethics.</p>

<p>As to facilities, check out the libraries and exercise facilities at each school. I personally liked that of Bentley the most. It was very modern and well equiped.</p>

<p>As to location, Bentley is right near Brandeis,which is in Waltham. Walthem is a nice, quaint town in the suburbs of Boston. Bentley has a VERY strong emphasis on liberal arts. In fact, you can take much of your liberal arts courses, if you want, at nearby, Brandeis. I don't know what affiliation either Babson or Bryant has,but clerly Bryant isn't in as cool an area as either Bentley or Babson.</p>

<p>I don't know much about Bryant other than I have a friend who majored in accounting there and did quite well in his life.</p>

<p>If I were you, I would check out each school. They each have their own culture. For example, Babson is the most cut throat of the three. Just check what other kids say about it. Bentley tends to be more laid back and kids tend to be more cooporative with each other. Again, check out each school.</p>

<p>I don't know much about any of the other schools but I have heard good things about Fordham, and I know that they are in a great area of New York. However, living there is VERY expensive.</p>

<p>Binghamton, Connecticut and Lehigh don't really stand out for me in business education. I have never met anyone who majored in business at these schools.</p>

7

<p>Taxguy, Bentley just became a university this year, Bryants been one for 4 or 5 now. To say that Bentley and Babson is a few notches about Bryant shows complete lack of knowlege of the 3. Out of the 3 Bentley is said to be a Glorified Salve Regina, if you don't have the grades to get in, all you need is money. I too have friends that go to both schools and the ones from Bryant were not only more successful their curriculum seem a lot more challenging. For example one of my friends from bentley said they had to do a 15-20 page business plan their freshman year, while my friend at Bryant had to do 150+page. including finding an office, putting real surveys out in the business world and marketing their company</p>

8

<p>soxfan, citing one success story or even a few success story especially for unrelated courses does not make a point. It is falacious to suggest that. Moreover, I have never heard it said of Bentley that they are a "Glorified Salve Regina."</p>

<p>As I noted , and will say again for the record, I am NOT as familiar with Bryant,which is why I commented primarily on Babson and Bentley. However, based on the two people that I know who are both Bryant alumni( which also may be too little a sample), both felt that both Bentley and Babson were better schools and had overall better reputations than that of Bryant. </p>

<p>Moreover, although I don't completely buy into the US NEWs rankings, both Bentley and Babson are higher rated than Bryant.</p>

<p>In addition, Business Week rated both Babson and Bentley much higher than Bryant See Undergrad</a> - BSchools</p>

<p>Moreover, average SATs from Bryant's web site ( median) is between 1080 and 1180 while media SATs for Bentley is 1220.</p>

<p>Finally, Bryant has a lot more types of majors such as spanish, English etc that the other two don't have.</p>

<p>You can take this as you wish.</p>

9

<p>I'm not saying Bentley and Babson are bad schools, personally I feel the 3 Bs are some of the best schools in the country. Going back to your question bizzy kid, I would definitely consider 1 of the 3 Bs in your decision. They have small, student based educations which is vastly under rated. You can easily get lost at a UCONN.</p>

<p>They are all the leading innovators of technology. All 3 have fantastic buildings. I'm simply stating, Bryant is no longer the safety school of Bentley and Babson, 10 years ago, maybe. 10 years ago Bentley was in the 20's on business week. They have actually gone down in their overall education. </p>

<p>Bryants campus is beautiful, spacious, and huge (400 acres) they have more space than any of them yet their sticking to the small student based education. They also don't have the huge hill that students at Bentley have. The unistructure is an enormous part of the advantages of Bryant, a beautiful and highly technical building. Not to mention they have the #2 dorm in the nation. Not only that, they are in a great location, 5 minutes from Providence, and their campus does a great job with activities as well as speakers. </p>

<p>I would love my son or daughter to have an education at Bryant, give it 5 years, with their division 1 athletics now, Bryant will move ahead of Bentley, they have the space to expand and they are.</p>

10

<p>Sorry bizzykid, also answering your question, Fordham is in an awful location, City schools are a blast to go to, however, it gets old fast, but their is nothing good about living in the middle of Bronx. I don't know much about Lehigh, but as far as I know about the SUNY's their basically tier 3 schools, not to be mentioned the others, however, I could be very wrong about this particular SUNY</p>

11

<p>thanks for the responses, guys. my brother goes to bentley, and he likes it a lot. i actually stayed with him and "shadowed" him for two days a few weeks ago, so I'm more familiar with Bentley than anything else. I definitely should visit Bryant though...</p>

<p>I've heard how cutthroat Babson is, and that doesn't appeal to me at all.</p>

12

<p>Would agree with taxguy. Recently researched, visited and went to info sessions at each of the 3 b's. Most publications continue to place Babson and Bentley higher than Bryant, and as noted elsewhere, aver SATs and ACTs are both higher at Babson and Bentley then Bryant. Babson accepts 35%, Bentley 38% and Bryant 45%. Thought each of them had nice campuses, each with different pros/cons. Bryant bldgs are all relatively new, as the college relocated from Providence, think around the 1970s or so. IMO because so many of the bldgs were constructed so recently they have less character, altho grounds are nice. Babson had the prettiest campus and setting. Bentley had the most impressive library, and trading room was incredible. Also agree that schools differ in their strengths. Babson is known for entrepreneurship, and Bentley for accounting and finance. Not sure what Bryant is best known for.</p>

13

<p>I think that you should focus of what you want from the schools rather than what the school offer. If you do not have problems with locations and such things (I do not think they should be a problem if u are really focusd on your goals), then go for bentley if you are going for accounting/finance, without a doubt.</p>

14

<p>Think about what you are saying right now, your telling this kid that because Bryant is newer that it is worse, are you serious? That is what places Bryant above Bentley and Babson, the fact that it's campus, as well as it's trading room is newer as well as more technologically advanced. Bentley and Babson are great schools, the fact is however, that they are both extremely cluttered and have no room for expansion. Bryant has the perfect campus as well as the most up to date and technological resources available. Just a simple look at the campus makes Bryant look more professional in the business field. I did not graduate from any of these schools however, I have looked into all of them for my children and it's clear to me that the nicest, most technologicaly advanced school of business is clearly Bryant. I don't know if you guys have looked into the kinds of Bentley kids who have posted on different websites, but they have admitted to getting a subpar education. "its not what you know, it's who you know" is the exact quote Bentley students have said. Any responsible parent would'nt spend 45 grand for a school that did not teach them any thing. Not only that for a networking school, Bryant still is better. Bentley's job placement is not even in the same league as Bryant. It's simply an overpriced over-glorified school. Again I went to school out in the west, I am simply an established business professional, stating his observations of 3 of the best schools in the nation.</p>

15

<p>Oh and collmom, get your facts straight, the newest information which have not been updated on collegeboard yet is Bentley 39%, Bryant 37%</p>

16

<p>You are correct, Babson is entreprenurial, Bentley is accounting and finance, but Bryant is management/marketing/business ethics and liberal arts. Bentley is the perfect school if you are not sure if you want to do business or liberal arts because the offer "pure" liberal arts, however, Bryant offers business based liberal arts, which is far more productive if you are sure you want to do business.</p>

17

<p>Ouch, soxfan1 -- get my facts straight? My figures are both accurate and current - according to BRYANTs own website it's acceptance rate for Fall 2008 is 45%, as I stated. Your confusion is that Bryant's Yield Rate is 37%, this is very different than an acceptance rate. The Acceptance rate is the % of students that Bryant accepts; the Yield Rate is the % of accepted students that choose to enroll. Acceptance rate and not Yield Rate is used to compare the selectivity of schools. For Fall 2008, the acceptance rate for Bentley was 38%, and 45% for Bryant. Not to put too fine a point on it, but Bryants acceptance rate has become incrementally less selective each yr. Again, from the Bryant website -- they accepted 41% in 2005; 43% in 2006; 44% in 2007; and 45% in 2008. I don't think this means that Bryant does not provide a solid business education, but I did want to clarify the misunderstanding that Bryant is on a stellar trajectory, while Bentley is on a downward slide. Bentley is rated by the latest Princeton ratings, based on student surveys, as #20 in the country for "best career/job placement" - so their graduates must feel that Bentley is very effective in helping them start their careers. Also they have one of the highest retention rates -- 94%, so students must be happy there or they would transfer.<br>
Not sure if you were referring to my posting when you said you couldn't believe someone would base recommendation on age of school. You are right, that would be crazy, esp since Bryant was established in 1863. My reference was just about aesthetics - since Bryant relocated to its current location in 1970s its bldgs are more modern and not as architecturally distinctive as some older campus -- but that's entirely subjective, and some could certainly consider it an asset.</p>

18

<p>That was harsh, my apologies. However, there is a story behind the numbers. I swear I'm not obsessed with this school, I just live right near it so I know quite a lot about it. You are correct, their acceptance rate has gone up a few digits, however, that is because they are expanding dorms and townhouses. (hall17-ranked #2 dorm in the nation) Therefore, because they are able to house more people, they can accept more people. This just in as well about Bryant, they are now the flagship US school for US-China relations. They are in the process of building "The confucius institute" in China now, which will be shipped over to their campus in my town. This is the first time any thing like this has ever happened and this is the first step to globalizing the East and the West. So this will elevate bryant into a globally well-known school. Big things are happening there. You are correct that Bentley is #20 in job placement. But Bryant is #9</p>

19

<p>Soxfan1, I have to agree with taxguy on this one. I have been to all 3, and both Babson and Bentley are a notch above Bryant. The rankings show that Babson and Bentley are ranked higher in both US New and Businessweek.</p>

20

<p>I'm a student at Bryant University, and I can honestly say that I love it, It's extremely challenging, this semester I have had to do work from 8am-11pm everyday including the weekends, it's getting insane. but I do really love it, totally worth it. the social atmosphere is great because it is a small school and the athletics are so much fun because they are D1 and compete with schools in the top 10. The technology here is really mind-blowing. They have so much money and so much land, it's cool that they can do whatever they want which is a deffinate advantage compared to Bentley which is absolutely packed to the tilt on that little hill of theirs. But seriously guys it's not worth competing between the 3 schools, their all great, and soxfan1 is right, babson is the best for entreprenurial, Bentley-accounting finance, and bryant-management, marketing. However, I'm a finance major at bryant and theres no possible way bentley's degree is significantly more challenging than Bryant's. All 3 are great schools, Babson is deffinately the best but grads from Bentley and Bryant will get the same jobs (we get more but who's counting lol) They'll get the same education. the only choice you have to decide between is a) can you deal with that hill everyday-The walk to the unistructure is extremely convienient B)would you rather have a bigger school or a smaller one- I personally like having 10-20 kids in each class, such a better way of learning and c)do you want to be a part of the evolution of a school- That was the swaying decision for me to go to bryant. With their D1 sports now and their new global East-West connection, Bryant will move out from just being known in the northeast into the national scene. So that in 5-10 years being a Bryant graduate will mean much more than being a Bentley. But Bentley is still a great school and if you feel its the school for you go for it, nothings better than being at your right school, I know I'm at mine</p>