The Campus Visit

Summer is the perfect time for you and your family to come visit the Undergraduate Admission Office at Bentley. Throughout the summer, we offer tours, information sessions and interviews, Monday through Thursday. If you’re only able to visit campus on a Friday, we offer self-guided tours and virtual reality tours on this day. The information sessions are held with an admission counselor who will provide you with exceptional knowledge about programs offered at Bentley, campus life, and the admission process. For our tours, student ambassadors will take you all around campus, sharing important facts you and your family should know about Bentley, as well as personal experiences. You’ll have the chance to see our academic buildings, library, classrooms, student center, gym and even a dorm! The tours are a great opportunity for prospective students to have an in-depth conversation with a current student and discover what life at Bentley is truly like. For those of you going out on a tour, don’t be afraid to ask your tour guide questions! Student ambassadors can help you decipher whether Bentley would be a good fit or not, but that’s only possible if you ask questions and share with them what you’re looking for in a college.

It can be difficult for high school students to fully           comprehend what college is like and therefore it can be challenging to know what kinds of questions you should ask when you visit colleges. To help those of you who might need an idea of what kinds of questions we often receive on tours and in interviews, here’s a list of questions that can help get you on the right track!

 

• How much time do students typically spend on homework each week?
• What is the average class size at Bentley?
• What percentage of financial need does Bentley typically meet?
• Are there any opportunities to work on campus?
• What percentage of freshman return for sophomore year?
• What is the job placement rate?
• What are the professors like? Have you had the opportunity to develop a relationship with any of them?
• Where do you go on campus if you need extra help or academic advice?
• Do you find Career Services to be helpful?
• How did you choose your major?
• What do students do on or around campus on the weekends?
• What’s been your favorite experience at Bentley?

My last piece of advice would be to ask for the business card of any student worker or admission counselor you have the opportunity to speak with. It’s not uncommon for students to leave campus and on the car ride home think of a question you wish you had asked during the tour or interview.  By having that business card, you can easily find the e-mail address of either your tour guide or a counselor and ask them your question(s). Also, for those of you thinking about applying to Bentley, it never hurts being in contact with the admission counselor assigned to your area who will be reading your application. You can ask one of our student workers at the front desk to inform you of who that counselor might be.

We look forward to meeting you all as you visit Bentley this summer! Enjoy!

Implementing the Bentley Beliefs at Orientation 2015

As Orientation 2015 comes to a close, I am reflecting on the past three weeks of welcoming the newest members of the Bentley community.

Becoming an Orientation Leader has been my fondest Bentley experience to date. Like most Bentley students, I value leadership positions and try my best to take advantage of every opportunity to build relationships with others throughout campus. Prior to this experience, I have held positions throughout various departments on campus, i.e. Admissions, Residence Life, Academic Services. That said, orientation has been a place where I have been able to culminate all the things I know and love about Bentley and share with as many people as possible, while at the same time continually learning things I had never known about the place I have called home for the past two years.

The transition from high school to college is a tough one for anyone, but Bentley works really diligently to ease nerves and create a comforting atmosphere for incoming freshmen. From an internal perspective, the program provides far more than three days and two nights of friendly competition and information sessions. Instead, orientation has been a time to put the Bentley Beliefs in full action.

The Bentley Beliefs, for those who may be unfamiliar, can be summed up in four words- respect, diversity, integrity and learning/growth. With these expectations well established, it was easy for 52 peers to become more than just an inclusive representation of our student body and all it has to offer, but unanticipated friends, forming unlikely bonds in a matter of days. Further, we have proven that the Bentley Beliefs are relevant anywhere on campus, in the dorms, student organizations, as well as in and out of the classroom.

This year’s incoming freshman have already shown they represent the Bentley Beliefs through respecting each other’s differences and coming together as teams, competing in spirit competitions while continually learning about what Bentley has to offer, in addition to what you can offer Bentley. With orientation being a brief indication of the next four years, I have high hopes for the Class of 2019 and have no doubt that they will succeed in relaying the Bentley Beliefs to our community and beyond.

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Welcome to Bentley!

Why I Chose to Take Summer Classes at Bentley

It is finally May, you are finished with your finals and looking forward to another great summer, getting ready for your summer jobs or internships, and preparing for your summer classes. Wait, what? Yes you heard correctly, summer classes. Here at Bentley summer courses are a great part of the Bentley community, but I am sure you are thinking to yourself, why would anyone want to take a class during the summer. Personally, as a student I believe that there are three reasons as to why students would want to take classes at Bentley during the summer.

The first reason I feel students take summer classes at Bentley is to get a jump start on their courses, which could translate into them starting their master’s program a semester or even a year earlier. Here at Bentley if you are accepted into the Master’s Candidate Program you have the opportunity to take graduate courses during your fall and spring semester’s senior year, which gives you the opportunity to finish your graduate degree earlier than most. Also, if you finish your graduate degree ahead of time you are able to start working full-time earlier, which means you start making money earlier (and as students we cannot deny we all enjoy making money).  It sounds like a great plan to me! If you are willing to sacrifice a couple weeks out of each summer to take some courses to get ahead on your work to become more financially independent earlier then where can I sign up?

The second reason I feel students take summer courses at Bentley is because it can free up your schedule in the fall and spring semester. Why would students want to do this? Easy, if a student is able to take four classes a semester, as opposed to five, it opens up the door for them to be more involved on campus, be able to manage an internship throughout the semester, and/or focus more time towards your academics. As a student who has taken four classes during a semester I was able to continue my internship from the summer, focus a lot more on my classes which resulted in making the dean’s list, and I was able to get involved in many different clubs and organizations around campus. From a student perspective, taking summer classes to enjoy a possible internship during the year, get better grades, and become a more well-rounded student all sound like positives to me.

Finally, the third reason I feel that Bentley students take summer classes is because there are certain courses offered in the summer that aren’t always offered in the fall or spring semester. This is something I can fully attest to seeing as I was fortunate enough to take a coastal geology course of Cape Cod during the May weekend intensive. The best part about this course was that it was actually on Cape Cod, yes Cape Cod. For a week I was able to fully learn about many various natural causes that are affecting not only our coastlines in Cape Cod, but our coastlines all around the world. It was one of the most eye-opening courses that I have taken during my time as a student here at Bentley and I believe that truly says a lot about the professors teaching the course, as well as the hands-on learning you are receiving while out there. Oh, also I forgot to mention that it was 70 degrees and sunny all week, plus we got to travel to some of the most beautiful beaches in the Cape. Aside from it being extremely educational, it wasn’t a bad place to be for a week either.

As a student who is currently taking classes during the summer, I think it is definitely worth sacrificing a few weeks out of the summer to do this because it can only better you as a student. So next summer when classes are ending in May, log into My Bentley and enroll in a course or two for the summer. From my perspective, you won’t regret it.