Waltham, MA: Seven o'clock came early that morning, but I was anxious to get in the car for the four-hour drive from Bangor, Maine to Waltham, Massachusetts. I had heard so much about Bentley College and now it was only a matter of time before I saw it with my very eyes. U.S. News & World Report has rated Bentley the second-best business school in the East, but I feel that a campus visit was a must before deciding where to spend the next four years of my life. Looking at numbers and facts about a college is one thing, but if a person is not comfortable with the surroundings, how can a higher education be gained?

I went into the day with high hopes that this would be the college for me. As it turns out, I was not disappointed. The campus was beautiful. There is an upper quad of classroom buildings with a beautiful island of grass in the center where we signed in. First I noticed was the size of the campus. Bentley is a small school. There are about 3,200 students and the average class size is about 25. The buildings are made of brick, the type of buildings you expect to see in colonial times, but inside are all new, most containing computer labs and modern classrooms.

There is also a lower quad on the opposite side of the library where the students tend to hang out between classes and during down time. Just down the hill from the lower quad is housing. Bentley has dorm rooms, as well as dorm suites and on-campus apartments. You can't leave Bentley without realizing its steep terrain on which the campus was built. You almost have to be a mountain goat to get around from the classrooms to the housing area, but at least that provides the non-athletic students with exercise. The outdoor staircases are heated to prevent students from falling in dangerous winter conditions.

Despite Bentley's reputation for producing some of the finest graduates to ever enter the work field, one look at this beautiful campus and any student would fall in love. f




Reviewed in 1995