shuning W.
Google
Nice campus, nice professors. But the school has a weird rule that it forbid the graduate students to join undergraduate students organizations and clubs, which I have never heard of in any other universities. I tried to reach out to student affairs and other related offices, but the answer they gave was “because the graduate school and undergraduate school manage student activity fees in two separate pools.” They can manage however the student activity fees they want but they should not forbid how students doing their activities. (For example, Are the residents who pay taxes in MA not allowed to drive road in CA, because these two states manage their taxes separately? No.)
The situation is: undergrad has 100+ student organizations with all different kinds of clubs. And grad school has maybe at most 15 clubs when I was there, and are all academic based clubs. This is really not good for international students because they come here not for studying but also for learning different culture, making friends from all backgrounds. With the academic based clubs, and the forbidden joining undergrad clubs, really hurt the potential of culture diversity and students bonding and growth. Instead of teaching students learning how to be inclusive, I feel this way is teaching students learning how to be exclusive to others.
For students who are going to join the 4+1 program in Bentley, maybe also need to reconsider. Because once you join the grad school, you won’t be allowed to stay in the undergrad student clubs, even you spend four years when you were an undergrad there. It really doesn’t feel good, because you feel being separated with your friends that you spend for four years.
I tried to talk to students affairs office and other related offices many times but they never took it seriously. It is really sad because Bentley is hurting its own potential to become a better university.
I was in depression for about two years because of this whole experience.
I give two stars because of the responsible professors, beautiful campus and responsive CISS office.
