Bucknell University

Responses from the Student Interview

From a student  who identifies as Major: Financial Management
Minor: None
Student Self Identifies as: Caucasian Straight Male

Summary

I’m in a fraternity, I am on the club soccer team, and I’m part of the Finance Club.

Background

Gender Identity: Male
Race/Ethnicity: Caucasian
Sexual Orientation: Straight

High School Experience: Public school in northern New Jersey with a graduating class of about 300 students. There was a culture of going to college.
First-Generation College Student: Yes
Major: Financial Management
Minor: None

Extracurricular Activities: I’m in a fraternity, I am on the club soccer team, and I’m part of the Finance Club.
Did any of your extracurricular activities have a particularly big impact on your experience?
My fraternity has as well as the club soccer team. It’s built more of a close-knit community that I can depend on to help with pretty much anything, whether it’s academics, personal problems, or whatever it may be.

Academic Experience

Can you describe the weekly coursework for your major?
For the accounting-style classes, it’s a lot of problem sets. For other classes, we have a lot of one-page analysis papers on a reading or a topic we’ve been working on, and then also short essays sprinkled in.
Is there anything that you feel your major’s department does especially well or especially poorly?
Something they do well is not put you on a single focus. Because Bucknell is technically a liberal arts school – although the management program is a different program – they do a good job of getting you an all-encompassing education by having you take classes in the College of Arts & Sciences. You’re more well-rounded than somebody who just takes classes in the business school.
How would you describe the learning environment? Do you think it’s particularly competitive or collaborative?
It’s a unique environment where it’s very competitive, but everyone wants to help each other. Everyone knows how important it is to do well, however, everyone still wants to help the people around them.
How accessible are your professors?
Very accessible. Almost anytime we can email them and get a response. They’ve very personable too.
How was transitioning academically as a first-generation college student? Were there any resources that helped you transition?
We have a Writing Center and the Teaching & Learning Center, which is a tutoring center. The Teaching & Learning Center has been a really, really good resource for me because I didn’t really know how to study in school and the Writing Center has helped me a lot because I’ve never been a good writer.
Why did you choose your major? Are you happy with your choice?
A lot of my friend’s fathers here are in that field and I heard a lot of buzz about it before I went to school. I never knew exactly what I want to do, but I heard it was good, well-paying job out of college and I thought I could get a good career out of it, so I went for it.

Reasons to Attend

1) There’s a good support system almost everywhere you look. Everyone is pulling for you and wants to help you, whether that’s your peers, your professors, and everyone else.
2) The classes are small and the professors are always very involved in the lectures. If the class doesn’t understand something, they won’t move on. They want you to do well.

Reasons Not to Attend

1) If you’re looking for a big school and for a football school, Bucknell’s not that.

Around Campus

Where have you lived on and around campus?
Freshman: Swartz Hall with one roommate. It was a pretty good experience. I didn’t hang out a lot with my roommate but we had a good relationship.
Sophomore: Harris Hall in a triple and then I moved into my fraternity house downtown.
I’ll live in the fraternity house again this upcoming year and then my senior year I will have a lease on an off-campus house downtown.
What was your favorite living situation?
I liked living in my fraternity house a lot because I had a lot of my friends living with me and a kitchen to go to for meals.
How was transitioning from New Jersey to Lewisburg, PA in terms of location?
It was definitely a big change. Lewisburg is in the absolute middle of nowhere and I come from a suburban area with shops around. There’s not much to do here, but Bucknell does a good job of providing a lot to do through the school, extracurriculars, and Greek life. It was easy to adapt once I found my group of people that I hang around with.
Can you describe the level of safety you’ve experienced on and around campus?
I’ve never felt unsafe on campus.

Social Opportunities

What kind of weekend activities or nightlife do you participate in at Bucknell?
Mainly, the nightlife is house parties in the downtown areas. That’s basically what everyone does until you turn 21 and then you can go to the two bars downtown. That’s where all the people of age go after the house parties. We have Super Saturday, which is a staple of Bucknell. Every Saturday, rain or shine, there’s a party all day. Everyone’s out and everyone’s invited. You get to see people who you’re in classes with and meet up with them. It’s a nice way to connect with people you’re not really that close with. It’s a nice casual way to talk and be friendly.
What is the impact of Greek life on nightlife?
It’s pretty influential. What people say about people from Bucknell is they’re always very personable people who are easy to talk to and can talk with anyone, and I think a lot of that comes from the social life, which Greek life is a big part of. It builds this social, outgoing tendency for Bucknell people to follow.
How did your nightlife experience differ before and after you joined your fraternity?
You can’t rush until your sophomore year. Freshman year was a little tough because most of the parties are fraternity parties or sports team parties and it does get exclusive because a lot of the houses downtown aren’t too big and the upperclassmen get in before the underclassmen. There is a little bit of exclusivity with them, but once you get to your second semester the older guys start looking out for the freshmen and start looking for potential people they would want to rush their fraternity.
What’s an alternative to going to a party or a bar that you like for a weekend activity?
One thing that we like to do is you can float down the Susquehanna River. On a nice day, we’ll go out on the Susquehanna and float down the river for an hour or two. Another thing is bowling is something a lot of people like to do, I’m in a league and a lot of people are in leagues, which I think is so much fun. On top of that, there are a bunch of restaurants on Market Street and there’s a movie theater.
How happy are you with the weekend options? Is there anything you would change?
I love it. There’s nothing I would change.

Campus Culture

How did you meet your closest friends?
My closest friends are all from my fraternity. However, I met a lot of them my freshman year and then we rushed the fraternity together. My closest friends are the people I met the first few weeks at Bucknell and then I formed my “Freshman Year Group,” as people call it. Then, other than those six guys, the people in my fraternity are my closest friends. I was lucky that my whole freshman group joined the fraternity. There are a lot of groups that split up into different fraternities and aren’t that close anymore because the fraternities are pretty tight-knit.
How would you describe the social scene?
It’s work hard play hard at Bucknell. You’re either in the library grinding or you’re out downtown having fun.
To what extent do people of different races and sexual orientations mix socially?
People from Bucknell tend to come from the Tri-State Area, so there isn’t much diversity. It’s mostly Caucasian, middle to upper-class people. Because of that, Greek life is pretty White and there’s not much mixing. There are a few people in Greek life [who are students of color], but it’s not too noticeable. [In the Class of 2022 the most common states to come from were Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York. About 72% of the Bucknell population is White. The median family income of a student at Bucknell is $204,200.]
To what extent do people in Greek life and not in Greek life mix socially?
The only friends of mine who aren’t in Greek life are people who I play club soccer with. Other than that, there’s not too much mixing. I think that’s the norm for a lot of people.
How do you like the size of Bucknell in terms of undergraduate enrollment? How has it impacted your experience? [There are about 3,600 undergraduates.]
I think the size is perfect for what it is because it’s a fairly tight-knit community but it isn’t too small to where you’re sick of seeing the same people. It seems like there is always another person to meet, which I like a lot, but it is small enough that you have a group of people that you’re consistently with and become very close with.
If at all, how did being a first-generation college student impact your social transition?
It didn’t. I don’t think it was any different than anyone else’s.

Careers

Has the alumni network helped you find internships or jobs?
I have not used the alumni network.
Have you used the career office?
There was a program that was advertised through the job fair, which the school puts on, and I got an internship in Portugal for four weeks, which was awesome. That was an incredible experience and opportunity.
Have you learned any computer programs that will be helpful to you professionally through your coursework?
Really just Excel. I’m pretty well-versed in Excel because of a business analytics class that we have to take.

Financial Aid

Have you used financial aid? If so, how easy is the office to work with?
I used financial aid my first year and it was pretty difficult to work with them. We ended up not even applying for it these past two years because it was difficult to deal with.