Bryant University
Responses from the Student Interview
From a student who identifies as Major: Biology – On the pre-health track
Minor: Marketing
Student Self Identifies as: White Straight Female
Summary
I’m [a varsity athlete.]
Background
Gender Identity: Female
Race/Ethnicity: White
Sexual Orientation: Straight
High School Experience: Public high school in New Jersey with a graduating class of about 400 students. There was a culture of going to college.
First-Generation College Student: No
Major: Biology – On the pre-health track
Minor: Marketing
Extracurricular Activities: I’m [a varsity athlete.]
What impact has your sport had on your experience?
It’s had a huge impact on my experience and the way I live. It mainly impacts the way I think about doing daily activities like going to class, making sure I’m getting there on time and being strict about the things I need to get done. It’s given me a sense of independence because I know I have strict rules for myself. If I didn’t have my sport to give me the strict schedule, I don’t know if I’d be able to get things done in the same time frame.
Academic Experience
Can you describe your weekly coursework for your major?
It’s very hands-on and there’s a lot of group work. If you’re not doing a group project, they’ll have you do very hands-on things in class. I’m taking a lot of biology classes, but they make you minor in a business of some sort, such as marketing, communications, finance, or economics so you have some sense of business, which is unique. You get a good amount of both with my major in biology and my minor in business. What makes up the bulk of the grade are the exams and quizzes. Some of my classes don’t offer quizzes so we’ll just have three exams. Most of them have a lab you have to take, so that’s also very hands-on, and there’s usually a final presentation that might take the place of a final exam.
Is there anything you feel your major’s department does especially well or poorly?
I think it goes both ways. I’ve had really good experiences with some professors that are the heads of the departments who’ve helped guide me, which helps get me through biology. I’ve also had poor experiences and trouble with labs specifically. It’s hard getting the proper help from some of the instructors because they aren’t really caught up with the curriculum we’re learning. I’ve also had labs that have been awesome
How would you describe the learning environment? Do you think it’s particularly competitive or collaborative?
I definitely think the learning environment is pretty competitive, especially with the athletes. For the past two years, the athletes have had a better overall GPA than the student body itself. We hold a really high standard for academics within our team. A lot of the people I know in my classes are highly motivated, and no one is here to just graduate college.
How accessible are your professors?
My professors are pretty accessible. I think I’ve had one or two that were barely, but besides that, I’ve had really good experiences with quick communication. They make themselves pretty available, and since it’s a smaller school it makes it easy to just walk into their office and ask for help.
Why did you choose your major? Are you happy with your choice?
It’s definitely difficult. Biology isn’t supposed to be easy, but I want to be a veterinarian and I’d say I made the right decisions. They don’t offer some courses that I’d be more interested in, but they still fulfill the requirements for [veterinary school.]
How was managing both your sport and coursework?
It was difficult freshman year going in. I wasn’t sure how to do college in general, but as I went along through the first semester, I got a good understanding of what I needed to do. It helps to play sports because it makes you more structured, so you know if you have a practice or a lift you have to get your assignment done before then.
Reasons to Attend
1) It’s a small and hands-on school. If you’re looking for small class sizes, your professors are going to know you.
2) Since it’s small, you have a huge sense of community. You’re not going to see random people every day. It’s pretty easy to make friends here.
3) Everything is within walking distance.
4) There’s a real sense of pride. For business, they’re great at getting students the jobs they want. [99% of the Class of 2018 received full-time jobs or were enrolled in graduate school within six months of graduation.]
Reasons Not to Attend
1) With the biology major specifically, I think the professors could be a little better.
2) They have some brand new facilities on campus, and then other facilities aren’t that nice. The halls we’re living in aren’t renovated, and neither are the townhouses.
3) If I didn’t have my scholarship, it would be extremely expensive. [Tuition for the 2020-2021 academic year is about $46,000 per year.]
Around Campus
Where have you lived on and around campus?
Freshman: Hall 16 in a nine-person sweet with every girl from my grade on my sports team.
Sophomore: Hall 10 in a six-person suite
Junior: Hall 9 in a six-person suite
How was transitioning from your hometown to Smithfield, Rhode Island?
I’m from New Jersey so I think it was around the same population and weather-wise. The personalities surrounding the school are different, but I consider them pretty nice people. It’s a pretty accepting group of people on campus because we have a good amount of people from different places. [Students represent 49 different countries and 38 different states and territories.]
Can you describe the level of safety you’ve experienced on and around campus?
I’d consider Bryant pretty safe. We’ve had some racial issues in the past, but I’d still consider it a safe campus. Campus safety is always around and I’ve had emergencies where I’ve had to call them and it’s worked out pretty well. They made me feel comfortable in situations that have happened.
Social Opportunities
What kind of weekend activities or nightlife do you like to participate in?
The best thing people do here is going to the townhouses and hang out on a Friday or Saturday night. That’s mostly where the seniors and a couple of juniors live, so it’s the place to be at night. We also have people that live off-campus in Providence, so some people go there on the weekends for parties. People also go to the bars in Providence, and there’s a restaurant outside of Bryant that’s very close. It’s family-owned and a lot of people go there on the weekends to watch football games. There’s also a pizzeria on-campus called Ronzio’s where people go too. For me as an athlete, we mostly hang out and watch movies in our common room. The night to go out on campus is a Saturday, and some people go out on Fridays. If you want to go off-campus, there is a bar that is open to Bryant students on Thursday nights.
What is the impact of Greek life on nightlife?
I know they have a section of the campus where it’s two halls that aren’t specifically Greek life, but more of them live there. They have a get together there maybe once a month and there are a couple of townhouses there also. Besides the main halls, they have four or five townhouses where members of the fraternity live there. I’ve never gone to them because some of my friends will have them. Athletes usually have a pretty separate life from Greek life.
How happy are you with the weekend options at Bryant? Is there anything you would change about them if you could?
Some people go out a lot during the weekends, and I wouldn’t considering myself one of those people because I’m an athlete. I think it’s good that on Saturday nights people have a good time. We are a smaller school, but we have enough people to have a good time. Usually what will happen is athletes will have a game during the game and people will go there and it’s a really good time in the spring because the student body will watch the sports games which leads into the night and everyone will end up showing up at the townhouses. I think it’s pretty good, but we don’t get to go out as often. Going to parties on Saturday nights is convenient for everyone.
Campus Culture
How did you meet your closest friends?
I made my closest friends on my sports team. We knew of each other before orientation and we go to meet them at one specific orientation because our coach asked us to come to the same one. Over the years I’ve become closer with some more than others. I’ve made a couple of good friends out of my classes too. Since the biology program is so small, there aren’t many people in some of my classes. [The average class size is 26 students.]
How would you describe the overall social scene at Bryant?
We have a pretty good number of clubs on campus and I think our school does a pretty good job of hosting events in Fisher, which is the main center on campus. I think they could have more events throughout the year because I didn’t even know about a lot of clubs or interested until the end of my freshman year. They could do better at advertising the organization fair. I think it’s a huge way people make their friends. Some girls on the team had to quit and ended up making a lot of friends through clubs, organizations, and classes. Also, our school does a good job of trying to keep our campus unified. Ever since we had the racial bias events happen, they’ve tried to do a better job at handling certain situations. Sometimes they have forums that people can sign up for.
To what extent do people of different races and sexual orientations mix socially?
We have an okay amount of diversity on campus. We have people from a lot of places, and we have a campus in China, but there are a good amount of students that come from China to live here. Most of the people who are diverse would be on the sports teams as I’ve seen, which makes it’s not that diverse. [The undergraduate population is about 7% Hispanic, 4% Black, 75% White, and 1% Asian.]
How do you like the size of Bryant in terms of undergraduate enrollment? How has it impacted your experience? [There are about 3,700 students at Bryant.]
I was always looking for a smaller school, and it’s helpful for students who are trying to get hands-on learning with professors. If you were in a lecture hall of 400 students, the professor won’t know your name. Every single one of my professors knows my name and I have a personal relationship with them. I can email them and they’ll know who I am.
To what extent do people in Greek life and not in Greek life mix socially?
Since our Greek life is very small on campus, I don’t think they mix very often. We all go to the same classes and are around each other all the time, but I don’t think the people mix a lot in a social aspect.
Careers
Has the alumni network helped you find internships or jobs?
I’d say it’s extremely helpful for athletes. We have a forum after every semester where they bring in alumni who graduated 5, 10, and maybe 30 years ago to tell us about their experience. I think that’s important for students who’re business majors, but maybe not as much for me because that’s not the path I want to go. I like listening because they talk about specifics such as the interviews and how you go through the process of getting a job. Something Bryant could do better helping more students that want to be doctors or veterinarians.
Have you learned any computer programs or computer languages that will be helpful professionally?
Before college, I had no experience with Excel, but I’ve learned a lot in classes like marketing and physics.