Bryant University
Responses from the Student Interview
From a student who identifies as Major: Cellular and Molecular Biology
Minor: Management
Student Self Identifies as: African-American Straight Male
Summary
I’m a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) executive board, I’m part of a [varsity sports team], and I have an on-campus job.
Background
Gender Identity: Male
Race/Ethnicity: African-American
Sexual Orientation: Straight
High School Experience: Private Catholic high school in Warwick, RI with a graduating class of about 100 students. There was a culture of going to college.
First-Generation College Student: No
Major: Cellular and Molecular Biology
Minor: Management
Extracurricular Activities: I’m a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) executive board, I’m part of a [varsity sports team], and I have an on-campus job.
Did any of your extracurricular activities have a particularly big impact on your experience?
Being a student-athlete means I have a limited amount of free time throughout the week. I have classes, practice, lifts, and competitions on the weekends. That makes my whole college experience different than the rest of the students that go here. Being part of clubs like the SAAC means I’m involved in the bigger picture of athletics. We vote on NCAA legislation, try holding events for student-athletes on campus, and we encourage community service throughout the school year.
Academic Experience
Can you describe your weekly coursework for your major?
I’m a Cellular and Molecular Biology major which is a fancy term for biology. Being a biology major at a business school means you’re more or less part of a minority of students and what they’re studying. There are a lot of labs during your first years at Bryant. I went into my first semester with basically seven classes because I have five lectures and two labs. It was a very busy schedule and it was hard to figure out time management while being a student-athlete and having restricted times I can take classes. As you go on you manage and don’t have to take such a heavy class load. There will be a full week of lecture and we’ll review, then the next week we have more review topics, and the third week will be a row of classes with quizzes, exams, and an occasional paper. There are occasional problem sets for homework for the math classes we have to take our first couple of years.
Is there anything you feel your major’s department does especially well or poorly?
I wouldn’t say my department does anything poorly. We’re a small group, so the attention has been brought to my major’s department. They do ask for a lot of feedback from the students in my major, so they can grow the program. What we’ve done well is expose the rest of the student body to what we’re doing. We’ve had multiple seminars and showings throughout campus on your research as arts and science students, and the opportunities we have outside of Bryant.
How would you describe the learning environment? Do you think it’s particularly competitive or collaborative?
I wouldn’t say it’s extremely competitive or collaborative only because we have such a small group in the College of Arts and Sciences. Oftentimes I find myself in classes with no more than 10 people in the class. The competitive environment is sort of lacking because of the number of students in those classes right now. [The average class size is 26 students.]
How accessible are your professors?
They’re very accessible. They’re always open to questions and helping us whenever we need to meet with them.
Why did you choose your majors? Are you happy with your choices?
There have been a lot of challenges and self-doubt personally. What made me choose my major was knowing that I want to go into a healthcare profession. Prior to Bryant, that’s always been my goal, so I’ve stuck through the worst classes in my major like organic chemistry.
How was managing both your sport and coursework?
It can be challenging to figure out time management for a science major. The classes are pretty intense so it was challenging managing classwork, practice, and competition. We go away on the weekends for pretty much the whole day on Saturday. When we get back on Sunday, that’s the designated day to get caught up on assignments. It’s gotten better over time, and as long as you schedule your classes the right way and really find a daily routine, I think the load will be manageable.
Reasons to Attend
1) The professional development opportunities.
2) The work ethic [of the student body]. It’s not socially cool to skip class.
3) It’s a beautiful campus.
Reasons Not to Attend
None
Around Campus
Where have you lived on and around campus?
Freshman: Hall 15, which is now known as Barrington, with one roommate
Sophomore & Junior: Exeter House with one roommate and four other suitemates
How do you like going to college so close to your hometown?
I like it a lot. I know people can’t wait to get away from their home, but I love my home. It’s very nice to have that convenient place of comfort if you’re feeling off or want to be home for some reason. For example, during my freshman year, we didn’t have free laundry so I’d go home to do it, eating dinner at home, or even spending the night and driving back the next day.
Can you describe the level of safety you’ve experienced on and around campus?
I haven’t had any extremely dangerous experiences. Last year when I was a sophomore there were a couple of bias issues going on which didn’t make it feel like home.
Social Opportunities
What kind of weekend activities or nightlife do you like to participate in?
Being a student-athlete means you don’t always get to participate in nightlife activities, but there are usually a bunch of parties going on around the townhouse area. There are also events held by student involvement where they have bingo nights and free giveaways for participating in games. There’s a place near campus students like going during the week called Parente’s. There’s another place called the Last Resort where students like going to. I participate in hanging out with friends or going to the movie theater that’s 10-minutes away. Sometimes we go into Providence and get some food and walk around. On the weekends we’ll also play basketball in the Chase Wellness Center.
What have been some of your favorite times at Bryant?
Probably being on [my sports] team. We travel a lot and we get to experience a lot of things. Being on that team made my experience a million times better. Even simple things like for pre-season training we go up to Bar Harbor, Maine in the fall and stay there for a week and we go to South Carolina for spring break training trips.
How happy are you with the weekend options at Bryant? Is there anything you would change about them if you could?
There comes a time and a place where you have to accept the situations you’re in and be grateful for what you have. I’m also close to home so if I couldn’t participate in some of those weekend activities, I could just go home and spend time with the family.
Campus Culture
How did you meet your closest friends?
The closest friends I have I sort of knew prior to Bryant indirectly. One of my teammates is one of my closest friends and went to the public high school in my town. I [played] against him in high school and it ended up that we were both on the team so we got to know each other even more.
How would you describe the overall social scene at Bryant?
I’d say Bryant is socially known for being very professional. It’s full of business students, but they do emphasize inclusiveness and the community aspect they want to hold and represent people who are interested in Bryant. Because it’s so focused on the professions of accounting, finance, marketing, and business analytics, the competitiveness comes out in those business classes. People are very focused on their work, the way they communicate with their professors, and focused on internships.
To what extent do people of different races and sexual orientations mix socially?
I’d say they mix a pretty good amount. I think it’s common to see diverse groups of friends around campus. Naturally, I think people fall towards people who look like them and have the same interests as them, but I do see integration between different racial groups a good amount. Bryant isn’t the most diverse university. [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.]
Hopefully, Bryant expands in the future in terms of campus size. The undergraduate enrollment is pretty good for Bryant. You’re always seeing familiar faces, and people are always around. For the campus size being what it is, you’re always seeing students you recognize from class or events they have. The freshmen do a walk through campus to get addressed by the president during their first week, so after an event like that, you walk around campus the whole year seeing familiar faces from that ceremony.
How would you describe the African-American community on campus? How strong is it?
I’d say it’s pretty good. In the last few years, we’ve had a group called Woke Athletes get approved to be on campus. It’s predominantly African-American student-athletes, but it’s opening up to the whole student body. They try to encourage people of color and different races to get involved with what’s going on on-campus in terms of activities. They try to hold informative sessions such as how to be culturally sensitive and aware of things that may come off with negative intents due to the bias incidents we’ve had in the past. Helping educate the community has almost brought the campus together.
Careers
What have you used the career office for? How helpful have they been?
I’ve gone to the career office to get my resume edited. They have helped me in the past when attempting to set up a class/internship during the fall semester, even though it didn’t work out because of my class schedule. Until this year they’ve been so business-focused, so most of my opportunities come from my department chair. [In 2016, the most popular degrees awarded were Marketing, Finance, and Accounting, which are all in the College of Business.]
Financial Aid
Have you used financial aid? If so, how accommodating was the office to your needs?
I’ve had meetings with financial aid advisors, and they were helpful in breaking down FAFSA and the aid I received. They’re easy to contact and schedule a meeting with.