America's Best Colleges for B Students. Tamra B. Orr
define it. The College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Business integrate business, liberal arts and technology to distinguish the Bryant educational experience. This integration ensures that students become well-rounded individuals with the analytical, problem-solving, business and communication skills to successfully compete and contribute in a complex, global environment.
“Bryant enrolls 3,300 undergraduate and more than 300 graduate students with 112 tenured and tenure-track, full-time faculty. More than 3,000 individuals and businesses benefit on an annual basis from professional education and consulting services offered by Bryant’s Executive Development Center and the John H. Chafee Center for International Business.
“Bryant offers undergraduate programs in actuarial mathematics, business administration with eight concentrations available, Chinese, communication, economics, environmental science, global studies, history, information technology, international business, literary and cultural studies, mathematics and statistics, politics and law, psychology, sociology and Spanish. Bryant’s Graduate School of Business offers master’s degrees in business administration (MBA), information systems (MSIS) and professional accountancy (MPAc). All of Bryant’s academic programs are accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). The College of Business is accredited by AACSB International-The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, a distinction earned by less than 10 percent of business colleges worldwide.”
Campus Setting
Founded in 1863, Bryant University is a four-year private liberal arts university with a College of Business and a College of Arts and Sciences. Its 420-acre campus is located in Smithfield, Rhode Island, 12 miles from Providence. Bryant University is a four-year private institution with an enrollment of 3,670 students. The campus facilities include: theatre · food court · Interfaith Center. Bryant University provides on-campus housing with 1,036 units that can accommodate 2,872 students. Housing options: coed dorms · women’s dorms · special housing for disabled students. Recreation and sports facilities include: athletic fields · baseball and softball complex · gymnasium · natatorium · recreation and wellness center · rugby field · sports arena · stadium · weight room.
Student Life and Activities
Eighty-one percent of students live on campus. Popular gathering places are Lupo’s, The Living Room, The Strand, Thayer Street, The Junction and Parente’s. Popular events on campus are semi-formals, MSU Extravaganza Night, commencement, convocation, ISO UN Festival, Parents’ Weekend, Spring Weekend, Special Olympics and the Festival of Lights. According to the editor of the student newspaper, the student organizations greatly enhance the social environment. Bryant University has 105 official student organizations. Influential groups on campus are the Student Programming Board, rugby teams, Student Senate and Greek organizations. For those interested in sports, there are intramural teams such as: basketball · flag football · floor hockey · indoor soccer · inner-tube water polo · softball · volleyball. Bryant University is a member of the Northeast Conference (Division I).
BRYANT UNIVERSITY
Highlights
Bryant University
Smithfield (Pop. 21,430)
Location: Large town
Four-year private
Founded: 1863
Website: http://www.bryant.edu
Students
Total enrollment: 3,670
Undergrads: 3,459
Freshmen: 908
Part-time students: 2%
From out-of-state: 91%
From public schools: 50%
Male/Female: 59%/41%
Live on-campus: 81%
In fraternities: 5%
In sororities: 11%
Off-campus employment rating: Fair
Caucasian: 73%
African American: 4%
Hispanic: 7%
Asian: 5%
Hawaiian or Pacific Islander: 0%
Native American: 0%
Mixed (2+ ethnicities): 1%
International: 8%
Academics
Calendar: Semester
Student/faculty ratio: 13:1
Class size 9 or fewer: 4%
Class size 10-29: 47%
Class size 30-49: 49%
Class size 50-99: -
Class size 100 or more: -
Returning freshmen: 90%
Six-year graduation rate: 79%
Most Popular Majors
Accounting
Finance
Marketing
Academics and Learning Environment
Bryant University has 166 full-time and 115 part-time faculty members, offering a student-to-faculty ratio of 13:1. The most common course size is 30 to 39 students. Bryant University offers 39 majors with the most popular being accounting, finance and marketing and least popular being Spanish, sociology and history. The school has a general core requirement. Cooperative education is not offered. All first-year students must maintain a 2.0 GPA or higher to avoid academic probation, and a minimum overall GPA of 2.0 is required to graduate. Other special academic programs that would appeal to a B student include: independent study · double majors · dual degrees · honors program · internships.
B Student Support and Success
Bryant College provides extra help to students through the Academic Center for Excellence (ACE). Each year, more than 1,600 students use its services to help with class performance. ACE’s philosophy is that college students are not born with good study skills and habits, and like anything else in life, they require practice on a regular basis. Even students who have great study skills in high school may find that they need extra help in college. According to the college, ACE’s primary goal is to “help students become self-reliant, independent, confident learners so that they may successfully meet the demands of their chosen academic curricula.” They do this through both a tutoring program and study skills instruction in group sessions provided by a combination of staff, peer tutors and faculty. Along with ACE, Bryant offers a Writing Center. Here you can learn and polish the skills of written communication through one-on-one consultations with staff and tutors. Access is provided through ACE to workshops and printed materials that are helpful tools in honing writing skills.
Bryant University provides a variety of support programs including dedicated guidance for: academic · career · personal · psychological · minority students · non-traditional students · family planning · religious. The average freshman year GPA is 2.8, and 90 percent of freshmen students return for their sophomore year. Approximately 18 percent of students pursue a graduate degree following graduation. Among students who enter the workforce, approximately 78 percent enter a field related to their major within six months of graduation. Companies that most frequently hire graduates from Bryant University include: State Street Corporation · Target · TJX · DiSanto Priest & Co. · Liberty Mutual · FedEx Freight · PricewaterhouseCoopers · Hartford Insurance Group · Fidelity Investments · CVS · Ernst & Young · Mercer · Liberty Mutual · Ross Stores · Hanover Insurance · Travelers · Cambridge Associates · Citizens Bank · Wolfe & Co. · Boston Celtics · Pepsi Bottling Group · Raytheon · Towers