University

Waymon3x6I go to Bentley, have met plenty of guys on the street. OCR is outstanding. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions. I transferred after my freshman year from Bryant, and I don't know much about Pace but if you're looking for ER, Bentley is the place to be.

Previous response to a kid trying to choose between Bentley and nova:

Few of my friends are heading to BBs next year from Bentley. Goldman was on campus this year and I've seen more and more firms popping up here. OCR is very good here as well. So we do place, but we are shadowed by the other schools (Harvard, BU, BC etc) because we're so close to Boston.

I will say that within the first week, you'll start to learn all the basics about finance, modeling, valuing companies and skip all that other bullshit liberal arts schools throws your way because Bentley is a pure business school. The Trading Room is def something to check out - 40 Bloomberg Terminals available to anyone at anytime is heaven for anyone really interested in finance. The Investment Group is no joke either - guys that know their shit from previous SA's will take an hour out of their day to teach you the basics of an LBO or DCF and more, plus they're always available to talk to in the trading room. We have a long-only $650k equity fund that is run by all the members in the group, meaning anyone can pitch a company they believe is undervalued to the group who will then vote on whether to buy in or not which is a great way to have your ideas critiqued by some more senior guys who actually know what they're talking about. Most of the kids have money too (you'll see ferraris, maseratis, few bentleys and plenty of BMWs/Mercedes driving around) so they have parents in high places that can help you out if you happen to become good friends with one of them.

Also, there are a good amount of Alumni on the street and they are all very good friends. Once you meet one and make a good impression, they will more than likely reference you to their buddy and so on and so forth, so the alumni group is strong and getting bigger. Lot of guys at JPM, PE funds, few at GS and plenty sprinkled throughout the mm and boutique landscape as well. They all want more Bentley guys on the street, so they'll do their best to help you in whatever way they can and won't just shrug you off like some other alumni from a bigger more highly regarded school would. Lots of good looking girls at Bentley too.

Cons - we are shadowed by the bigger guys - MIT, Harvard etc. since we're so close to Boston. However, not sure about the opportunities at Villanova in PA but I got an IB internship at a MM as a sophomore in Boston with between a 3.0-3.5GPA so it is easier to break in with the quantity of firms in the area. (Just have a good story, network and actually show a strong interest in whatever it is you want to do.) Some kids can be pretty snobby, but whatever... you'll always find those no matter where you go.

Villanova is a much higher regarded school in terms of popularity and name recognition. In NYC, most guys haven't heard of Bentley, but they are out there. IMO Bentley has a stronger business program and is up and coming so its a tough choice between the two. I've had no problem networking and pretty much gotten in everywhere I wanted so Bentley has been good to me in terms of career placement, but networking def played a big part.

Can't speak about nova that much because I don't know them that well, but that's where I stand on Bentley. Both are great schools, so either way you'll be fine. Good luck

You make me want to go to Bentley and I graduated college 2011