<p>I’m an independent, married, old transfer student (A.A. with a mediocre GPA of around 3.3 – have always worked FT while attending school). I have an interest in attending a women’s college and have been admitted to both Simmons and Bay Path College.</p>
<p>Unfortunately there is no way I can afford Simmons because I only received a small scholarship and got a pretty abysmal aid package. As a result I am seriously considering Bay Path College (along with Eastern Nazarene College, which is not all-womens but is affiliated with my church). </p>
<p>Does anyone have any experience with / knowledge of Bay Path College? I have stumbled across some mixed/concerning reviews along with some excellent reviews, but trust the folks on this forum more than anonymous ratings!</p>
<p>I wouldn’t let their “low standards” scare you. It depends on what you’re going there for. Are you planning on going to grad school? Are undergrad prestige/alumni connections important for your career?</p>
<p>MADad – I am familiar with their stats and am, statistically speaking, well above their standards (SAT V: 700, M: 660, W: 780)… BUT given that I am an independent adult, married, working, etc, it is near impossible for me to afford tuition (even considering scholarships and need-based aid) at the more prestigious schools to which I was accepted. </p>
<p>OWP, I will likely pursue a Masters degree 1-3 years after graduating with my Bachelors. I would like to go to Simmons to obtain my Masters degree as they have an excellent program in my field. </p>
<p>Networking… luckily I am well-connected via family and my work experience will definitely be of assistance. </p>
<p>I guess my major concern would be my ability to get into grad school at Simmons with a B.S. from Bay Path College.</p>
<p>Second MADad’s suggestion. You’d have a much better chance of getting into a Simmons graduate program with a degree from UMass Amherst than the others you are considering. This is especially true is you graduate from UMass with a strong GPA.</p>
<p>I know someone who went to Smith, for example, as an Ada Comstock Scholar. She was divorced, the sole support of two young children, and had to use AFDC to support them while she went to school. She did her first–and possibly second, don’t recall precisely–year at a community college.</p>
<p>With your SATs, I would think you would be a serious candidate. If you did not apply to any of these three, I would <strong>seriously</strong> consider deferring your current admissions and doing so. If you want to get an idea of where you would stand, I would pick up the phone and arrange an appointment with the admissions people to discuss your situation NOW.</p>
<p>I’ve never heard of Bay Path before, but I would say that looking at its list of majors and programs that it is pretty much a vocational school. It is not surprising that they give little or no FA. Simmons, although much better known, especially in some fields such as early childhood education, is not a deep pockets school either.</p>
<p>I think that it would be a VERY BIG mistake to spend $$ going to Bay Path if you have not checked out the situation at Wellesley, Smith, and MHC. I would venture to guess that the admissions and FA people at those schools would listen to your story sympathetically, and would be willing to give you a preliminary read on your chances of getting in and the potential FA.</p>
<p>I would not be surprised if you could not get a much better education at a much better school for a lot less money.</p>
<p>I wish – but as my husband was in the military and we moved quite a bit, we were both awarded out of state tuition at the UMasses. (And yes, we both contested it and lost.) We can’t pay that much for both of us per year.</p>
<p>Another complication is that my husband has a large trust fund that screws up financial aid for me… but we can’t access that trust fund. (Again, have tried appealing… no dice.) </p>
<p>I’ve started classes at Bay Path, which is actually only $6.5k/semester at this campus (I go to the Saturday program in Burlington, so no I’m not in western MA; I live on the south shore and work in Brookline) and am quite confident that if I finish here, I’ll graduate with close to a 4.0. With that consideration, plus my 10+ years of related work experience, do you think I’ll be able to attend a good Masters program? </p>
<p>A final consideration is that at this point, I’m only worth about $17-$20 an hour, and my husband (he was basically an MP – there are no security jobs other than part-time bouncer gigs anywhere, really) is not working… so I need to be done with school sooner rather than later. One of the draws for me at Bay Path (the Saturday program) is that I’ll be done in a year and a half – my transfer credits come mostly from an A.A. in Montana, so I have 76 credits but at most schools (I applied to and was accepted at UMass, Simmons, Eastern Nazarene, and a couple others) I have close to 3 years left… which is a long time for us to continue to live on $35k a year while paying at least some tuition.</p>
<p>Geez this is a long post. I guess… what’s my best move here? Get a 4.0 this semester in my 18 credits and apply again as a transfer and suck it up in terms of commuting to Wellesley, Smith, or Holyoke, or finish here, get an excellent GPA, get great letters of recommendation etc., and then apply to a great M.S. program?</p>
<p>I’m so lost. I wish I’d just gone straight through college when I was 18!</p>
<p>If your goal is a master’s in a specific program at Simmons, then I would suggest that you pick up the phone and call them. Explain your dilemma, and find someone who can advise you.</p>
<p>Not knowing what your field is… if you were looking to enter a PhD program in an academic subject, I would be concerned that Bay Path probably does not offer course work to prepare you. If your field is more “vocational”-early childhood education, for example, something that I believe Simmons has a strong reputation in–this might be less of a concern, since Bay Path may be stronger in those areas. Basically, you need to find out what kind of coursework and qualifications your target programs want. </p>
<p>Frankly, I doubt that the education at Bay Path bears any resemblance to what you would experience at Wellesley, MHC, or Smith. But it may be adequate for your purposes.</p>
<p>One thing is fairly certain: if you want to get into a strong graduate program from a school like Bay Path, you had better be able to present that 4.0.</p>
<p>Second Consolation’s comments (#11) on getting into a strong graduate program.</p>
<p>What’s your career goal? Do you really need a master’s degree to reach that goal? Given that your income is supporting your family you might be better served by finishing your BA and getting a higher paying job first and then go for a masters degree later.</p>
<p>I don’t think it can be compared to Wellesley etc at all. However… again, I’m not 18 or even 22 years old; I can’t just say “screw it!” to all of my adult responsibilities and start taking college classes and have a very checkered availability for work. So, that is a concern.</p>
<p>Finishing the B.S. will allow me to make more money and obtain more responsibility, but I absolutely will have to get a Master’s, probably within a couple of years of graduation. I’m not in an academic/hard science field; my actual field is healthcare operations management/health information management, so I guess that qualifies as more of a vocation :)</p>
transfer student (A.A. with a mediocre GPA of around 3.3 – have always worked FT while attending school). I have an interest in attending a women’s college and have been admitted to both Simmons and Bay Path College.</p>