My Bradley Take

Today, I noticed on my Facebook newsfeed, that a friend or two of mine had joined a group called "I'm Dissastified with My Bradley University Experience." The group, which can be found here appears to be made up of two Bradley students, who appear intelligent, frustrated with their experience at Bradley and looking to harness the negative energy of the student body to ultimately produce change. In their description, they cite several reasons why they dislike their experiences. Also, included in the group's discussion wall is somewhat of a sister site,BU Soundoff I'll give you my take, and being a senior, I definitely feel qualified to address this.

Before I start, I'm not going to make this post into a "Bradley Lovefest," pretending like I'm an admissions rep giving a tour to a BU perspective. I'll admit, I have a little bias since my parents met here. But going to Bradley was very much my own decision. Anyone who knows me, knows that I have been quick to make a comment about some part of the university that I disliked at the time or still do. Bradley is far from perfect, and perhaps even farther from the dream school that BU Admissions portrayed. After all, there job is to get you to come to the school, and it is not their direct responsibility for you to enjoy your college experience. Many of the complaints listed on the facebook are legitamate. One of my pet peeves at Bradley is when it rains in a part of campus, the water pools and makes it impossible to walk around it without getting wet. Ok, so we all have things we don't like about our school. Students at every school have things they do not like, its human nature.

I've actually really enjoyed my Bradley experience. Its been far from perfect, but I can't picture going anywhere else. I actually like Peoria, even for its flaws, which there are many. I grew up in the North Shore, where a lot of the time it seemed like whoever had the most money mattered, so it was nice to be able to leave that. Bradley is a solid school, and any criticism of Bradley has to be attributed to any other school. Universities are far from a perfect and they are all plagued by similar problems. Just because you don't like your experience here, doesn't mean that they will be better elsewhere.

One of the first issues listed by the group is Braldey's library. People who don't like Bradley, often first point at the Library as it has developed some notority for being at the top of the Princeton Review's list of worst libraries. The library is far from the best, but people never mention the resources that the library has. With Interlibrary loan, you can get most books that you need for an assingment. The group talks about the quality/availablity of food on campus. Well, I can't think of another place where you can get all the breakfast, omlets included for $1.90 (gotta love that off-campus meal plan). The group also laments about the quality of teachers. I think that is actually one of the strong suits of the University. Most if not all have a Phd. At a bigger school, it would be impossible for a teacher to read a senior thesis and critique it in depth like at Bradley. Also, through another teacher, a brodcast management internship was created for me.

I think a lot of the people who don't like Bradley are unrealistic in what should be available to them here. Likewise, there are an equal number of people who do not ultilize the resources that the school does provide. People get so caught up in one negative aspect about the university that it ruins their entire experience.The cost of the university is a huge (no pun intended) concern to many. Last year, I was able to go into the financial aid office, and I came out with a scholarship application for a scholarship I had no idea the school provided. For my senior year, the university gave me an additional scholarship basically for going into the office and asking. There are a ton of seminars, lectures, and training avaiable through the library and the Career Center which I don't think people ultize. Speaking of lectures, the school also brings some pretty good speakers, which a lot of students only attend if its mandatory. I think the Study Abroad and Global Scholars (there's a little box for it the Degree Audit online) also are experiences that many people don't know about.

My advice would be to make the most of your Bradley/college experience. Take advantage of what the school does offer, not what it doesn't offer. Enjoy college, its only 4/5/6 years, so make the most of it!