How to get into Bentley University
How to get into Bentley: a business-focused university where the program-specific pre-professional case wins
45.1%
Acceptance rate
$61,000
In-state cost
What makes Bentley University admissions different
Bentley is a small (~4,500 undergrad) private university in Waltham, MA outside Boston that specializes in business and the liberal-arts-meets-business model. Almost every undergraduate majors in a business discipline — Accounting, Finance, Marketing, Management, Information Systems, Economics-Finance, Corporate Finance and Accounting — with required Arts and Sciences coursework woven in. Bentley's career outcomes are strong because the curriculum is built around employer-facing skills (Bloomberg terminals in the Trading Room, required corporate internships, the Service-Learning Center). Applicants who treat Bentley like a generic liberal arts admit underprice themselves; applicants who articulate a pre-professional case for a specific business track over-perform.
What an actually competitive application looks like
- 1.
Apply Early Decision (Nov 15) or Early Decision II (Jan 15) if Bentley is your clear top choice. ED is binding and provides a meaningful admit-rate bump; Bentley publishes ED admit data well above its RD rate.
- 2.
Write the 'why Bentley' supplement around a specific business major and the resources you'll use — name the Trading Room, the Center for Women and Business, the Health Thought Leadership Network, or whichever Bentley-specific resource maps to your goal.
- 3.
Demonstrate pre-professional signal: DECA, FBLA, an actual internship, a venture you ran, financial literacy work, an Excel/SQL/Python project. Bentley readers respond to applicants who have already done business-relevant things.
- 4.
Maintain a strong GPA in a rigorous curriculum — quantitative coursework (calculus, statistics) is read more closely here than at a general liberal arts school. Test-optional policy continues; submit SAT 1310+ / ACT 30+ if scores reinforce the file.
- 5.
Apply for the Presidential Scholarship and named merit awards by the priority deadline. Bentley awards merit aid from the admit pool; no separate scholarship application.
Common mistakes that hurt applicants here
- ✕
Treating Bentley like a generic Boston-area school. The whole institution is built around business — applicants who write a 'why Boston' supplement instead of 'why Bentley' miss the point.
- ✕
Applying without a clear business major in mind. Bentley admits to a specific major and the supplement is read against that choice.
- ✕
Showing zero pre-professional signal. Strong GPA + AP courses without any business-adjacent activity reads as 'why Bentley over Bryn Mawr' is unanswered.
- ✕
Applying RD when ED would have worked. Bentley's ED bump is real — applicants who can commit and don't are leaving margin on the table.
The specifics for Bentley University
Application deadlines
- Early Decision I2025-11-15Binding. Decision in mid-December 2025.
- Early Action2025-11-15Non-binding. Decision in mid-January 2026.
- Early Decision II2026-01-15Binding. Decision in mid-February 2026.
- Regular Decision2026-01-15Decision by late March 2026. Reply by May 1.
What makes this admissions process distinctive
Business-focused undergraduate curriculum with required Arts and Sciences
Bentley is one of the few private universities in the U.S. where nearly every undergraduate majors in a business discipline (Accounting, Finance, Marketing, Management, Information Systems, Economics-Finance, etc.) while completing a substantial Arts and Sciences core. The combination is the institutional value proposition.
Trading Room and corporate-facing facilities
The Hughey Center for Financial Services houses a 35-seat Trading Room with Bloomberg terminals — used in coursework across Finance and Economics-Finance majors and a real differentiator for pre-Wall-Street undergrads.
Heads up — recent changes
- Bentley remains test-optional for the 2025-26 cycle.
What graduates actually do
Bentley is essentially a business-and-accounting feeder for Boston and New York financial services. The Big Four accounting firms (Deloitte, PwC, EY, KPMG) recruit aggressively on campus, and graduates land at Fidelity, State Street, John Hancock, and Liberty Mutual in disproportionate numbers. The Hughey Center for Financial Services and the trading-room curriculum produce job-ready analysts. Median early-career earnings sit well above peer business schools.
Notable alumni
- Tom Ricketts — Chairman of the Chicago Cubs
- Russell Carey — Senior executive, Brown-Forman
- Sean Frawley — Former CFO, IBM Global Financing
- Kevin Plank — Founder of Under Armour (attended)
Transfer pathway
Bentley accepts transfer students for fall and spring entry, with the Falcon Flight program supporting community college transfers from MassBay, Bunker Hill, and Massasoit. The Massachusetts MassTransfer compact provides credit-transfer guarantees for state CC graduates. Transfer applicants need a 3.0+ GPA and prerequisite business and economics courses.
Articulation partners
MassBay Community College · Bunker Hill Community College · Massasoit Community College · Quinsigamond Community College
Specifics verified 2026-05-18 from the school's own admissions page + Common App (supplements re-verified this pass). Always confirm current-year details directly on the school site before applying.
If you're on the bubble
Bentley rewards applicants who treat business as a real interest, name a specific major and resource, and apply ED when committed. If your stats are at the median and your supplement is pre-professional, you're competitive. If your supplement could have been written for any school, the bar is higher.
Next steps
Last updated: November 2025. Acceptance rate and cost data refreshed nightly from college reporting.