Bentley University Supplemental Essay Prompt Guide

Bentley University 2024-25 Application Essay Explanations

The Requirements: Two optional essays of 250 words each

Supplemental Essay Type: Why, Diversity

(OPTIONAL) Design a new college course that responds to your desire to blend an area of business with the arts and sciences. Give your course an eye-catching title and describe the course content. Then explain why this course will set you up for career and life success. (250 words or fewer)

Since Bentley prides itself in combining business with arts and sciences, they are looking for students who are excited to not only become business leaders, but also study the liberal arts. This is your chance to highlight your wide range of interests and passions, showing Bentley that you’re exactly the type of student they’re seeking. Maybe you love analyzing trends on TikTok as well as performing as a wedding DJ and would design a course focused on optimizing a small independent music business (“Independent Music: How to Go Viral IRL”). Perhaps, in your free time, you either monitor the stock market or read fiction based in Ancient Greece and would create a course that examines the financial underpinnings of ancient civilizations and how they have informed our modern financial institutions (“From the Agora to the Stock Market: Ancient Greece & Modern Money”). Choose whatever interests really do excite you; there are no wrong answers here! Just remember to pick a catchy title and discuss how your new course will prime you for success in your future life or career. 

(OPTIONAL) Our students bring to campus a variety of experiences, cultures, and intersecting identities including race and ethnicity — aspects that are important to a rich educational experience and your success in college and beyond. You may use this section to discuss how race and ethnicity has affected your life, be it through discrimination, inspiration or otherwise.  (250 words or fewer)

Applicants who choose to respond to this prompt likely have something in mind to say about how race and ethnicity have impacted their lives. Since you only have 250 words at your disposal here, our advice is to focus on you: your experiences, your intersecting identities, and your culture. This is an opportunity for you to address how race has played a role in your life and the ways your cultural inheritance has inspired you and/or how you have continued to rise above any obstacles set in your path by systemic injustices. Give yourself plenty of time to brainstorm, draft, and revise your response, as writing about topics as nuanced as these can be challenging, even for adults who have spent twice, thrice, or four times as many years on this earth as you. We have no doubt that you’ll be able to write a concise, meaningful story about the kind of person you are, the qualities you possess, and the ways in which you will succeed and positively contribute to any academic community.