Karen S.

Born in Massachusetts and raised in Brazil, Karen Santos could have gone to college anywhere.  So why Bay State College?  Her first condition was that her college had to be in Boston.  “I love this city,” she smiles.  “It has everything you need, but it's so big that like you're completely lost in it.  

Next, we wanted a small college with a good student-teacher ratio. “I just like the feel of knowing everybody, and the teachers knowing you,” she says, “so you're not just another number on a list.  So when I was looking for colleges in Boston, Bay State was on my list because of their small class sizes.”

Bay State met Karen’s criteria in two other important ways—by having on-campus student dorms (“I wanted the whole college experience.”) and by offering a Bachelor’s degree program in Management with a Marketing concentration.  “Bay State was the only college in my list that offered this degree,” she recalls.

But what finally made up her mind was a single phone call – one she received after starting to fill out the College’s online application. “I was about halfway through and decided to finish it later,” she recalls.  “Then my phone rang about like an hour after I had logged off.  It was a Bay State admissions representative and she was like, ‘Hi, I'm from Bay State, and I saw that you started filling out the application.  I was wondering if you wanted to come down, take a look at the school.’  That really impressed me.  In fact, they made the whole application process very easy.  Right from the start, Bay State made me feel so welcome—like it was already my school.”

Karen gives Bay State high marks on her first years. “How would I sum it up?  I had an excellent first and second year,” she says. “The school’s ‘First Year Experience’ helped us get focused.  My professors and classes all were great.  I feel like I have a good foundation to help me get started on my major. It’s all flowing nicely.”