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Bentley School

School rating 3 / 5 by

1 Hiller Drive Oakland CA 94618 United States
Day
K to 12th
Gender
Coed

Academic

Bentley School review by .

Bentley School is a great small sized school that caters well to the individual learner. With class sizes no more than twenty kids (with about 17 being the average), one on one relationships with the faculty is one of the strong points of Bentley. Every teacher is kind and caring and genuinely wants to help the student's learn to the best of their ability. Besides the obvious math and science classes, no other classes ar lecture based, making learning fun and organic. Nothing is forced because the child is interacting with the teachers and student around him or her to develop a fuller understand of a subject. In English and history classes, class or group discussions are regularly part of the curriculum, something I, as a student, found very helpful. Rather than have the teacher bark at you for hours on end, you are able to communicate and interact with the entire class and share your own insights. The teachers are also always available if student's are ever in need. There are always scheduled office hours for teachers, and they are even willing to stay after school to help a needy student out. Although I personally haven't had much need for seeing a teacher outside of class, I have seen fellow classmates meet and it has seemed to help them quite a bit. The teachers are always there for the students.

College Counseling

I first made a list of schools with my college counselor around late-September I believe.....

Sample insights on college counseling

  • They have contacts at most of the major universities and feel perfectly comfortable picking up the phone and advocating for a student to get accepted somewhere they feel is a good fit for that student. However, these counselors are certainly not magic bullets. They cannot guarantee that a student will get into an Ivy League university...
  • For those wishing to move on to Oxford or Cambridge, the provision is second-to-none. In the months running up to application and interview, every subject faculty offers classes (often run by former Oxbridge tutors) exploring further areas of their subject as well as offering advice on personal statements, interview technique and more...

Admissions - Getting Accepted

The majority of students at Bentley are not from the middle school. Every year, about....

Sample insights on admissions

  • For the interview, dress conservatively. Try to be very clean and put together. Also, I was a tour guide for two years and at the end of every tour, we were asked to evaluate the candidate so if you think the tour is not apart of the process, you are very wrong. Ask questions and be interested. Also, tip for the parents: the kids speak on the tour. Do not ask their questions for them...
  • Most younger siblings have an easy time in the admissions process. I can only think of one case of a younger sibling not being admitted. About half of the students who entered with me had come from public schools. The remainder came from private K-6 schools, or had transferred from other New York private schools The Elizabeth Morrow School and St. Bernard were two of the larger feeder schools...

School Life

Bentley is a very tight-knit school. With barely over 300 kids, the sense of community is overwhelmingly strong and students are almost kind and compassionate towards on another. With clubs like peer counseling (where upperclassman help incoming freshman) and the honor council (students who help students deal with cheating), the school is bent on helping one another to maintain a strong feeling of community. The school's approach to discipline isn't too bad, but it can be a little rigid when it comes to dress code. Although we do not have an official dress code, student's aren't supposed to wear certain....

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