A Bridge to Babson: Easing the Transition for First-Year Students
For first-year students, the weeks and days before starting at Babson can be a time of many emotions. They’re excited. They’re nervous. They’re hopeful.
Stephen McElroy has witnessed these days of great expectations firsthand as part of Babson’s Bridge Program. Taking place in the summer before the fall semester begins, the Bridge Program aims to ease the college transition for first-year students.
“The timing of the program, in the month leading up to the first day of fall classes, is such a singular period in these students’ lives—one they are likely never to forget,” says McElroy, an assistant professor of rhetoric and composition.
With the Bridge Program, Babson gives support to students who may feel less prepared academically for the start of college. The goal is to make sure that students, whatever their backgrounds, are set up for success.
“It is a great on-ramp to the start of the curriculum,” says Rob Major, director of undergraduate administration and the coordinator of the Bridge Program, which he helped launch in 2021. “At the end of it, we hope they feel ready to start.”
Students in the Bridge Program are enrolled in either a writing or math mini course. McElroy, who developed and teaches the writing class, enjoys seeing students just as they are embarking on their Babson careers. A moment they have been working toward, one that they have been imagining and anticipating, is set to begin with the Bridge Program’s help.
“All the work and the effort and the stress and the dreams, leading up to this goal of coming to Babson—each student brings this story with them as they embark on their four-year quest,” McElroy says. “I know I feel that energy, and the students sense it in one another, too.”
A Leg Up
Close to 40 students participate every year in the Bridge Program. Beginning in late July or early August, it encompasses three weeks of online classes. Then, just before orientation, participants come to campus early and spend three days together, visiting key student support services such as the Math Resource Center and Writing Center. They also take a trip to Boston.
The need for the Bridge Program, Major says, first stemmed from a discussion of how prepared incoming students are for Babson’s math curriculum, which entails statistics and analytics, subjects some first-year students haven’t explored in high school. They also might not have had exposure to the software Babson utilizes.
The participants in the program are great students, Major says, but they need a boost in these areas. “If we know there are segments of our population we can give a leg up to, we want to do that,” he says.
The same could be said for the writing side of the Bridge Program. After considering how prepared first-year students are for math, Babson decided to look at writing skills as well, particularly for those whose second language is English. “These students have been admitted to Babson, so we know they’re already strong writers,” says McElroy, who also serves as director of First-Year Writing at Babson. “We thus get to focus our efforts on calibrating for, or becoming more attuned to, the expectations of college-level reading and writing, specifically at Babson.”
Surveys of participating students reveal how the Bridge Program has impacted them. More than 90% of students agree or strongly agree that the program prepared them for success in their first semester at Babson. Similarly high percentages also say they were happy to participate in the program and that it helped them establish meaningful relationships with people in the Babson community. “We’re very happy with the outcomes,” Major says.
Students Reflect
Back in 2021, when the world was still reeling from the effects of lockdown and the pandemic, Jesus Alanis ’25 participated in the first edition of the Bridge Program. Even though he’s now a senior set to graduate, he remembers those early days in the program as his Babson journey was just beginning. He remembers his first Webex calls with peers, people who remain friends today, and he remembers the lift the program gave him in the classroom.
“The Bridge Program helped my math skills immensely. It allowed me to develop a deeper understanding of different concepts and principles within the realm of business analytics,” he says. “This experience truly shaped and established the success I’ve had in my college career.”
“I can attest that the Bridge Program was the sole reason as to why my transition into college, both inside and outside the classroom, was seamless.”
Kayla Stephan ’26
Kayla Stephan ’26 praises the math instruction she received in the program as well, but like many past participants, she also mentions the comfort, confidence, and connections the Bridge Program gave her as she began a new chapter in her life. “I can attest that the Bridge Program was the sole reason as to why my transition into college, both inside and outside the classroom, was seamless,” she says.
The trip to Boston is another highlight for program veterans. Aurora Meizhu Wu ’27 remembers exploring the city, her college days just beginning, and another participant pulling out a Babson flag. “This really made us feel belonging,” she says, “marking our transition from high school to college.”
Ja-riel Bailey ’28 had a similar experience as she walked around the city for the first time. On social media, posts from Babson students visiting Boston are a common sight that Bailey had come across. Now, she was one of those students, and she felt the new reality of her life. “I will never forget the epiphany I had about truly being a Babson College student,” she says.
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