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Providence College

How this student rated the school
Educational QualityB- Faculty AccessibilityA
Useful SchoolworkB Excess CompetitionA-
Academic SuccessB+ Creativity/ InnovationC+
Individual ValueB University Resource UseB
Campus Aesthetics/ BeautyA- FriendlinessA-
Campus MaintenanceC Social LifeB+
Surrounding CityB+ Extra CurricularsA
SafetyC-
Describes the student body as:
Friendly, Arrogant, Snooty, Closeminded

Describes the faculty as:
Friendly, Helpful

Female
SAT1480
Quite Bright
Lowest Rating
Safety
C-
Highest Rating
Faculty Accessibility
A
She cares more about Safety than the average student.
Date: Dec 19 2005
Major: English (This Major's Salary over time)
As you read through the rest of the reviews here, notice that most of the positive ones mention the drinking and partying scene as a major plus for the school. If that's what you're looking for, then this may very well be the place for you. If that's not what you want, you may find yourself stuck feeling like an outsider because you're not getting wasted at Prime Time four nights a week.

It's a very Catholic place. People say that we knew it was a religious school going in, so we should stop whining and deal with it. But the sheer number of reviews that mention religion points to a deeper problem. It is not the religion that I mind so much as the downplaying of it in the literature, on tours, in anything involving prospective students. The problem isn't that it's a Catholic school. The problem is that we feel as though we've been lied to. Yes, it is a Catholic school, and if you were raised in that tradition you could fight me tooth and nail that Catholicism is not a big deal at the school, and from your perspective you may be right. But if you come from outside the faith, as I do, you will be in for a shock regarding just how religious the school is. I asked a tour guide point-blank if religion was a big deal here and she said it absolutely was not. Maybe it wasn't to her. I can only speak from my own experience, but I came here wanting a good education and was under the impression that there would be a little religion thrown in, like at many religious-but-not-really schools. I knew nothing about Catholicism and did have problems in some classes because I simply didn't have the background. School's fault or my own? Neither. Just a statement of fact. It's easy to instigate with both students and professors if you want to over religious matters. I can tell you now that you'll lose every time. I did that for a while and finally decided that it'd be easier and better for my sanity to just shut up, do the work, and get the degree. All the logic, rhetoric, and passion in the world won't change them (but neither will theirs change me…). No matter how much students fight, The Vagina Monologues will not be sanctioned and a Comparative Religions (i.e. not exclusively Catholic) course will not be accepted as a core theology class. Period.

Like any school, there are some very good professors and some very bad ones. If you know who to take and who to avoid it can make all the difference. The really good ones are among the nicest, smartest, and most helpful people I know. The bad ones are exactly the opposite.
Probably in no small part because I do not share their background, I am not particularly fond of the student body as a whole. It's not so much that they're closeminded; it's more that they just don't think about much if they don't have to. There are some great people here. You have to find them. Join clubs. I have one major club that I'm in, and if it weren't for that group and the friends I'd made through it, I would have transferred long ago.

The academics are decent. I don't think it's possible to fully appreciate the DWC program until you're in a situation with people who didn't go to PC and they've never heard of some of the stuff that you now consider general knowledge. At least in the English department, there's not a whole lot of emphasis on creativity. As long as you can regurgitate information, you're golden. Students generally don't answer questions in class, so if you do you either look and feel like a genius or a suck-up.
The dorms aren't the nicest but they are inhabitable for the most part. The food isn't great but there are enough choices in Ray that you can usually find something to eat.

Lest you think that I am down on the college experience in general, I just returned from an amazing semester abroad where I was with a wonderfully diverse group of students (and I don't mean ethnically—they were all white, as Providence College is—but the thirteen students in one of my classes abroad had more diverse backgrounds and opinions than the 4,000 at PC) and professors who truly cared about their students and whose lectures I could believe because I did not have to question whether they were overemphasizing (intentionally or not) the role of Catholicism in the literature we were studying. Partying and drinking, while absolutely part of the social life, were not so intimately woven into the social experience that you felt as though there was nothing else to do if you did not drink. So I actually DO have something to compare PC to, and can authoritatively say that Providence does not measure up. I understand that study abroad is always different and more exciting than regular college, but I was beginning to think that the college years just couldn't match up with what I thought they would be. Turns out I was wrong. It is Providence College that does not match up.

I urge you to think long and hard before coming here. At the end of my freshman year I was seriously considering transferring and talked to some upper classmen about it. I expected them to say "Don't go, it gets so much better after the first year." Instead, more often than not, I was met with a knowing nod and an admission that they, too, had almost transferred and did not necessarily think they'd made the right decision in staying. Sadly I will now give the same response if consulted by an underclassman. The DWC credits are very difficult to transfer, so if you are thinking about getting out, do it sooner rather than later. Don't stick it out thinking it'll get better, because it won't much. The only thing that'll change is that you'll meet more people who'll be harder to say goodbye to if you do decide that you should leave. I did not act on my gut instinct to get out that first started gnawing at me at orientation, and now (after a year abroad) I am dreading my final year in Providence, hoping against hope that it will somehow be more bearable than the first two. Read over the reviews on this site. They're very telling. If the positive ones match up with what you're looking for in a college—drinking, pretty girls, people who are generally alike—then that's a pretty good indication that you're the type of person who'd like it here. There's nothing wrong with that. If that's what you want, then that's what you'll get. But if you're looking for a little more out of college than an easy degree crammed in between memorable parties (can you call them memorable if you can't remember them because you were so drunk?), I encourage you to look elsewhere.

 
Responses
questionI am a current student at PC, a second-semester freshman to be precise, and agree with you completely as far as the comments about overwhelming amounts of alcohol, lack of priorities among students, etc. Initially, and even now to an extent (though less so), I deceived myself with the over-optimistic impression that it'd get better, that transferring was just being rash with the college adjustment process, though I truly do not believe that it is my "adjustment" so much as the PC environment.. but if you don't mind my asking, how did you end up dealing?
responseHey there, I have no idea how long ago this question was asked, but in case you're still at PC, this is how I dealt: after spending my junior year abroad, I came back for senior with the express intent of burying myself in work to the point where I didn't really have time to think about much else, and only coming up for air when it was finally time to graduate. Pretty maladaptive, I know :-( Senior year I lived off campus, which helped a lot, because I felt like I could "get away," and I also happened to make a couple of good friends and form close relationships with a couple of faculty members (with whom I'm still in contact 4 years later). Four years out, I think my blood pressure still spikes when I think about my PC experience. I'm in grad school now and I like it so much better, but I was terrified all through the application process that I would make a bad decision again and end up at a repeat of PC. I wish I had transferred, but that would have been at the expense of my time abroad and the relationships I formed senior year, which I can't wish away. Even with the perspective of having been in the "adult world" for four years before returning to grad school, I still think that my college experience was generally pretty bad, and definitely left lasting scars.
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