Providence College

Providence College was definitely not my first choice for school, but upon being waitlisted at a larger, more prestigious and well-known university in Boston, it was pretty much my best choice from there. I entered with an open mind and high hopes, but ended up coming home the first weekend.

Social Life:

Let me just explain the school to you from the viewpoint of a non-drinker: DON'T COME HERE IF YOU DO NOT PLAN ON GETTING COMPLETELY SMASHED ON THE WEEKENDS. I am a very non-judgmental person, and yet, I felt very, very judged and scrutinized for NOT choosing to drink alcohol. Not only that, but i couldn't find ANYBODY else who didn't drink, or anything else to do that didn't involve alcohol. Every Thursday-Sunday, 90% of the student body drags themselves to one of the several trashy clubs/bars on the outskirts of the school, which are located in the ghetto and require a fake ID to get in, which isn't such a big deal until you're stumbling home drunk past the projects at 2 AM. Then the administration shoots out emails the next day reporting PC students who were "mugged" or "jumped" that weekend…hmmm. Not too bright. And the BEST part of all of this is that the school absolutely encourages this behavior by providing shuttles to and from "CVS" which is coincidentally located across from these "bars,"…if you can even call them that. BUT if you need a ride to CVS during the week for a new printer cartridge to print out your 10 page research paper? Forget it.

Food:

The food absolutely blows. I had better meals at my public high school, and trust me…that's not sayin' much. Although I am not myself a vegetarian, those who are should rethink their choice to attend PC b/c the vegetarian line is pathetic. Beans, some sort of sliced pepper/onion slop that supposed to pass as the "vegetable," and pasta…EVERY. NIGHT. Oh and you can only swipe in 3 times per day, and the cafeteria closes at 8 PM every night; 6 PM on Fridays. So bring lots of food with you if you plan on studying late.

Library:

During finals, I frequently could not find a free desk/chair, and had to study in my room with my ipod blasting to drone out the noise in the hallways. The library is VERY small, and the furniture has graffiti up the wazoo, so it's extremely distracting when you're trying to type a paper/read. Overall, it sucks and is a very depressing place to spend your time.

Academics:

Run very far away from Civ. It meets everyday so there's no escaping it, and you will want to jump out of your dorm window by week 2. They assign an unbelievable amount of reading so that you can never actually catch up if you actually want to sleep/see daylight, so don't plan on ever feeling completely "on top of things" when it comes to that POS class. For the amount of work and time you must devote to this requirement, the school does not get enough recognition for it from other people.

Overall, I honestly can say that I tried to like the place for TWO solid years, but it just never happened. Hence, I transferred out after my sophomore year and am glad to start completely over because I know it can only get better.

Also, one major issue I found was that NOBODY had heard of Providence College when I brought it up in conversation, and for the amount of time and effort I put into that Civ class, I felt shafted. Civ is a ridiculous and unnecessary 2 year hellhole, and at the end, you will not receive the credit you deserve for suffering through. Go to a more well-known, public university if you can't get into a better one where people will actually recognize the name. Nothing is more annoying than when you bust your behind earning your degree, and then no one has ever heard of your school.

Good luck to all those there; I can name at least 20 people who I knew who transferred. My advice: make sure you take a tour and stay over before you commit to PC, it's a real depressing place once you're stuck here.