Salve Regina University

Date: Mar 01 2010
Major: History/Histories (art history/etc.) (This Major's Salary over time)
I'm a member of the CHP (Cultural and Historic Preservation) department, and I personally think it's the only major at Salve Regina that is worth it (except for maybe nursing, but even then there are better nursing schools). The CHP department naturally draws a quirkily fun set of people who tend to be much more intelligent than any other group on campus—I agree with other reviewers here that Salve seems to turn almost no one away, and is academically unchallenging enough that students who really have absolutely no business in college can manage to keep on until about sophomore year. And I can easily see how Newport would be mind-numbingly boring to someone who wasn't intensely interested in old buildings, history, etc. Student tours are usually run in the nicer weather, and people don't realize that we have a long, sleeting, off-season (many of the fun spots close for several months after tourist season). Even when tourist season is in full-swing, the economy is still based on historic property tours more than anything else, and the crowds tend to be upper-class American families or tour groups of older foreign people—not exactly the party atmosphere. The campus seems to be 99% rich white students, and the other 1% is mostly rich Asians who barely speak English (there is very little financial aid to attract international students). There are few, generally poorly-organized clubs and predicatble student activities. So while I personally enjoy myself and love my department…I honestly just can't imagine why anyone else would want to come here. If I had the chance to do it all again…I would have tried harder to get into Brown, or at least something more diverse and academically rigorous like BU. Think twice about coming to Salve unless you're extremely interested in the 18th century merchant industry or Gilded Age upholstry.