Johnson & Wales University - Providence

Date: Jun 17 2011
Major: Other (This Major's Salary over time)
Johnson & Wales.. There's so much to say about this school. I'll start off by saying I'm an SEE major and a Environmental Sustainability Minor.. What's that? you didn't know we had minors? Yeah neither does the majority of the staff which is incredibly annoying when trying to satisfy the requirements.. It's 1 of only 2 minors the entire Providence campus offers, I appreciate the fact that they offer this, but it's hard to accomplish.

As for SEE, I like my curriculum. Yeah, the pre-req's and most hosp classes are wicked annoying, but the actual SEE classes really help me learn about the business I want to get in to. And for the people who say they aren't challenged, that is honestly their own fault. The classes could be really easy if you don't put anything into them. It is easy to just slide by, but what I appreciate about my education is that every class I take i can tweak to my advantage and end up learning what I want to learn. For instance, I am a huge advocate for sustainability and our environment and I also want to work in live music. Whenever I have a research paper to do or a project, I usually get to pick the topic or am given a broad expectation of the project and I can choose ecotourism or the environmental impact of concerts to do. I typically get decent grades on these too because I am genuinely interested and the professors appreciate my creativity. What I'm trying to say is, you can say your not challenged and complain about all of that, or you can find ways to challenge yourself and enjoy the education that your paying an abundance of money for.

As for on-campus life, its typically unsatisfactory, but again - opportunities present themselves to you to change it. Greek life is annoying, and the 100 clubs they advertise aren't all active. The majority of students don't go to the campus events offered to them (even though they pay for them in their tuition) so you don't really ever feel that cool campus bond at most universities. But I can't lie and say that I don't get good opportunities to further myself and my resume, I find them all myself and use the university to my benefit.

Living on campus SUCKS, and eating here does too. Off-campus housing is the way to go. That's mostly because of the student body. Let's just say the typical Providence JWU student is not the highest caliber. Most don't seem to show any signs of caring about their futures and professional lives.. their social lives are usually clubbing and getting obnoxiously drunk - not even the good kind of drunk, the get sent to the hospital kind. Morals? Ethics? Values? what are those? They are not prominent amongst our students. I do understand that we are young college students, and partying is obviously going to happen, but the students here are mainly focused on these things rather than the important things that will better themselves as people.

If you do end up coming here, and I don't suggest you do, then definitely try to see the Providence community as much as you can. The city is filled with diversity and culture and really awesome people, and getting off campus is so beneficial. Many students rarely even leave campus.. for some it is like living in a little JWU bubble. I would say that if you do end up venturing off into the city a little, don't go parading around that your from JWU. We aren't typically respected, and most people are surprised that someone like myself goes here. I once was in a bank and a man started talking to me and when it was brought up that I went to JWU he laughed and said

ha, that place is the joke of providence

Hearing things like that is pretty discouraging.

To wrap things up, if I could do things over again I would not choose JWU as the college for me and I wouldn't recommend this place to anyone but culinary students. I would transfer out, but I've already been here for a full year and none of my credits will transfer out - what a waste of money! For the people that are here and regret and hate it, I would say stop being pessimistic and negative and take ahold of your own life. If your stuck here like me you should make the best of it and tweak you experience to suit your needs. We could all bitch and moan and then try to run away from what we do not like, but instead I think people should take responsibility for their own happiness and be the change they wish to see at this campus - that's the only way I can personally stay sane here.

I am thinking about transferring to Denver too.. I think it might attract a different type of student base and would be completely different from RI.. I'm not sure though, based on the reviews on here it seems its just the same no matter what campus your at.