Let me start off my saying that Providence College somehow manages to attract/select some of the best and most genuinely friendly and sociable people each year. For this and many other reasons PC was easily the best 4 years of my life. People who knock it are usually a) students/alums who wanted to go to BC/Notre Dame/a more nationally known private school but didn't get in or couldn't afford it or b) alums/students who realized too late in the game that they would have preferred a more liberal university approach rather than a more conservative one. Spoiler alert: Providence is a Catholic school founded in the Dominican tradition. You will have to take the Development of Western Civilization as one of your core requirements to graduate (a program that I personally found academically rewarding). Regardless of what you believe is the best approach to a university education, the bottom line is that when YOU decide to attend a more traditional Catholic school, you can't then complain all day that the focus of certain core requirements is Judeo-Christian/Western Civ centered. I personally believe that this sense of tradition, morals, and values is an amazing part of PC. It not only fostered my academic growth, but also contributed to a very potent sense of community. PC is a fairly small school with about 1,000 students in each grade. It wouldn't hurt if it were a little bit bigger, but I wouldn't trade the sense of community at PC for anything. You can't walk to class without seeing a few familiar faces and waving to a few friends. Class sizes are generally small which allows you to get to know your professors and classmates and allows for good class discussion. There are tons of activities to get involved in. While you have to interview or "try out" to become a part of the bigger student-run organizations and performance-based clubs (i.e. a capella), there really is something for everyone. It's hard to find a PC student who hasn't been involved in some type of organization or service activity at some point in their college career. The campus itself is pretty but not beautiful, although it's always improving. Definitely exudes a real college-campus feel. While PC may be similar to schools such as Fairfield and Holy Cross, the fact that PC is actually right next to a city definitely gives it one-up socially. The PC shuttle can take you to downtown Providence or East Providence, which is right by Brown University. If you ever get bored on campus, which isn't very often, exploring Providence is a great option. It may be a smaller city but it's accessible and has basically everything you need in terms of restaurants/shopping/bars/coffee shops. The fact that we have a decent basketball team in the Big East also provides for fun "Friar Fanatic" school spirit, although it's no secret that we're not as die hard as Duke fans or anything like that. It would be cool if we were that good, maybe someday. In terms of the students themselves, many go by the mantra "work hard, play hard" or "work hard, play harder" depending on who you ask. PC students are very social and like to go out at the nearby bars, nearby upperclassmen houses, or in the city of Providence itself. There are a lot of fun social traditions that keep things exciting on and off campus. Basically, the people are incredible, fun, and friendly, and by your senior year you have tons of lifelong friends. Yes, it's unfortunate that the tuition has gone up, but unfortunately that seems to be the asking price so to speak of all the private schools in that category. You can't knock PC for raising the price to its competitors. I just hope that the student demographic (genuine, generally intelligent and down to earth) doesn't change because of the price increase. Overall, great school. read more
