The best thing about PC is the sense of community! It may come from having a lot of preppy suburban kids from New England. It may also be that every single student is a leader. A PC student is the kind of kid who was a president of a club, a captain of a team, and a national honor society scholar. Students are deeply about their community on campus: this year they organized protests for fair wages for our cleaning service and free concerts and festivals in the Spring! We may also be bonded from surviving two years of the Development of Western Civilization program together.
While DWC may seem like a lot of work for a general education course (5 days a week for 2 years of Philosophy, Theology, History, and Literature), I really agree with what my teacher said: "After two years of DWC you will really see your world come together." Even after one year I find myself making connections from class to other classes and the real world. After graduating from PC you will be able to have an intellectual conversation on any topic!
One thing I would change about PC is the addition of Greek Life. Even though it is against our school's mission, it would be a nice change from the bar scene. While other students pay $5 a night for admission to a party, a PC student may spend up to ten times that for drinks at and taxis to a bar. There are some big house parties, but you can't count on them for every weekend.
PC is just right in size. You become familiar with your professors- if you don't come to class, you better email them or have a good excuse! Even for the biggest class (about 50 people) in DWC, students swipe their ID card at the door to take attendance electronically. Still- beware. If you do embarrass yourself on the weekend, a LOT of people are going to know by Monday! It may seem that you start to see one-night-stands EVERYWHERE you go.
When I tell people that I go to PC, I always get positive results. It's either "That's a great school," or "That's a great school; my brother went there!"
Providence is definitely a college town with Brown, JWU, RWU, and RIC being nearby. PC kids usually only associate with Brown students and turn up their noses at the others. We are not right IN the city and have a lot of good bars right around campus. The city is a 5-minute bus ride (which we ride for free with our IDs) and is frequented often for the mall, statehouse, or various clubs (although these are not nearly as popular as bars). When the weather is nice, we hang out on Thayer St on the Brown Campus. There are lots of boutiques and cafes there.
PCs administration is usually very helpful, but they expect you to take the initiative. Creating your own major or finding an on-campus job is mostly up to the amount of work you do.
One experience I will ALWAYS remember is the Civ Scream the night before the DWC final exam. At midnight, the sophomores go out on to the quad to mud wrestle, streak, throw water balloons and other things. Everyone screams at midnight to release the stress of finishing two grueling years of DWC. All the classes participate or watch as a much-welcomed study break. Campus security sympathetically allows the shenanigans for a certain amount of time before they shut it down. It seems like something you'd only see in college movies, but it really happens!