PC: The Big Picture
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!
PC Academic Life
Every single one of your professors knows you and your name. Even in DWC you are assigned one of the four professors to meet with once a week in a smaller seminar. Participation is counted in your final grade, and teachers will call on you if you don't speak up. If you skip class, you are expected to email the teacher and makeup the missed work on your own. Many classes have attendance policies.
Students are studying 24/7. Even when kids go out- and they do very often- they get their work done before so they can really enjoy themselves.
Students are not competitive with anyone but themselves. Everyone is a high achiever and expects to do well regardless of how other students do.
The most unique class I've ever taken was a Religion & Magic anthropology class taught by a nun. The class studied Native American, Mexican, and Asian cultures and their beliefs. They class was interesting because it was not compared against the Christian religion or judged as right or wrong.
PC's academic requirements are pretty over-the-top. Although you take DWC for 2 years you have additional lit, philosophy, and theology requirements. It is possible to test out of lit , though. It may seem overwhelming but it is manageable with careful planning. Although you are told you do not need to declare your major until Junior year, that is really inadvisable. I declared a Psychology major at the end of Freshman year and was advised to take classes over the summer in order to catch up. The administration does help, a little, in providing example four-year-plans for certain majors. Undeclared advising can be pretty bad. I got a computer science teacher for mine when I was interested in anything BUT that. Declaring as soon as possible has an advantage in getting better guidance in choosing courses, and getting to register for classes in advance.
PC education is learning for it's own sake; the combination of faith & reason to find the truth. A friar told my class at orientation that they will challenge us to find reasons to back up our faith...and to develop faith in facts, not merely accept them.
PC's Student Body
PC's Student Body is not very diverse. I think that may draw many students there in the first place. If you are a white, athletic, suburban, preppy kid from New England, you will feel right at home! The whole campus is very health-conscious and students who smoke are sneered at regularly. The gym is packed 24/7 and students petitioned for better vegetarian options in the dining hall. Emo, straight-edge, or minority students would feel out of place at PC, but that doesn't mean they wouldn't find their own group of friends.
There are students who wear sweats or athletic wear to class (some guys wear PJ pants), but even then the girls' clothes match and they have on mascara. J. Crew is the brand of choice for girls, in addition to designer jeans, vera bradley, lily pullitzer, jack roger sandals, AF, AE, etc. Everyone has a longchamp bag, a northface rain coat, a black northflace or patagonia fleece, and uggs. All the guys wear Vineyard Vines during warm weather.
Different types of students do not normally interact. It's sad but true that overweight, unnattractive, and minority students have their own groups.
Students are definitely politcally aware and tend to be more conservative. Everyone has their own plan for what they'll do when they graduate. Most students plan on graduate school and expect to make as much- or more- than their parents.
PC Student Activities + Social Life
The most popular (and exclusive) clubs on campus are Board of Programmers and Friars Club. Since we don't have Greek life, our clubs are run by interviews and "who you know."
Athletic events are very popular. Nearly everyone has season basketball tickets and gets dressed up or paints their face for games. Red Sox games are played on big screens in the campus bar, McPhail's. Theater is definitely popular within it's own group.
The SAIL club emails everyone weekly with events for every day that week, so you will never be bored!
There is no dating scene at PC. People may meet at bars and hookup, but there are few relationships on campus. Most students in serious relationships are dating something at a different college that they knew in HS.
It's pretty hard to find something to do on weekend nights if you aren't drinking. There are lots of restaurants and things to do in the city, but you'll definitely be woken up at 2 or 3am when the rest of campus comes stumbling back to the dorms! Campus ministry is very popular on campus and the chapel basement is open 24/7 for students to hang out.
