Perception of Providence College at Brown

Colleges & Universities A-Z Brown University
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<p>My daughter will be a junior in hs in the fall. She is an intelligent girl with varying interests, not nearly decided on a career/course of study except possibly law after undergrad, has good grades,scores, is taking honors classes and AP’s etc. After reading about Brown I have a feeling that it could be a good fit for her. HOWEVER, we are caught in that in between zone financially where we probably won’t get ANY aid but are nowhere near wealthy enough to pay full freight for a bachelor’s degree. (Since she may want to go on to grad/professional school) I don’t want her to go into debt,etc. We live a frugal lifestyle and do not live in an appreciated real estate market AT ALL—so no high equity to draw off of ever or count on, and my husband and I are saving carefully for retirement and hope to retire sort of “early”, we have saved for college also, just not $200,000 per child! Anyway, I don’t want to get into a debate about whether or not it’s worth (or even possible) spending almost $200,000 on an undergrad degree. I’ve thought about that long and hard and from all angles.(and will continue to think that through)
What I really want to know is more about the schools that are down a bit on the ratings scales that give merit aid. I have read about those extensively also but don’t hear much about Providence College. She attends a Catholic HS even though she is not Catholic—so she is used to and OK with that aspect. I’m wondering if anyone has any knowledge/perceptions of PC students, the college itself, academics, honors program.etc etc. I’d like to hear the perceptions from Brown students or people associated with Brown since it’s in the same city.</p>

<p>We will be taking a trip during this school year to look at Northeastern, BU,(Harvard ?), Fordham, Villanova and maybe PC and Brown also. She will also look at Pitt and American. Not sure of others…maybe Loyola in MD and Loyola Chicago.</p>

<p>Thanks for any insight and help.</p>

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<p>My cousin is a rising senior at Providence College. She says one of the downsides is that it's lacking diversity.</p>

3

<p>PC is a great school and has plenty of very smart people based on my anecdotal evidence. Brown Medical School has an "early identification program" where they admit someone from PC every year. These students have been very high quality--the ones I know will make outstanding doctors.</p>

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<p>my (uninformed) perception is that it's a bit preppy and conservative. if that's yoru thing, great. Don't go to PC just because of its proximity to Brown.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the help so far! Claysoul, it actually would be the other way around....we had planned on looking at PC ....but since Brown is in the same city and sounds so incredible, we may look at that also. I just wondered what opinions and perceptions of it were. It's a difficult thing to know what to do. Do you have your child look at a school that would be great for them but you probably can't afford to send them there? I suppose you could have them apply since admission is always a long shot at a place like Brown for anyone, but I would have to let her know they almost definitely would not give any aid and we can't foot the total bill, so sometimes I think, "Why bother?"</p>

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<p>I really would not be convinced that Brown will not be providing aid. I think you should provide the opportunity to at least see Brown, consider it, maybe apply, and see what happens if your daughter gets in.</p>

<p>I think the Financial Aid packages are quite reasonable-- they'll never make paying for college easy, but they really have sucked every dime we can afford. No more than what we have, no less. That's been my Brown Financial Aid experience, but honestly, I think that's the point of Financial Aid.</p>