I was accepted early action to both Providence College and Villanova University for business. To add, Providence College offered me admission to the honors program with a solid merit scholarship. I understand that Providence has a new business building and has been moving up in rankings, whereas, Villanova was ranked first by Bloomberg Businessweek. I was hoping someone could give me some insight as to where the value may lie as there is no data on what PC honors grads make as opposed to the school as a whole. Also, any info comparing the life on campus would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!
Something worth mentioning is I believe PC requires you to live on campus for 3 years whereas Villanova doesn’t (that’s why I ultimately wrote off PC as a transfer student).
Ranking #1 for Villanova is not accurate, which was why after much backlash, Bloomberg Businessweek decided to stop their rankings for the future. And you can see that it’s clearly not #1 according to several other rankings.
I’m not sure about the Providence College honors program, sorry.
Did you apply for FA and is cost a concern to you?
You can’t really just say “their ranking is inaccurate”. They explained their methodology thoroughly and you can even choose to do the rankings by different parameters. They simply choose to use different parameters than US News.
It’s hard for people to grasp that maybe Ivies aren’t overwhelmingly better than the others anymore. In any case, this isn’t a place for an argument about it, because that’s already happening on other threads, but it’s a bit of a misrepresentation to make such a strong statement.
@philbegas The ranking for Villanova as #1 (and Wharton not in the top 10) was out of wack – the problems with the methodology used in the ranking were so obvious that Bloomberg said that they will not longer do undergraduate b-school rankings. Villanova does have a very strong b-school, it is just not #1 in the nation.
https://■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/pulse/commentary-todays-bloomberg-businessweeks-business-ranking-byrne
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/inq-phillydeals/Does-Villanova-really-have-a-much-better-business-school-than-Wharton-.html
As to the OP’s question, first talk to your parents and consider how important the merit award is in terms of affording private college. If they are willing to pay for both options, I would revisit the schools and try to get some information from career placement or the b-school about student outcomes in terms of jobs and grad school.
I will/did not receive any need based aid. I’m really looking to see which option is a better value. Thanks.
^^I said merit award (not need based). The question is how meaningful is that to your family. Questions like… Will it allow you to graduate debt free v taking out debt for Villanova? Will it leave money for grad school down the road? Will it give you flexibility to study abroad and travel (if that is important to you)? etc. Or can your family comfortably manage the costs without the merit aid?
One more thing I’d do is find out exactly what being in the honors college at Providence will mean to your college experience. Honors colleges vary greatly from school to school in terms of what they offer.
And here is an article that discusses some specific flaws in the Bloomberg ranking. Keep in mind that I am a fan of Villanova. http://poetsandquantsforundergrads.com/2016/04/19/bw-ranking-garbage-garbage/
In 2014, my middle D applied to PC and Villanova and really liked both. If merit matters to you, Villanova offered her a lot less, 15K per year vs. 38K per year from PC. PC also has an added bonus of being close to the ocean and beaches. PC has a smaller, more closely knit feel, but Villanova is highly regarded and popular with students from my area.
Rankings are very subjective. You might it helpful to take a look at the business curriculum and electives in more detail to see if one school stands out for you, in terms of offerings that appeal to you more. PC is more of a LAC, and you may have more flexibility to double major or take non business electives which interest you.
@happy1 Going to PC would allow me to graduate almost debt free, whereas Nova would not. Thanks for the input!
@Jtbonner7 Villanova may have better rankings, but in the end rankings do not matter. Rankings won’t get you a job, connections will. PC has so many connections for business students it’s crazy. I am a freshman at PC and we get emails every week with companies offering entry level jobs and internships for PC students. If you haven’t visited PC yet, definitely do that because I was set on going to Holy Cross until I visited PC a few days before May 1st. There really is no place like Friartown!
I rarely see an apples-to-apples comparison when it comes to Villanova. I would fully expect more merit from Providence. Look at the average test scores and GPA of enrolled students at both schools. A 27 ACT is in the 75th percentile at PC.
Connections? Rest assured, the alumni network at PC and Nova are quite strong.
As for Bloomberg, that’s a horse that has been beaten to death on CC. No. 1? Who knows? But the school clearly does what it is intended to do – prepare grads well for the business world. For proof, look no further than Philadelphia, where VSB grads swim alongside those from Wharton every day.
Your question of “which is better value” really depends on how much aid you get. If the difference is relatively small, then I think 'Nova would take the cake but if it’s almost debt free vs almost full tuition I don’t think Nova is worth it if you have to take out loans to cover it.