<p>How is providence. Some have said that its like Yale and New Havan. They say its a wannabe large city that only really hurts the school by having nothing thats attractive. Or is Providence like a diverse and ecclectic mid city with a unique vibe thing. Is the south side of Providence that bad, or is it only becuase there is a large concentration of dominicans and blacks and thus precieved worse? Compared to New Havan, is it any better. Is broad street the only really urban area. Is there a night life or exciting things to see and do on the weekends. Are there like coffee shops and pizzarias and barnes an nobles and other collegeiate serving stores, and i dont mean a starbucks one block from campus. For some reason I have never in my life heard of brown emphasizing its location, even Yale praises and often markets its location in New Havan and the city. Other ivies like Harvard have great physical situations. Id say that aside from cornell and dartmouth, Brown keeps kinda of a hush on its location more so than expected.</p>
<p>Its WAY better than New Haven. There is a world of difference. There is no New Haven without Yale, but Brown is only a part of Providence. Its a college town, a renaissance city, a great place to live, and near to a ton of other great places (Boston, Newport, Nantucket, Mystic Seaport) Read independant reports on the two cities. There was an article earlier that I posted from the Boston Globe about Providence.</p>
<p>New Haven and Providence were both very industrial towns. However, If I may quote the Boston Globe:</p>
<p>Providence also made good decisions. For example, it resisted the urban renewal projects of the 1960s and '70s and saved its stately downtown buildings and historic streetscape. Later, it undertook an ambitious project, creatively financed with federal highway funds, to restore the city's paved-over rivers, creating a downtown riverfront park.</p>
<p>These efforts ultimately positioned Providence to prosper as young professionals, empty-nesters, and others headed back to cities. Not only have developers such as Chace invested in transforming downtown, so have colleges and universities, such as Brown, Johnson & Wales, and the Rhode Island School of Design. RISD, for example, has bought at least three buildings and invested some $70 million to convert them to academic centers and housing, putting hundreds of students downtown.</p>
<p>Since 1990, Providence has grown 10%</p>
<p>Providence does have a good deal to offer to the college-aged. Perhaps not compared to Boston or New York. But, by most metrics it does.</p>
<p>I would highly recommend visiting if you have the opportunity.</p>
<p>providence is frequently brought up as the quintessential example of what urban renewal is all about</p>
<p>also check out
<a href="http://www.providenceri.com/ArtCultureTourism/%5B/url%5D">http://www.providenceri.com/ArtCultureTourism/</a></p>
<p>The area around Brown is VERY nice and has tons of great restaurants and shops. And the city itself seems good, too, although I only know the area right around Brown (I will be a first-year student in the fall and have been to Providence a few times).</p>
<p>Providence is nothing special. I've lived there for a while, and the "renaissance" thing is mostly a marketing ploy. The city remains very depressed, poor, and crime-ridden (highest murder rate in New England) and the crime problems definitely extend to the Brown campus. Child poverty rates are very high. </p>
<p>There are better college towns in the Northeast: Boston (which has been cleaned up and is much safer than it used to be), Northampton, New Haven (a major turnaround for the positive and is unrecognizable from what it was a few years ago), Amherst, Ithaca, and Montreal are some of the best.</p>
<p>Having been to Ithaca, I can markedly say that Ithaca has nothing on Providence.</p>
<p>Providence, is, as MTM said, far less dependent on Brown than New Haven on Yale. It's a pretty nice city, but quite small, with a large enough population to make sure there are enough things to do and enough resources in the area. Brown, being on top of college hill, has it's own local community as well, not so different than the small college town, one-street-middle-of-nowhere feel. A nice mix. Basically, it's markedly suburban-like with some of the resources of a larger city.</p>
<p>Plus, Boston is a $6 commuter rail and 40mins trip away.</p>
<p>Oh jesus posterx, that is such garbage. AMHERST?! NEW HAVEN?! I think that Yale and Amherst are both great schools but they are not in cities that are comparable to Providence. Anyone else reading this board should question someone's credibility when they are so extreme and so out of sync with what everyone else is saying. Every newspaper article you read on Providence these days has nice things to say about the city and the renaissance is real, there are several books on it. Its sad to troll a college board, please go elsewhere.</p>
<p>Amherst and New Haven are absolutely better college towns than Providence. My opinion is based on living in and visiting all three places extensively. And I'm not the only one who has this opinion. It's fine if you have a different preference, but you have no right to claim it's the only valid one out there. </p>
<p>Also, Providence's "renaissance" mantra is a marketing ploy and has very little to do with reality. There are many more new condos, luxury apartments, four-star restaurants, etc., being built in Boston, New Haven or New York than in Providence.</p>
<p>Ok, well I suppose there is no way to proove that you're a troll, so instead I'll just suggest to everyone who reads these boards to look at a bunch of different people's opinions on the various cities and make up their minds from the general consensus, and not just based on one disgruntled nut (who fails to back up radical, extreme statements with, well, anything.) Negativity on these boards, rather than positive boosting, is a usual sign of a troll or someone with an agenda. And I'm sure Byerly would LOVE to talk about New Haven with you, you'll find him on the Harvard board...</p>
<p>Amherst is a nice but SMALL town. You really can't compare it to Providence. Providence is a city; Amherst is a town. While I have not lived in New Haven or Providence, my visits to both would indicate that Providence is nicer. Plus, Brown is on a hill that is a community of its own,and it is a bit removed from the city itself. That, I think, is nice. Yale, on the other hand, is right in the middle of New Haven.</p>
<p>I've never been to Providence, but here's my honest opinion of Amherst and New Haven:</p>
<p>Amherst is tiny. It's a little row of run-down, run-of-the-mill shops and fast food places. I didn't explore the greater area, but what we drove through was much of the same. You'd rely on the five-college consortium for a social life (which people tell me is quite adequate).</p>
<p>The part of New Haven right around Yale is a slum. I'm told that if you go out further, you reach the real city, which is tolerable and can be kind of fun in a middling sort of way. But the area right there isn't too pretty. The green is nothing compared to Boston's, and the shops are 'eh.' And I couldn't afford anything in the good section. From pictures, Providence at least looks much better.</p>
<p>The part of New Haven right around Yale has houses that sell for millions of dollars, and hundreds of historic buildings that have been renovated into expensive luxury apartments. There are also hundreds of restaurants and shops. Hardly the definition of a "slum". The fact that Yale is "right in the middle" of New Haven (and the nice area at that) is a huge plus in most people's opinion, because it gives people who live there the option of going out to restaurants at 3am in the morning, etc., and for students it also makes everything very convenient. Brown is up on a hill, so very isolated from the city, and the downtown area of Providence is dead because it doesn't have the same kind of population at its center that cities like Boston, New Haven and New York do.</p>
<p>Amherst is one of the centers for the five college area, which is a very fun college town in every way. New Haven and Amherst both have tens of thousands of college students living in the area.</p>
<p>I've been to New Haven, not enough to call it a slum, I'm not sure what I'd call it, but I would NOT say that there are hundreds of restaurants and shops right around Yale. I mean, thats just delusional. Yale has about 7,000 undergrads living in the area, plus another couple thousand grad students. Amherst has way more living around, I grant you. But so does Providence - Brown, RISD, Bryant, Roger Williams, Providence College, Johnson and Wales, and then URI right nearby. And now I promise to listen to modestmelody and ignore trolling.</p>
<p>As I said, I didn't go out into actual New Haven. I'm talking about the area right around Yale, like when you step off campus and run into scary-looking people saying "Please, I promise I'll buy food with it." Maybe it was because it was summer, and none of the students were there, but it was dirty and put me on my guard. I've no doubt there are nice areas where I didn't go. I'm an advocate of Yale, btw, I'm applying SCEA. I'm just writing what I saw on my day-trip.</p>
<p>I forgot to mention that people at Yale did not say anything negative about the urban opportunities, because New York and Boston are relatively short train rides away. That's where people go for concerts, plays, and a legitimate "night out." And I second Amherst...it's number two on my list. I just wouldn't rely on the surrounding town for entertainment.</p>
<p>MTM, Southern Connecticut State University is the largest college in New Haven, and has over 10,000 undergraduates. Yale has over 5,000. And there are many other colleges and universities within a short drive. So how do you get your figure of 7,000?</p>
<p>Also, if you go to infonewhaven.com, it's pretty clear that there are hundreds of restaurants and stores within a few blocks of the Yale campus. Just in terms of nightlife, are about 50 bars and nightclubs alone, much more than in the area around Brown or even Harvard. Anyone who knows the area knows this to be the case.</p>
<p>Also, I'm not trolling and don't know where you got that idea. I'm posting on a variety of subjects that I'm familiar with.</p>
<p>I've seen nothing but negative posts on the board about Brown or the area around it, including one on how you won't waste your money on Brown. Then don't waste your time posting negatively on the board. SInce you, your sister, and apparently your family was so turned off by the adcom I find it hard to believe you took the time to objectively look at Providence and the school.</p>
<p>When you have something good to say, nearly always about another school or area, it seems to be at least somewhat exaggerated. I've been to New Haven, been to that area. It's fairly obvious that Yale does not sit in the nicest part of the city. New Haven is very nice in places, but I would not say that the surrounding area is the nicest of places, certainly where the "crime carries through" as it does apparently at Brown, you were so quick to say it.</p>
<p>As for the hill, let's be objective. Yes, Brown and the campus and its surrounding areas are very suburban in feel. Down the hill is more of an urban center. The walk is as little as 5 mins down and as much as 15 if you're further from it than others. On the way up, it's quite a difficult and steep trek, I suggest taking the trolley/bus thingy for about a buck fifty. Same time, but much easier to move. Some may feel that the hill separates them from urban life, either to the positive or negative. Myself, I feel like that separation is a positive, giving my access to a city while not having to live directly in one.</p>
<p>Providence, and Brown, is known for having somewhat higher crime rates than one may find other places. However, there are quite a few police forces in the area-- state, city, and campus, and if one adheres to some simple no-brainer rules, like not walking alone late at night on unlit roads, you're not likely to have any issues.</p>
<p>Of course, the best way to know about a place is to take a trip there. My parents were ok with the area, but not as impressed as other schools I went to. They felt Thayer could attract too much "riff raff" and could potentially be a more dangerous area late at night. This was in the summer without students swarming the area. In April, my dad felt far more comfortable with it and admitted that when the students are in town it was lively, fun, and safe. They also didn't like some of the back streets of the city as you walk towards college hill from say, Providence place. Admittedly, there are some bad streets in need of a bit of a clean up, but again, it wasnt a matter of being unsafe, and there was plenty to do "on the beaten path" that was clearly safe and fun.</p>
<p>I wouldn't say that Brown is so hush on Providence. The mayor of Providence spoke to us for a good fifteen minutes about the city at ADOCH, and as a graduate himself, discussed how the cooperation between Brown and Providence was a great asset and discussed many things that Providence has to offer. Quite often when reading papers from the UGAdmissions, I came across descriptions of College Hill and Thayer, with downtown Providence near by. It takes up the typical page or two in their information packet.</p>
<p>I've been to Amherst a few times and it's ... um ... rural to say the least.</p>
<p>I certainly wouldn't call Amherst "run down." </p>
<p>When I visited Yale in the summer (I visited again in the fall but didn't go into New Haven) and went to the main green in New Haven, there were a lot of homeless people asking for money. These people certainly didn't make me feel unsafe or anything, but my point is that anyone who calls the area right around Yale "high class" or something is, as far as I'm concerned, being misleading. </p>
<p>And while Brown is on a hill away from the main city, there are TONS of nice restaurants and stores on the hill.</p>
<p>If you took a poll of Yale undergrads, I'm sure they would like to move their college from New Haven to the East Side of Providence. Your red herrings comparing a city of 150,000 [Providence] to the megacities of New York and Boston is simply an unreasonable comparison. Providence has its' problems and Brown hasn't been angelic historically. But, I think it is a cordial relationship and certainly a nicer atmosphere and far less of an issue than at New Haven. I dont know the status of this, but it came up just googling Yale and Crime Stats</p>