<p>Does anyone have any information (or even heard) of this University? It happens to have many of the majors my daughter is considering, looks to be in a idyllic location (on the water in Bristol, Rhode Island, near Newport, Providence, and 60 min. from Boston), is a nice size (approx. 4500 undergraduates). The "stats" are in the low/medium range, and the website is not very informative about merit vs. need based aid. (It outlines merit scholarships, but gives no amounts, or typical requirements or student stats).</p>
<p>It might be helpful to know what majors your daughter is considering. In my limited experience, our office in Cambridge, MA has two terrific architects/designers who graduated from Roger Williams. At least in our little corner of the world, we regard Roger Williams very highly.</p>
<p>RW is a lovely school with a lot of redeeming qualities, including location.</p>
<p>However, I wouldn't describe the kids who go there as shining academic stars..one of my daughter's elementary teachers was a RW grad, and I cringed almost every week at the spelling and grammatical errors in her classroom news report. She even spoke with grammatical errors ("please give that to Joe and I"....ugh).</p>
<p>But for the right kid (and preferably not one who would like to teach my child), I think it is a gem of a school.</p>
<p>I know of two kids who transferred after one semester because of the drinking scene.</p>
<p>jg: architecture, visual (graphic) design, or potentially business. (although she has also mentioned psychology, international business, and a few others). Not too many schools offer them all. Wash U. is one, but it is SO selective. So too, CMU. Syracuse is another...but I was disheartened to discover that you must apply to one of their schools only (ie architecture), and are not allowed to even take courses in visual design as a non-major. You would need to apply and be accepted to that school separately. UCincinnati is another, but she's not interested. </p>
<p>Typically you do not have time in your schedule to test other majors if you are in an architecture program. However, we are looking for medium sized schools that offer a variety of programs of interest, so should she decide one path is not for her, she can switch to another without having to transfer schools. </p>
<p>I was impressed with their architecture program (at least on the website).
Ultimately I think she would love to find employment in the East (Boston, NYC, etc.), so having a good reputation in that area is a good thing!</p>
<p>I would have liked to see slightly higher stats. for the student body -- just not as high as for some of the schools mentioned earlier. She wants a "serious" yet fun school (not a "party school"), and merit aid will be important (for the parents).</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Bristol is a <em>lovely</em> town, full of New England charm. However, the drinking scene that fafnir605 mentioned doesn't surprise me. There isn't much to do in the area (outside of Providence which has it's own cultural offerings), and regular drug and alcohol use is probably the norm with many students. However, if a student doesn't bore easily with small, provincial towns, and is motivated/has the transportation to travel to Providence/Boston/NYC, it could be a great location.</p>
<p>The school does have a strong undergraduate architecture program.</p>
<p>This school is a very popular option for students from our strong public hs who are in the B range. In DS' class, 8 students applied. All accepted, 4 matriculated. GPA range (uw) 83-91. SAT (old) in the 960-1100 range. One <em>way</em> lower than that, but he was the athlete in the group, I believe (the posted stats are anonymous, of course).</p>
<p>All the kids seem to like it. As one dad put it, his kid enjoyed it "too much." Did not perform academically and so parents are not footing the bill for next year. But this happens at virtually every school, so I would not put too much weight on concerns that kids drink and party. Aren't Williams and Amherst two of the heaviest drinking schools, after all?</p>
<p>I don't have first-hand knowledge, but could ask specific qx of parents I know if you have them. The two kids I know personally, though, would not be merit $$ candidates. And one would not be a need aid candidate, either.</p>
<p>To OP; you might want to take a look at Simmons College's Department of Art & Music, which does have classes in arch. - I don't know about a major in architecture but it also has fine arts & interior design classes. The undergrad school is just under 2,000 women. The graduate schools total 2,800 men & women. It is in Boston, in a great location, near the Museum of Fine Arts, near Northeastern (another school to look at for arch.), and a very short bus ride from Copley Square.</p>
<p>It is a beautiful looking school. I know someone who applied. He was B+ student in HS with around a 1250 sat score. This was a safety school for him, and they offered 10,000 in merit aid (he graduated hs in 2005). He chose to matriculate elsewhere.</p>
<p>Cousin went there-he was a B student from a Long Island high school. Loved the school for its small setting and he was a huge sailor so enjoyed the sailing opportunities. Has since been offered a very good job with Fidelity in Boston and is making over $200,000-I think he was a Business/economics major.</p>
<p>Audi, did RWU help him get his job? I ask b/c I know the mother of a recent grad, and she did not get any help from RWU with employment. I know that she wanted to get a job in NJ, and that may have something to do with them not being able to assist with job contacts. She was able to find employment through the help of her father.</p>
<p>Honestly, I am not sure. He wanted to settle in Boston area so he sent resumes to several companies. I don't know if Fidelity recruited on campus or not. I just know that he is very happy now and doing very well. Just bought a new house and a new boat and he told me that he enjoyed his college experience.</p>
<p>I started out wanting to major in architecture and I went to one of those college fairs where a bunch of schools have their booths set up and whatnot...my dad and I ended up talking with the Roger Williams representative for like half an hour, but in the end I decided not to consider it because I wanted something in a more urban location. </p>
<p>I actually forget what kind of program the school had, but 5-year BArch programs are not really something you really want to go into if you're still unsure about architecture, because it's going to be all architecture all the time with no opportunity to do anything else. If she wants to kind of 'explore', so to speak, there are a lot of schools that'll offer a generic architecture degree (not a B.Arch), some of the other programs that she's interested in, and will be a lot more flexible with students switching back and forth. That way in 4 years if she's still sure she wants to do it, she can go into a 2-year M.Arch program. And if she decides otherwise, then there was no hassle in having to switch.</p>
<p>Audi, Thanks.</p>
<p>As mentioned, this is a popular school for students from our strong public high school. A kind parent, friend of mine who does not frequent these boards, answered a number of questions re RWU that may help those wishing to learn more about the school:</p>
<ol>
<li>How is Roger Williams regarded in the area: I would say that RWU is thought of as a decent school. I would put it on par with UVM, UNH, U CONN, etc. It is not a party school at all. I would say it is a nice school, with a decent reputation, in a quaint town, not a party school at all.. Not a lot of drugs but definitely drinking.. Also, very supportive of learning issues..school for B students. They have a high acceptance rate. I think in the high 70's. </li>
</ol>
<p>They are known for their school of Architecture and that is one of their most respected programs. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>How is the service by University administration: I find the school's ability to reach out to parents and students quite high. They have a lot of kids doing work studies in the offices. Normally, I have been impressed with the thought and care they spend with orientation, finals, Parents Weekend, Accepted Student Day, etc. They did a great job with the transition. They are growing faster than they can build and put some kids in a forced triple last year but offered a credit if they would take the triple. </p></li>
<li><p>Location, defined campus, access to Providence/Boston?: They are about 25 minutes to Providence and there is a shuttle that takes them in and picks them up. It is free. They are 15 minutes to Newport which is lovely. They are less than an hour from Boston and you can take a train from Providence to Boston or take a bus. Usually there are kids with cars and they quickly do that instead of the shuttles. The facilities are great. the gym is very impressive. They just built a new dining hall. My daughter chose to live at Bayside.. Bayside is over 2 miles off campus and you have to go over a bridge to get there. I was not happy about this. I went to see it in the spring and I wanted to live there. It is literally a hotel. The rooms are large, have 2 double beds and their own bathrooms. They have their own dining hall, inside pool, gym, etc. Some of the dorms are great and some fair. It is done by lottery based on GPA and course credit. </p></li>
<li><p>Greek life: There is no Greek Life on campus or if there is, no one joins.</p></li>
<li><p>The town of Bristol: Bristol is gorgeous. The campus is on Narragansett Bay. Most of the dorms look at the water. Bristol is a small town, with not a lot happening. THere is a guard gate and virtually no crime on campus and probably little in Bristol. The kids have to do some community outreach so the town seems receptive to the students. It has just enough to keep you from going completely stir crazy . However, it is far from an action place. The action is in Newport, or Providence. There are concerts on campus and speakers, etc. </p></li>
<li><p>Student body - homogeneous? active? party? serious?: Well, I think it is a mix. I know it is not considered a party school and I have heard it is a bit conservative, but I would not label the school's population. I think it is just a good school for a B student. I think they do their best to serve their kids and treat them well. There are few minorities there. I would say the type of kid that would feel out of place would be the kid who was a "grunge", "goth", etc. I have not seen any blue hair, etc. This place seems more on the conservative side. Laura Bush spoke at graduation. My older daughter went to Brown and I would be surprised if Laura Bush would have spoken there . I am not saying that they are ultra conservative, but I do think they tend to be more conservative than a school like Brown, etc.</p></li>
<li><p>Geographic origin of students: I think most kids are from New England. I doubt anyone from the midwest would feel too out of place.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>A 5 year BArch program still requires a core curriculum. Calc/physics/english/social studies/computer science. Probably an art course, economics, and another humanities elective.
While the architecture studio work takes up a great deal of hours, you will still have plenty of readily transferrable credits if it doesn't work out.</p>
<p>Jmmon, although RW wasn't even on the radar for our senior d, your very thorough description has peaked our interest. Thank you.</p>
<p>I don't really know anything about the school, but I do know that the Salutatorian of my son's HS class choose to attend RW as an Architecture major. She was a NMSF and a very bright girl. She picked it over some bigger name schools (maybe for scholarships... I don't know). She just started, so I don't know how she likes it yet.</p>
<p>This college is definitely underrated! Great location in Rhode Island on the water, school of business, architecture, a law school on campus, etc. My nephew is enrolled in the business school and spent 2 months in Europe! It has been gaining in the rankings and I believe it made the top ten in one of the categories. Technology and food is mostly what my nephew brags about. By the way, my nephew graduated 2 years ago in the top of his high school class and chose RWU after being accepted by several other very good schools. Good luck with your search.</p>