For students accepted to PC Early Action: Need-based financial aid packages will be sent out the second week of February.

For students who applied to PC Regular Decision: We will be sending you an update in late February to let you know if we are missing anything from your application.

For students who were deferred EA or applied Regular Decision: Decision letters will be released by April 1. More details on the mailing date as we move through the process.

Posted by Scott Seseske at 11:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

This is pretty cool... you can now take a video tour of Providence College on the higher education website YOUniversity.tv. Check it out!

Posted by Scott Seseske at 4:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I spend a lot of time on this blog talking about the application review process and how we as an admission staff really work to make the process as personal as possible. And that personalization is something that carries over to the PC experience once a student enrolls on our campus, both inside and outside of the classroom.

There are many factors to consider when choosing an institution to spend your next four years at, but I hope that academics will play a major role in your ultimate decision. And as we talk about academics at PC, we definitely need to talk about our faculty members. There are a number of stats that I can throw at you about our faculty (such as... over 90% have the terminal degree in their field) and class sizes (the average class at PC is 22 students and the student to faculty ratio is 12:1 - I couldn't help it... I like stats!), but I think one of the most important things for you to know about our professors is that they are extremely accessible to their students. Obviously, having small classes helps with that - it's a lot easier for professors to learn their students' names in a class of 15 than it is in a class of 150.

But I think it goes well beyond the small class sizes... When I was a student at PC, I found that my professors were truly interested in my academic success and also what I was looking to do after graduation. The best way I can describe the student-faculty relationship here at PC is like this: first and foremost, PC professors are here to teach and work with undergraduate students. Yes, they are doing the other things that all professors at all schools do - writing books, conducting research projects, etc... but their main focus is on teaching. And by the way, when faculty members are working on research projects, much of the time they are collaborating with undergraduate students! For me, the faculty's dedication to student success really made PC's education stand out.

I remember on my own Day Visit experience (8 years ago when I was a senior in high school - yikes!), sitting in on two classes and in both cases staying after the class had ended to chat with the professor about my interests for a few minutes. It had a big impact on me then as a prospective student - these professors were taking the time to talk with me and I wasn't even a PC student yet!

My own relationships with faculty members only grew stronger from there, and to this day I am still in frequent contact with a number of my professors, especially the English professors who I spent a lot of time with as an English major. But don't just take my word for it - look at what our student bloggers have to say about their classes... check out our faculty profiles on our Teaching That Transforms web pages... and most importantly, come to campus and meet our professors for yourselves! To our seniors who will be visiting campus through our Day Visit program: ask your Admission Ambassador host to introduce you to their professor after class and spend a few minutes asking that professor any questions you might have about your potential academic interests. To our seniors who have been accepted Early Action and those who will be accepted Regular Decision: come to campus on our accepted student visit days (PC Up Close in February and Family Day in April) and you'll have the opportunity to meet faculty members from multiple departments. These will be the people teaching your classes, so I strongly encourage you to take advantage of the opportunities to get to know them!

Posted by Scott Seseske at 10:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Classes are back in swing for the spring semester here at PC, which means that campus visit opportunities are also available again.

Campus tours started up again yesterday, and they will run throughout the semester on the following days and times:

*Monday through Friday at 9:30 AM, 11:30 AM, and 2:30 PM
*Saturdays at 11:30 AM and 2:30 PM (there is no 9:30 tour on Saturday mornings).

For those seniors who were accepted to PC Early Action OR have applied to PC Regular Decision, we also have the opportunity for you to spend the day with one of our student Ambassadors as part of our Day Visit Program. You will be on campus for 4-5 hours and be able to sit in on two classes, see a residence hall, and eat a meal in one of our dining halls. If you are interested in scheduling a Day Visit, please call the Office of Admission at (401) 865-2535 or (800) 721-6444 at least two weeks in advance of the day you wish to attend. Please note that there are a limited number of spaces available each day - and that each student who wishes to spend the day with an Ambassador must be registered. Day Visits will begin on Monday, January 28. Please see our Campus Visits calendar for the full schedule.

Also, for all of you juniors out there who may be planning to visit colleges during your spring semester school vacations, we will be offering Group Information Sessions during certain weeks in February and April. Again, please click on the Campus Visits pages of the website for the schedule.

We'll see you on campus soon!

Posted by Scott Seseske at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

It's always nice to see a PC athlete move on and do well in the pros... Former Friar hoop star Ryan Gomes scored a career-high 35 points in the Minnesota Timberwolves' 109-108 victory over Golden State last night... He also chipped in 11 rebounds... Nice!

Posted by Scott Seseske at 4:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It was a great time for all of the Friar Fanatics who followed the men's basketball team to Hartford last night... PC 77 - UConn 65! A nice road win that improves the team's record to 12-5 overall and 3-2 in conference play.

Posted by Scott Seseske at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

By the way, I have received a couple of questions about PC's Study Abroad programs over the last few days. In case you are interested, one of our students who spent the fall semester studying abroad has been writing a blog about the experience - so along with reading our admission blogs, I encourage you to check his blog out as well. (He spent the fall in Granada, Spain and is actually spending the spring semester in Argentina... so he has a lot to say!)

Posted by Scott Seseske at 1:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

...61-49 over USF in Tampa, improving the overall record to 11-5 (1-2 in Big East play).

Posted by Scott Seseske at 11:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Procrastinators, your time has come... It is January 15, our Regular Decision application deadline here at PC. All freshman applications for admission must be either postmarked by today or submitted online today via the Common Application website.

Posted by Scott Seseske at 12:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I feel like pictures of the PC campus in the snow are tough to come by...
So here's a little campus tour in the snow for your enjoyment... on our
snow day today!!! (Too bad for our students that spring semester classes
don't start until tomorrow...)

There you have it... An official "snow tour" of the Providence College campus...
And I'll bet it wasn't even that cold for you! Hope all of you New England skiers
are enjoying the snow!

Posted by Scott Seseske at 4:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The PC women's hockey team notches a nice upset win today, 7-3 over #4 Mercyhurst College at Schneider Arena... The men's basketball team improves to 11-5 overall and 2-2 in conference play with an 86-70 triumph over South Florida... The outcome wasn't as good for the women's basketball team, as they fell to #24 DePaul 66-55...

Of course, you can always get all your Friars news by clicking onto our Athletics website: friars.com!

Posted by Scott Seseske at 7:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

...is arriving in the Office of Admission as we near our Regular Decision deadline of January 15. As many students are now submitting the Common Application online, most of the mail is arriving from high schools - the supporting credentials (transcript, school report, recommendations, etc.) required to complete a student's application. Kudos to our staff who continue to work wonders opening the mail and matching these additional pieces to each student's application. On that note, if you have submitted (or plan to submit) your application for Regular Decision review, we will be letting all students know in late February if their applications are complete. Please do not call our office to ask if your teacher's letter of recommendation has arrived - with the volume of mail coming in, it is incredibly difficult for us to answer all of those questions at this point in the process. Thanks!

*Scott

Posted by Scott Seseske at 2:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Here we are in early 2008, and we have made the transition from Early Action to our Regular Decision review process. To our seniors who have not yet applied to PC, remember that our Regular Decision application deadline is January 15 (postmarked)... It's approaching quickly!

Have a great weekend!

*Scott

Posted by Scott Seseske at 4:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Welcome to 2008! I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas break and are enjoying your first week back at school/work (unless you're one of the lucky ones who has this whole week off... that's nice!). As I've mentioned, our Liberal Arts Honors Program/merit scholarship awards were mailed out last Friday, December 28. Let's talk a little bit about what we were looking for in the students we selected for the Honors Program...

As I'm sure you've gathered from my last few postings, the Early Action applicant pool was incredibly strong academically, with the average INVITED STUDENT GPA at an "A-minus" (unweighted) in a strong (Honors/AP level) high school curriculum (that's not to the Honors Program - that is the average performance of a student accepted to the college). Therefore, you'd be correct in assuming that the students selected for the Honors Program are at the very top of both our applicant pool and their high school classes. While the admission process is very competitive (with under 1,000 spaces in our freshman class), remember that there are only 125 spots in our Liberal Arts Honors Program, so we are obviously talking about the very best of a very strong group of academic performers.

On average, the students selected for the Honors Program excelled throughout high school, earning a straight-A average across the board in the most demanding curriculum offered at their high schools. These students have taken the highest level courses offered (IB, college-credit level, AP, Honors/Advanced) in all core academic subject areas and achieved grades that place them at the top of their classes. Let's talk about "exhausting" the high school curriculum for a minute...

Generally speaking, most of the students we accept to the college (not to the Honors Program) have taken four years of the five core subjects (English, Math, Natural Science, Social Science, Foreign Language) and have taken a predominantly Honors-level curriculum throughout high school. But we are only selecting a very small number of these students into the Honors Program. And they are the students who have taken on THE HIGHEST ACADEMIC CHALLENGE IN ALL SUBJECT AREAS. I know I am really hammering the point about curriculum here, but there is a enormous difference between a strong curriculum and THE STRONGEST curriculum available at a high school.

Also, please note that we are talking about an "unweighted" GPA of an "A" that these students have achieved... they have taken the most challenging classes offered at their high schools and earned "A's" in practically all of them. For students who attend high schools that compute class rank, the average rank for a student who was invited into the Honors Program was 3.27%.

As a test-optional institution, SATs/ACTs are not required for admission nor are they required to be considered for the Honors Program. If a student does submit his or her test scores, we will consider them in the Honors Program review after looking at the high school academic performance, and the average test scores for us this year for students invited into Liberal Arts Honors landed just below a 700 on all three sections of the SATs or about a 31 on the ACT. But please remember, one strong SAT/ACT score will never outweigh high school academic performance - so a student with strong (700) SAT scores but a "B-plus/A-minus" high school GPA will NOT be invited into the Honors Program simply based on the test scores. The review for the Liberal Arts Honors Program puts the majority of the weight on the student's high school academic performance (as does our admission process).

I hope that this information helps to clarify the selection process for our Liberal Arts Honors Program. If you have any questions about the Honors Program that I have not yet answered, please feel free to send them along. Until next time, Happy New Year!

Posted by Scott Seseske at 3:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)