December 18, 2020
To the newest invited members of the Class of 2025
There’s still time to apply to Providence College. The Regular Decision and Early Decision II deadlines are January 15. Apply today using the Common App.
By Owen Bligh ’10, ’15G
Associate Dean of Admission
There’s a good chance I will spend most of Friday night texting with my colleague Erin, our coordinator of admission services. “Did you check this?” “Take one more look at that!” Our angst rarely yields something that actually needs fixing, and you’d think after years of doing this we’d be a little more calm, but I suppose there’s a small degree of comfort that comes with triple- and quadruple-checking.
Then, just a few minutes after 7 p.m. ET, Erin will click her mouse three times and 7,000+ applicants will have access to their admission decision. Just like that — welcome and congratulations to the Providence College Class of 2025!
What a journey it was to get to this point. To be fair, there’s still plenty of space left in the class for those applying Regular Decision, and we expect to review another 4,000+ applications, but the first large release of admission decisions is always a momentous occasion. It’s never easy getting to this point in a normal year (remember normal years?), and this year has been anything but normal. I’m tremendously grateful to our colleagues around campus who have adapted to make sure we’re still able to share the Providence College story with interested students. I’m also grateful for the admission staff who figured out a way to review thousands of applications in the way that applicants come to expect from PC: carefully, compassionately, respectfully, and thoroughly.
But the real stars of this journey are you, the students.
You’ve navigated distance learning, the cancellation of school sports and other extracurricular activities, limited access to counseling and support, and countless other challenges that come with a pandemic. Reading your applications, we were in constant awe learning about the situations you have confronted and, almost always, persevered through. Students with parents who are frontline workers going weeks without seeing them because they moved to live in the garage. Students who repurposed their school’s 3D printer to make PPE when it was in short supply. Several of you took Johns Hopkins University’s contact tracing course so you could help out your local government when cases surged. And to the many of you who shared stories of deaths of family members and loved ones, please know that our community continues to pray for you. Many of you also humbly admitted that you’ve made it through COVID-19 fairly well, that the cancellation of prom or your cross-country season just didn’t seem big enough to call out. No matter the degree to which you were impacted, know how impressed we were by all of you. Though we are unable to admit every applicant to PC, you deserve credit for moving forward in the face of so much uncertainty and direction.
It’s not just the way you’ve handled COVID-19 that makes you impressive, though. And while the numbers don’t tell the whole story, the approximately 3,800 students who will be admitted tonight certainly tell a compelling one. You’re enrolled at 1,276 different high schools. You come from 40 states, 17 countries, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Collectively, you have the strongest average GPA that we’ve seen in several years. Some 69% of you have work experience, and 281 of you were president of your class or student government. 59.4% of you applied without consideration of test scores. Whether you didn’t think they represented your work, didn’t feel safe testing, or were unable to test, we’re glad that our 15+ year commitment to test-optional admission fit your application.
As someone who loves to look at data, a few fun facts too:
- The most common first names among the men are Matthew, Michael, and John while the women are led by Grace, Emma, and Olivia. 656 of our admitted students are the only ones in the class with their first name. You already have your fun fact for orientation icebreakers!
- The most popular birthdate among admitted students is May 29 — a big date in PC history because that’s the anniversary of the founding of the BIG EAST Conference some 40+ years ago. We look forward to seeing what the 24 students born on that date do to become Friar legends in their own right. Only one admitted student was born on September 17 (to that student who will soon find out: rest easy knowing you’ll always have your full choice of cupcakes at LaSalle Bakery on your special day).
- One applicant has logged into their portal 690 times since submitting their application, almost three times as many times as next highest. This student is being admitted, though I didn’t realize the number of log-ins until today, so that’s certainly not the reason. We promise, you’ll have the good news soon! To the 454 of you who still haven’t set up your password, Erin and I will be around Friday night if you run into trouble.
We’ve shared throughout the fall the many ways we’ve modified and adapted the admission process to make it simpler, remove financial barriers to enrollment, and put prospective students at the forefront. We’re constantly trying to think of new ways to improve the process. If you have ideas, we’d love to hear them.
Actually, we always like to hear from you. Whether it’s to kick the tires on your chosen major, work through your financial aid package, connect with one of our students, or any other range of reasons, we hope you’ll reach out to us. Analee, Amy, Diana, Elizabeth, Father Iri, Greg, Jen, Kelly, Marty, Matt, Megan, Nancy, Pat, Raul, Sandy, Tricia, and I are just an email or phone call away.
Welcome to PC. Welcome home. As always, Go Friars!
