Providence College Acceptance Rate & Admissions Requirements

Providence College is a privately owned College located in Providence, Rhode Island northwest of downtown. The college was founded in 1917. It offers 49 majors and 34 minors and has an acceptance rate of 48 percent.

The college has a distinguished curriculum of a four-semester-long course on western civilization that covers history, religion, literature, and philosophy. When it comes to graduation rate, Providence College has an impressive rate of 87%. In sporting related activities, Providence College Friars are a side to compete with in the NCAA Division I Big East Conference.

2019/ 2020 academic enrollment, the college admitted 4,367 undergraduate students and 523 graduate students. Its academic area of specialization is liberal arts.

If you’re considering applying to Providence College, below are the admissions statistics you should know. This includes average SAT/ACT scores and GPAs of admitted students.

Acceptance Rate

Providence College acceptance rate is 48%. This means out of every 100 students who applied, only 48 students were admitted, this makes the College admissions process competitive.

Providence College may have a low acceptance rate that is competitive, it does not require SAT and ACT scores to be admitted.

The Providence College has a population of about 3,852 undergraduates and 735 postgraduate students with roughly 58 percent female and 42 percent male.

Providence College students are mainly from the New England states of Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and other Mid-Atlantic states. 

Being a private Catholic college, about one-third of its incoming students attended Catholic high schools.

Admissions Statistics During 2018-19

Number of Applicants who successfully submitted their application was 11,478 and 48% were admitted. In terms of yield rate (percentage of students that were actually enrolled) Providence college is among the universities with a low enrollment rate. In 2018/2019, the yield rate was 20%.

Providence College is made up of four schools:

• the School of Arts & Sciences
• the School of Business
• the School of Professional Studies 
• the School of Continuing Education.

Providence College usually accepts fewer than half of applicants. And they are selective in their admissions processes. There’s a holistic admissions process, which is test-optional. The admissions decisions of the school are based on much more than numbers. A strong application essay and letters of recommendation can strengthen your application. Providence College is particularly interested in applicants with a challenging high school curriculum which includes Honors and AP classes.

SAT/ACT Scores and Requirements

Providence College has a standardized testing policy through which the school screens candidates. SAT or ACT scores are not a requirement for applicants to the school. During the 2018-19 admissions cycle, the percentage of admitted students who happened to submit their SAT scores were 51%.

Providence College does not use SAT scores as part of its admissions processes. However, for students who choose to submit scores, the college’s admissions office will consider the highest score from each individual section across all SAT test dates, but does not require the essay section of the SAT. Generally, Providence College does not review or consider SAT Subject test scores for admission.

Providence College has a standardized testing policy through which the school screens candidates. ACT scores are not a requirement for applicants to the school. During the 2018-19 admissions cycle, the percentage of admitted students who happened to submit their SAT scores were 17%.

ACT scores are not a requirement at Providence College for admission. However, for students who choose to submit theirs, the College does not superscore ACT results to create a new composite score. This doesn’t mean that they will not consider your highest subscores from each section. But note that Providence College does not require the ACT writing section.

GPA Score

Based on the 2019 admissions statistics obtained from  the College, the average high school GPA for incoming freshmen was 3.48, and almost 50% of admitted students had average GPAs of 3.5 and above. These suggest that most successful applicants to Providence College have primarily high B grades.

Providence college’s students are given the opportunity to run the college’s radio station, WDOM and the on-campus television station, PCTV. WDOM was ranked the 11th-best college radio station in the country by the Princeton Review in 2011. The students have also run the campus newspaper since its founding.