Providence College Podcast | Megan O’Rourke and Michael Splann ’19

As students receive notifications of their early admission to Providence College, Megan O’Rourke, associate dean of admission, and her colleague, admission counselor Michael Splann ’19, join the podcast to share insights into today’s college search process. We talk about parent involvement and support, lessons learned during COVID, higher-ed return on investment, and the difference between regular decision and early decision II applications — both due to PC on January 15, 2023. O'Rourke and Splann also talk about reading applications — and the one essay question that reveals some creative and musical answers. (Spoiler alert: Applicants pick their personal theme songs!)

Show Notes

Creators & Guests

Host

Stasia Walmsley

Sr. Director of Marketing & Creative Services

Producer

Chris Judge

Multimedia and Live Event Producer

What is Providence College Podcast?

The Providence College Podcast features interviews with interesting members of the Friar Family. These in-depth conversations with PC students, Dominicans, faculty, staff, and alumni provide a rich look into the lives of noteworthy Friars. Occasionally we will also bring you on-campus lectures and presentations. Go Friars!

00;00;01;15 - 00;00;19;24
Stasia Walmsley
Hello and welcome to the Providence College Podcast. I'm your host station Wamsley here today with producer Chris Judge. This week we're talking with the associate dean of Admissions at Providence College, Meghan O'Rourke, and her colleague, admission Counselor Mike Spillane, Class of 2019. Meghan and Mike, welcome to the podcast.

00;00;19;29 - 00;00;21;11
Michael Splann
Hi, thank you so much for having us.

00;00;21;18 - 00;00;37;01
Stasia Walmsley
So today we're talking it's mid-December and the recruitment and the admission of PC class of 2027 is well underway. And I'm wondering, Meghan, maybe we can start with you. Could you talk a little bit about where we are in the process right now?

00;00;37;09 - 00;01;02;00
Megan O'Rourke
Yeah. So we have an awesome team at in our office, in the admissions office that we worked really hard. We received a really large number of applications for early action this fall, just over 8000. And so we've been working very diligently and we're able to send out decisions for those early action students on Friday evening, this past Friday evening.

00;01;02;00 - 00;01;13;09
Megan O'Rourke
So they are set to go our early decision. One candidates have already gotten their decisions and we are ramping up to begin review for our early decision to and regular decision applicants.

00;01;13;21 - 00;01;37;07
Stasia Walmsley
So have as part of this process, you know, the last few years have been anything but standard when it comes to the college search and admission process. And I'm wondering this year, what have been some of the recurring questions that you're getting from families as they're trying to figure out, You know, is Providence College a good fit for me?

00;01;37;07 - 00;01;42;11
Stasia Walmsley
And maybe maybe we can we can hear from from you and your how you're thinking about this when you're talking to families.

00;01;42;19 - 00;02;24;16
Michael Splann
Yeah, certainly. I think one of the one of the important themes and it's always been an important theme, but I think more so since COVID is return on investment is a big question for for families thinking through, you know, how many how many students at Providence are doing, you know career related experience, whether that be internships or, you know, if you're an education major, maybe being in a classroom student teaching things like that that are preparing you to actually get a job upon leaving PC seem to be questions that that we get quite a bit, you know, how is Providence College preparing you for for post-grad life or for getting a job?

00;02;24;16 - 00;02;52;17
Michael Splann
And and certainly the career center is fantastic here. And we, you know, rely on them, you know, for our yield events when when we're bringing students to to our campus to kind of make that final decision on is Providence College the right place for you? We like to involve the career center in that. You know, Eileen Wyse New School, for example, has been fantastic of, you know, kind of coming to our shadow days and and talking with students about that return on investment piece, because that does seem to be an important factor.

00;02;52;24 - 00;03;13;10
Michael Splann
In general, though, we encourage our students, even when we're out on the road, that the best way to get to know Providence is to come and see us. You know, there's only so much that, you know, Megan, myself and the rest of our team can do while we're on the road to talk about Providence, as opposed to actually coming here and seeing it, and most importantly, getting to meet our students and our faculty.

00;03;14;21 - 00;03;29;14
Michael Splann
But yeah, those are some of the kind of themes that we talk about when we're on the road especially, is to kind of come and see us and to see, you know, how successful we are in helping students not only enjoy their time here, but be successful when they leave.

00;03;30;01 - 00;04;08;19
Stasia Walmsley
Yeah, And thinking about what you said about return on investment, I do think that this is one of the things that, you know, we I think anybody who is considering a college education, higher ed investment, is trying to figure out if they can afford college and afford PC in particular. And we know that socio economic diversity is a is a measure of diversity that does fill out a class that will have varying perspectives and is an important part of what we aspire to at Providence College.

00;04;08;19 - 00;04;20;05
Stasia Walmsley
So what do you tell families who may be unsure about whether they can afford a PC education and how that fits into the decision making?

00;04;20;21 - 00;04;52;25
Megan O'Rourke
I think that that is such an important question and we could have an entire podcast series about the cost of education at this point, higher education specifically. What I am really proud of is our financial aid office working to, you know, how families understand the process, have them understand how they can afford a Providence college education. So it's there's a few different ways that that can happen.

00;04;53;12 - 00;05;29;13
Megan O'Rourke
The students are applying for merit based kind of automatic scholarship money at the time that they apply. We don't require a separate application for that, but there's also institutional need based aid in combination with students filling out the FAFSA. And I think that balance of understanding that need based assistance at PC is is part of how we can help families kind of bridge that gap between how what they can afford and how they can kind of make sure that providence is an affordable option.

00;05;29;17 - 00;05;51;12
Stasia Walmsley
Yeah, And you're talking about talking with and and working with families. And I you know, I'm a parent of two children who've been through the college search. And I remember how exciting it can be, but also how sometimes stressful the process can be or or may be confusing or has a lot of uncertainty as part of the search process.

00;05;51;19 - 00;06;16;14
Stasia Walmsley
So how does our admission team help the the whole family as part of the process? And and also as a I'm curious, Meghan, certainly you've been been doing this for for quite a while, been been in this field for for four with a lot of experience here. Has parent involvement change and how are we trying to meet that need today?

00;06;16;24 - 00;06;40;03
Megan O'Rourke
Yes, the parent involvement has definitely changed from the time that I started working in college admissions in oh six to now where we are. I think part of it stems from the pandemic. I think the pandemic and COVID 19 changed a lot of the work that we do and the way that we do it and the ways that we interact with students and families and school counselors.

00;06;40;03 - 00;07;05;28
Megan O'Rourke
Right? There's that that has kind of changed our our process a little bit. That said, I think parents, especially right now, families especially right now, want to ensure that students are getting the most out of the four years that they're going to spend with us. Mike talked about this idea of return on investment, and I think that's a huge part of it coupled with college is expensive.

00;07;05;28 - 00;07;26;12
Megan O'Rourke
And so you want to make sure that you are providing that, that we are providing, you know, students a lot of great opportunities that will get them that return on the investment. But I think families want to ensure that all of these pieces line up. It's an academic fit, it's a financial fit, it's a personal fit. Kind of what Mike was talking about a little bit ago.

00;07;26;20 - 00;08;05;21
Megan O'Rourke
So I think it's a combination of these three things kind of working in tandem and parents went through the college process when it was a little bit different. Now everything is solely online. There's so much information on the Internet, for better or worse, about it. The institutions that they're applying, these students are applying to, and how can we kind of work with them, communicate with them directly in addition to communicating with students to ensure that everybody is getting the same message and same information so that everyone does feel confident when it gets to decision time to say, Yup, this is the right answer for all of us because it is a connection that you'll have

00;08;05;21 - 00;08;12;21
Megan O'Rourke
for the rest of your life. So let's make sure that those pieces are in place to feel comfortable and confident in making that decision.

00;08;12;21 - 00;08;24;18
Stasia Walmsley
Well, I will definitely age myself by saying I was one of those people who is filling out, you know, each application with a with pen and paper and mailing it in and all that good stuff.

00;08;25;00 - 00;08;31;05
Megan O'Rourke
But Stasia, it's wild to think about how different it is and in really not that much time. Yeah.

00;08;31;16 - 00;09;02;08
Stasia Walmsley
So yeah, it's just, it's, it's very it, I mean, all of this makes it more, I think, equitable and accessible for students to be able to think about going to places they might not have even imagined because there is an accessibility to the research and understanding what's out there. But I want to say, Mike, you're a member of the Class of 2019, so the process was probably not wildly different since you applied to PC.

00;09;03;00 - 00;09;28;16
Stasia Walmsley
And I wasn't thinking about kind of return on investment. I've also heard this term return on experience, right? So it's it's about the opportunities you have when you're in college and the things that can lead to a fulfilling and and satisfying, you know, life In that connection that Meghan was talking about. Back to the institute tuition can you talk to me about.

00;09;28;24 - 00;09;49;24
Stasia Walmsley
So I'm seeing that you were a double major in theology and management, which is probably a little different than what you might find at other institutions. But here at PC, we see combinations like that all the time. Can you talk to me a little bit about your experience here and how that reflects kind of the range of academics that we have a PC.

00;09;49;28 - 00;10;22;04
Michael Splann
Yeah, certainly. Yeah. So, you know, being a double major management theology was a common joke. I used to get back in the day of what, you know, what are you going to do, manage a church kind of thing, you know, classic kind of Providence college humor. But yeah, so when we when we talked to students about academics and I think, you know, my experience with academics here, we really highlight this is and to bring Eileen Wise from the career center back into this, you know, she always says to our prospective students that it's important to not come into PC with blinders on.

00;10;22;21 - 00;10;46;21
Michael Splann
You know, a lot of students who maybe declare a major up front, you know, certainly many of those students know for a fact that that is what they want to do and what they want to study and where they want to land. And that's great. But Providence has such a wide array of academic offerings that, you know, it's it's important that we encourage our students to come in here and be open to exploring other other fields of study.

00;10;47;00 - 00;11;20;08
Michael Splann
You know, a good portion of our students come in undeclared. And that was my experience myself. And I declared management very early on. But it wasn't until, you know, taking part in the core curriculum courses, you know, development of Western civilization, the the Fund foundations level theology and philosophy courses that it kind of piqued my interest in theology and and what started out as a minor thanks to faculty members like Dr. Rick Berry, Dana Dillon, there are some that come to mind to me.

00;11;21;09 - 00;11;51;03
Michael Splann
I was encouraged to to pursue it as not only a minor, but as a double major in theology and, you know, obviously there are no overlap between business management courses and theology courses at PC. But that's that's the experience of so many students here, is they have the opportunity to not only study what they want to to prepare them for the professional life, but you can study things that are important to you personally and things that you just have an interest in learning about and a desire for, for that knowledge.

00;11;51;03 - 00;12;12;21
Michael Splann
And so, yeah, I mean, that's what we encourage our students to do, is to be open, be open to becoming interested in something that you didn't think you were before. And you have the opportunity and the support here at Providence to actually, you know, study whatever you want and kind of make that make make your academic progression your own.

00;12;13;07 - 00;12;18;09
Stasia Walmsley
And may I ask, were you able to complete the the double major in four years?

00;12;18;18 - 00;12;35;20
Michael Splann
Certainly, yeah, I was I was able to complete the double major in two years. I received a Bachelor of Science in Management, Bachelor of Arts in Theology. I was able to study abroad during my time here, you know, even even being a double major. And that's that's the experience of, you know, most of our double majors. I would say.

00;12;35;20 - 00;12;55;22
Michael Splann
I mean, it's certainly tedious and especially the fact that there's no overlap in those two subject areas. But that's you know, it's a testament to our advising. You know, when you meet with your advisors, they they're they're prepared to to make sure that you're able to graduate on time and have the full, you know, academic experience that you want.

00;12;55;22 - 00;13;20;04
Stasia Walmsley
So I'm going to change gears a little bit. And Meghan, I'm wondering if you could talk a bit about the nursing and health sciences program at Providence College, because that is new this year and there's a lot of interest. Can you talk about how we are reviewing applications for these two major specifically health sciences and nursing, which are the two newest majors at the college?

00;13;20;19 - 00;13;41;06
Megan O'Rourke
For us, I think it was a matter of doing our research and being thorough and diligent in how we were going to work through the review process. Our office wanted to kind of get the lay of the land. And so what we were able to do, we we did a lot of research. We spoke with some of our peer institutions.

00;13;41;07 - 00;14;08;16
Megan O'Rourke
We were working hand in hand with the School of Nursing and Health Sciences and kind of built our review around what we knew, the information we gathered and the research that we had to ensure that students would get a fair review from Providence College, just like all of our other applicants. But kind of drill a little bit deeper when it comes to kind of the preparation for both of these programs.

00;14;08;28 - 00;14;44;24
Megan O'Rourke
I've worked at a couple of other institutions in my admissions career that have these kinds of programs, and they are pretty rigorous academic programs. And so you want to ensure that students have the ability to move through those programs seamlessly, that we're setting them up for success, given the competitive nature of the program, because there is a finite number of spaces in each program, we knew that the balance of making sure that the student had a fit to Providence, but those kind of necessary preparations in science and math specifically were in place in the high school curriculum.

00;14;44;24 - 00;15;13;23
Megan O'Rourke
So that's really where we started. We are a test optional school. We've been test optional for many years since 2006. And so it really came down to looking at that academic program as kind of the specific points for both nursing and health sciences to ensure that fit was there. Our review process looks pretty similar in a lot of ways from from these programs in comparison to the other majors that we offer.

00;15;14;06 - 00;15;29;28
Megan O'Rourke
And so our goal, like I said, is to get those students to see and have them be successful in either health sciences or nursing. So that's kind of how the review process started. And I think we were really successful in being able to do that.

00;15;30;13 - 00;15;53;07
Stasia Walmsley
And what are maybe some of the different types of questions you're getting from students who are applying for these programs? Are there are is it very similar to what you're hearing from our students in other programs, or are there some specific questions that are important for students applying for these two programs to to have answered?

00;15;53;24 - 00;16;23;28
Michael Splann
Yeah, well, I think that certainly we've received a lot of questions about the difference between health sciences and like a biology biochemistry on a pre-med track. You know, those questions, those questions are coming in and those are things that, you know, as an institution where we're working out ourselves but essentially in our health sciences, is that that major that you would choose if you want to go into any health related career that is non-medical school related, right?

00;16;23;28 - 00;16;49;03
Michael Splann
So things like physical therapy, occupational therapy, sports medicine, or just some examples, you know, so so kind of working with students to decide which major is best for them. You know, if you want if I want to be a surgeon right, it would be best for me to apply as a biology or biochemistry major on the pre-med advisory track, you know, in route to medical school.

00;16;49;12 - 00;17;12;16
Michael Splann
If I want to be, you know, a physical therapist, it's federal science. So so those questions certainly coming as well as, again, I mean, going back to the idea of, you know, being successful upon leaving Providence, you know, what kind of clinical, you know, placements are available to the students in the nursing program. What are facilities going to look like in terms of actually preparing students for real world nursing experience?

00;17;12;16 - 00;17;28;21
Michael Splann
So, you know, all of those kind of questions, you know, we've you know, like being said, we've worked really closely with the the dean of the new School, the School of Nursing and Health Sciences, with everybody on that team, just to make sure that we have all the right information to to answer these questions properly.

00;17;29;09 - 00;18;01;02
Stasia Walmsley
And we did have Dean McGinnis on the podcast in September, and he was able to talk a little bit about kind of what's coming up for this program and also talk a little bit about how certainly this is something we have. There are many, many PC graduates who are in health sciences and nursing and this this you know, it was a natural fit for us to add these programs from a undergrad preparatory success for for those those people who have that that interest.

00;18;02;14 - 00;18;30;11
Stasia Walmsley
I'm wondering if you could talk a little bit about Providence College as a primarily white institution. So this is another area where I know the college has in its strategic plan that we are interested in diversity, equity and inclusion. And as a Catholic institution that this is it's very much in line with our mission to have people from different backgrounds and different perspectives as part of this community.

00;18;30;19 - 00;18;44;09
Stasia Walmsley
So I'm wondering if you could talk a little bit about the what we offer in terms of supporting those folks who are not white in their search, In looking at Providence College specifically.

00;18;44;18 - 00;19;12;00
Megan O'Rourke
One thing that I will say, I think our staff understands and is committed to and this obviously moves all the way up through Father Sicard, is this idea of providing the students that come to Providence a more enriching experience. And the way that we can do that is by bringing students to the table who have different backgrounds of all different kinds, right?

00;19;12;00 - 00;19;53;25
Megan O'Rourke
The religion that they practice, the the racial or ethnic background that they identify with, where they come from in the country. Right. You mentioned socioeconomic diversity. When students are coming to the table and they're they're coming into these classes, having these discussions with these different backgrounds, think that when students are learning the best that they can because they're starting to see, oh, here is someone who did not have the same experiences as me, and now I am able to learn from them in a way that I wouldn't have been able to if I was sitting in a class amongst people who did have similar or shared experiences.

00;19;54;05 - 00;20;22;03
Megan O'Rourke
And it's as someone who is not a Providence College grad, I think it's so important that we as an institution and that Father Sicard and all of the leadership at PC really want to make this a priority and have made it a priority. Right. Like I think for the students that we talk to, especially now in 2022, it's a question that we get asked how, you know, what is the experience of being on campus like.

00;20;22;03 - 00;20;50;09
Megan O'Rourke
And so there are offices on campus to support students from from different backgrounds there. We have some scholarship money for students who are from from different racial and ethnic backgrounds. So there are ways that we can kind of bring them in and then support them through their time, because I think, like I said, this idea of providing a more enriching experience only happens when everybody is committed to that kind of shared goal of of D-I work.

00;20;51;01 - 00;20;53;04
Megan O'Rourke
Like, I don't know if there's anything you want to add to that.

00;20;53;05 - 00;21;14;10
Michael Splann
Yeah, I mean, I would just say as, as an alumni, you know, it as an alumnus, it doesn't, it doesn't you know, it's not just about creating a more enriching environment in the classroom. And certainly we do that by inviting various experiences and perspectives into the room, but also from a from a social perspective on campus and from a community experience on campus.

00;21;15;21 - 00;21;40;01
Michael Splann
You know, I had the privilege as a student here of of working alongside so many students of different backgrounds and clubs and organizations here at PC and, you know, we are we are truly our student body is truly made better by the more, you know, making like you said that the different perspectives that we have in the room and so so yeah.

00;21;40;09 - 00;21;54;18
Michael Splann
You know just to to echo what Megan said, it's it's it's a priority that everyone here on campus, not just the admission office and not just, you know, all the way up to the president, but but everybody's students, current students included. It should be important to all of us.

00;21;55;06 - 00;22;28;22
Stasia Walmsley
As we think about this class of 2027. Megan, I think you said that early admission applications were over 8000. We certainly had early decision applications come in prior to that and have released those those admission decisions as as you explained earlier. Megan But could you talk a little bit about what's next? So there are two deadlines approaching for early decision two and regular decision.

00;22;28;28 - 00;22;33;12
Stasia Walmsley
If you could talk a little bit about those deadlines And then also what what's the difference between the two of those?

00;22;33;21 - 00;23;02;04
Megan O'Rourke
It's a question we get all the time, don't we like? Mm. So we have early decision and regular decision which are two separate decision pathways have the same deadline, it's January 15th so it's going to come quickly less than a month away at this point. Regular decision applications essentially are for students who are interested in Providence College, would like to submit their application to us.

00;23;02;04 - 00;23;31;00
Megan O'Rourke
They're going to get a decision back from us late March. Early April is is the goal that we aim for in sending out those notifications early decision two is a little bit different. So I always, when I talk to students and Mike jump in at any point, but with early decision applicants and students who are interested in that process, it it's really a sign of like, this is my number one school, This is the place that I want to come to.

00;23;31;07 - 00;23;53;11
Megan O'Rourke
If I get in, I'm going to attend. It's, you know, I, black and white, are my favorite colors. The friar is my favorite mascot. We're talking about a pretty high level of commitment here. And I think those students, you know, they sign something along with their school counselor and their parents saying, I'm going to come to Providence College, I'll withdraw all withdraw all of my other applications.

00;23;53;20 - 00;24;12;23
Megan O'Rourke
And so I think for students that that are kind of ready to go, they've decided on Providence College. This is a great option for them. The students who apply early decision to usually here in late February, give or take. So timing wise, you're going to hear a little bit earlier, Mike, I don't know if there's anything else you want to add to that.

00;24;13;02 - 00;24;45;26
Michael Splann
No, I think I think you did a great job of talking through those different decisions and for early, early decision to it. I think especially it's especially, you know, helpful for students who maybe were applying to other schools at early action and didn't get, you know, favorable decisions and now are making a decision of where they want to land early decision to kind of gives you that opportunity to kind of reevaluate your options kind of after after early action.

00;24;45;26 - 00;24;57;10
Michael Splann
So I'm I'm glad that as an institution and as an admission office, we offer early decision opportunities for students at both the November 1st deadline as well as the January 15th deadline.

00;24;57;24 - 00;25;20;17
Stasia Walmsley
Well, we have a few minutes left, and I wanted to ask you a question about something that I think is pretty interesting about our application process, and that is that there's something pretty cool about our supplemental essay here at at PC. So I'm wondering, could you tell us a little bit what what is a supplemental essay? How is that part of our process?

00;25;20;25 - 00;25;27;02
Stasia Walmsley
And then I think, you know what I'm referring to, maybe we talk a little bit about this question that is that I think is so fun.

00;25;27;03 - 00;25;50;18
Michael Splann
Of course. Yeah, I'd be happy to talk about this. This is one of my favorite parts of reading the applications as well. So supplemental essay in general is an opportunity that we offer on our member page on the Common App. So on the Common App, there are kind of the standard parts of the common application. There are, you know, the resume section where you can kind of fill in your extra curricular activities.

00;25;50;18 - 00;26;12;17
Michael Splann
There's the essay, There are, you know, places to submit letters of recommendation, things like this. But we have our own Providence College member page on there that students who are applying to PCC complete and it asks some PC specific questions. It's not, you know, too complicated, but we offer an opportunity for students to submit a supplemental writing piece and it is optional.

00;26;12;26 - 00;26;33;19
Michael Splann
But as I always tell students, you know, any time a college, whether it be providence or anywhere, it gives you the opportunity to kind of write more about yourself and give them more content, it's it's certainly advisable to do so. But we offer three different options. And I know it's one you're getting at the other. There are options that are, you know, allow students to explain their academic interest.

00;26;33;19 - 00;26;59;14
Michael Splann
So if they had declared academic interest, they can explain that they have opportunity to pose a question to the Providence College community, sort of keeping up with the D-I initiatives that we spoke about, like kind of asking a question to the PC community to kind of prompts conversation and, you know, discussion. And then the third one, which which I think is pretty fun, is ask students what would your theme song be if you could choose a theme song?

00;27;00;17 - 00;27;24;15
Michael Splann
And I, you know, Megan would certainly test this, too. We've gotten some great answers since we started doing this. We actually so we put together a little playlist on Spotify, actually for last year's incoming class, you know, that was compiled with a lot of the theme songs that students wrote about, and we actually sent them home with that playlist after admitted Students Day, which I thought was pretty neat.

00;27;25;16 - 00;27;54;21
Michael Splann
But yeah, I actually think you you can learn. I mean, I personally have a, you know, passion for music and in a lot of different ways. But I think you can learn a lot about somebody by by hearing what their theme song would be and kind of the way that music moves them. And I know that, you know, even speaking on that topic, that is that is the purpose of the supplemental essay more than anything else, is to help us learn something more about you that we wouldn't know.

00;27;54;29 - 00;28;01;00
Michael Splann
Having read other parts of the application. So I think talking about your theme song is a neat way to to go about that.

00;28;01;06 - 00;28;33;24
Stasia Walmsley
Yeah, it sounds like it helps us to think about a person holistically, not just by the numbers and how those those add up, which, you know, is an important part of factors for success, but also just getting to know somebody is through this question in particular, I think is pretty, pretty fun and pretty amazing that that we do this and must be a nice, nice part of the the admission application reading process, which can be, you know, 8000 applications came in for early admission.

00;28;34;02 - 00;28;42;21
Stasia Walmsley
So do people tend to choose this as a as a question that they answer? It sounds like the other questions are obviously pretty interesting as well, but.

00;28;43;13 - 00;28;44;23
Megan O'Rourke
It's a mix.

00;28;44;23 - 00;28;45;11
Michael Splann
Yeah.

00;28;45;11 - 00;28;45;28
Megan O'Rourke
Okay.

00;28;46;06 - 00;29;06;22
Michael Splann
Yeah. I don't I don't think we have specific data on, you know, how, how many students choose which, which ones. I would say that the the supplement about your academic major is probably the most popular and understandably so you know kind of talking about you know, why I want to study political science at Providence, you know, which which is excellent.

00;29;06;22 - 00;29;13;29
Michael Splann
But the theme song is up there too. We get quite a few theme songs. And yeah, I definitely enjoy reading those.

00;29;14;16 - 00;29;28;07
Stasia Walmsley
Well, that certainly leads me to my last question. And Meghan, we'll start with you. So what would your theme song have to ask? I have to ask. It's yeah, very fun.

00;29;28;24 - 00;29;51;14
Megan O'Rourke
So we have had a lot of debates about this in our office, what our theme songs would be, and I'm sure it probably changes, but right now I am a I'm come from a Bruce Springsteen family. My parents are huge Bruce Springsteen fans. And so when we were little, my sisters and I would just be singing along to the records that my parents would give Bruce Springsteen.

00;29;51;14 - 00;29;56;15
Megan O'Rourke
So that says, I'm going to go thunder Road. It's one of my favorites.

00;29;57;06 - 00;30;26;13
Michael Splann
Bruce That's a great one, kind of keeping in theme for and this would be no surprise to Meghan or anybody who's listening who knows me, but I'm a big Dave MATTHEWS Band fan. I have been for for quite a few years. And I would say, I don't know, I would say my my theme song of theirs, maybe not necessarily my favorite song of theirs, but one that would kind of pertain to a theme song would be a song called You Never Know by Dave MATTHEWS Band.

00;30;26;13 - 00;30;47;22
Michael Splann
It's excellent. Yeah, it's a good one, right? It's it's it's sort of a deeper cut, but it's essentially, you know, it's about, you know, not not wasting time in your life, but kind of, you know, taking every opportunity to to enjoy and to kind of follow the follow the path that you want to go down without kind of wasting any time.

00;30;48;25 - 00;30;50;20
Michael Splann
So that would probably be my theme song.

00;30;50;22 - 00;30;53;22
Stasia Walmsley
Excellent. Have you had a chance to see Dave in concert?

00;30;53;23 - 00;30;55;18
Michael Splann
I have, yeah, quite a few times.

00;30;55;19 - 00;31;27;28
Stasia Walmsley
Oh, thank you. Yeah. Awesome. So maybe our producer, Chris Judge, can, can. Maybe we'll find that song and it can play us out. But I want to thank you so much for both of you for being here, especially after, you know, in the I should say, in the midst of a very busy admission season. And good luck as we roll into 2023 and finalize the next part of the process and go through the spring welcoming our class of 2027.

00;31;28;11 - 00;31;29;06
Stasia Walmsley
Thanks so much.

00;31;30;04 - 00;31;30;17
Megan O'Rourke
Awesome.

00;31;30;17 - 00;31;31;21
Michael Splann
Thanks. Thank you so much.

00;31;32;16 - 00;31;53;15
Stasia Walmsley
Thank you for listening to the Providence College podcast. I'm your host, Ayesha Walmsley, here with Chris Judge. Subscribe to the Providence College Podcast in all the usual places, including iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher, Google Play and Spotify, as well as on your smart speaker. And if you like what you hear, please subscribe and share. Thanks for listening.