Emerson College Top Questions

What are the most popular student activities/groups?

Eric

Make it Happen

Samantha

Strong TV community with EIV and the EVVY's. Strong comedy community and alumni. Strong theatre program with a lot of innovation. Lots of independent projects and student gigs to work on. The social scene is very work centered. Some drinking a drugs, mostly in small parties or to celebrate the end of a project. Not strong on Fraternitites/Sororities. Lots of people stick to their friends. Dating is out of the question but sexual exploration runs high. Strong Gay/Bi community. Not much of a campus, but when you do live in the dorms there are always people up and always people doing things. It feels like the Emerson student never sleeps. Weekends are spent on shoots or in rehearsals. Boston is our campus and there is lots to explore.

Shelby

Greek life is pretty small. And lame. The fraternity boys are tolerable because they're just really funny, but the sorority girls suck. They're (for the most part, there are exceptions to every rule) bitches and snobby and think they're better than everyone else, and they don't even throw parties like the frat brothers. Overall, it's really like Greek Life is this huge joke, and the people involved in it are the only ones who don't realize it. PS. The sorority girls usually aren't hot either--think the girls who WANTED to be popular in high school and couldn't, except since nobody who was popular in high school goes to Emerson, now they can pretend to be (but they're STILL not).

Kelly

I don't know about any of this. I've been avoiding Emerson "activities and social life" for four years.

Matt

Emerson's sports are notoriously terrible.

Dave

I avoided them, for the most part. Many of the activities are fairly clique-ish and competitive, although if you can squeeze your way in to one or two, it may be the only way to keep your sanity.

Sean

There is a ton of extra curricular stuff to be involved in at Emerson. There is much more to learn being on a film shoot than there is sitting in a classroom and talking about what happens on a film shoot. Living in the dorms is a great way to meet people for friends or relationships. I met my best friends at Emerson in the first week, and I plan on being friends with them for the rest of my life.

Diana

There are so very many organizations on campus that are great tools to learn from. Also this is a really good way to meet people interested in the same things as you. Emerson is a very social school, especially because it's very network based. Even if you tend to be a shy person, you really learn to open up to meeting new people and carrying yourself with confidence. I know that is something I definitely learned. Living in the dorms, especially for your first year, is an amazing way to meet and connect with people. Dorm living is always fun and really gives you that true "college experience". On campus there is never a shortage of events going on. You either head to the Cabaret to see a comedy show by one of the many troupes on campus, or catch a show in one of the theatres, or pick up the free tickets for another show off-campus that Emerson often likes to give away, or have fun somewhere out in the amazing city of Boston, or just chill with your friends in the dorm, having fun.

Kaitlin

The film groups on campus are big, Frames Per Second being the biggest. There are also many comedy groups. There are dance groups ranging from tap, hip-hop, ballet, and modern. I am a part of Emerson Dance Company which is all student choreography and is lots of fun. If you live in the Little Building people leave their doors open and you get to know everyone on your floor. From my experience this is the better dorm because it is more home-y and you can actually go to the common room and hang out with people. The other dorm Piano Row is all suites and everyone stays in their suite. Therefore you never meet anyone. I didn't know the people who lived across from me until I went to the Castle with them. If you live on campus you will hang out in a floor common room or a suite common room. Or you will just roam the streets of Boston looking for food (NYP is a frequent for late night snacks). Athletics are not popular but they do exist. Theater is huge, go see all the performances. If you don't want to drink just roam Boston and Harvard Square, see lots of movies. There are lots of party on the weekends in Allston as well as in Brookline and the North End.

Brittany

I feel I can't adequately address this issue, as I started at Emerson when I was 27, and have lived off campus (over an hour away) for the duration of my stay. So, I am not involved with the campus activities as a "normal" undergrad would be.

Carson

I don't know. I lived off campus and liked to keep my social life outside of Emerson. I think there are a fair amount of students that do that as well.

Sarah

Emerson has a TON of theatre and comedy troupes, as well as film majors looking for actors, producers, etc. If you're involved in communications or the arts, you'll be able to find something to do with your time. There's three frats, which is where the sports bros hang out, and a couple sororities, although I don't think they have houses. I have never been to a sports game, and I don't think it's very easy to attend them, since almost all of the teams have to practice/compete off-campus. Not really any college "traditions," like a giant end-of-the-year party or anything, although they do have a late-night buffet during finals week.

Nico

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Robert

It was difficult for me to find out about all the Emerson activities and extracurriculars, as well as the social life as I did not live on campus and was a transfer student, but I did manage to make the most of my time and friendships. PRSSA - Very beneficial!!! Meetings were always great to attend, informational, friendly, and usually had food and beverages served. Guest speakers were always great, especially during Career Week...amazing! Off campus, just go out to China Town, clubbing, or out to eat at the Prudential and/or South End.

Alex

Due to my marital and full-time employee status I didn't have much time to do extracirrcular activities, but I did try one semester with the Students for Publishing Club. I went to a few meetings that had key speakers come in and I found them to be extremely fun and helpful.

Jerry

There is SO MUCH to do on campus at Emerson. Most people I know are heavily involved in more than two organizations. Clubs range from the common (Emcomm marketing, Emerson Channel) to the uncommon (fencing, anime). I met my closest friends through my living situation, which was a suite of six girls freshman year. You can party, not party, drink or not drink as often as you want. You will always be able to find people will to do either.

Jody

There are a ton of activities to get involved with, and if you can't find it the common trend is to found it! The biggest and most unique aspect of the activities and social life is the huge comedy community at Emerson. There are at any given time about 6 permanent troupes and anywhere from 3 to 12 rotating troupes. There are tons of opportunities for film and theatre groups as well. Socially, while there are lots of off-campus parties most people spend their weekends and evenings on film shoots, in rehearsal, or working on their next project. Emerson students might party til 1 AM--but its much more likely they're up working until 6 AM.

Megan

Social life at Emerson is based predominantly on which organization and activities you participate in. There's the film crowd, the marketing crowd, the theater crowd...basically it's dependent on your major, and then once you start to get involved in things outside of class that have to do with your major, you meet people and those are typically the kids you hang out with the most often. I met my closest friends freshman year - we all lived on the same floor of the Little Building. We used to make music videos together every Friday, not for class, just for fun. That's the kind of thing you can expect to do here. People just want to get creative. Whether that means making films, taking pictures, recording music, whatever you want. The things we do for fun are the same things we're studying in class. Fraternities and Sororities aren't that important at Emerson. They do exist, and some of them certainly have a presence on campus, but greek life isn't something that's a very big deal. If you want to do it, you can, and if you don't, you don't. Nobody will judge you for it, which is pretty much how we treat everything here. Do what makes you happy, and we'll love you anyway. Last weekend I went a surprise 21st birthday party for a friend of mine, I went to a concert at the Paradise Rock Club, and I learned to juggle. Ha. The best part is that all of that is true. Man, Boston is great.

Peter

It is hard to get really involved if you live off campus, but living on campus is really expensive and kind of sucks.

Rachel

There are so many to fit any major or sport interest. A few that come to mind is Emerson's radio station, which thousands of people outside of Emerson listen to on a daily basis, Emerson's closed circuit television station, and Emerson Independent Video.