Emerson College Top Questions

Emerson has amazing opportunities. Everyone has connections and it is very geared towards real life experience and focuses on your major. There are amazing extracurriculars at Emerson and I really have no complaints, I love it here. The one thing that is difficult is living in a suite. Living with 5 other girls is definitely not all it's cracked up to be.

The school is big enough that you know a lot of people but you definitely dont know everyone, which is nice. Parties here kind of suck, and it's hard to get into the bars around. Everyone smokes weed. It's definitely a college town, but like I said the parties are not as good as other schools, though a LOT of parties here are themed, which is fun. Great classes, small and interesting. There's an artsy style that most kids ascribe to. It's a pretty sweet school, but a lot of people here suck. Like, I'm not saying that with mass hatred towards everyone here, I myself am well liked to I'm not bitter, but everyone automatically assumes everyone else is dumber and not as talented as them, and they will talk down to you. Just dont take offense to it and do your own thing. Everyone here is talented...multi-talented...it's freaky.

Emerson is great if you know what you to do going in - this isn't really a great school for the undecided major. It has a great film program, and anything related to film is fantastic. The opportunities available through Emerson are fantastic for almost every major. The only weak spot I can think of is it's communications major, as well as the dance program. It has an AMAZING location - next to both Chinatown and Newbury street/ Beacon Hill, right across from the Boston Common and Gardens. Though it doesn't have a real campus, all of the buildings are located practically next to each other, so it's not entirely necessary. Most of the time is spent hanging out in friends dorms.

Emerson is a small, liberal, private school in the middle of Boston, which is a major college town. It is most noted for its film program and radio station. It's highly devoted to communications and the arts

Emerson has really put itself on the map and, at least in the world of media production, it's up there with NYU, USC, and UCLA in terms of quality. Students are constantly busy working on ten activites at once--everything from film shoots to plays to publishing, journalism, or stand-up comedy. If you're not ready to dive in and explore a bunch of extracurriculars at once, you're in the minority, at least during your freshman year. The school has been expanding rapidly in the last ten years, and the changes have been met with some praise and some loathing. The good news is that the expansions are leading to top-of-the-line buildings, like the Paramount Building, which'll be unveiled soon and includes a new theatre, sound stage, studio, screening room, rehearsal spaces, and dorm rooms. On the other hand, the cost of tuition is rising rapidly, and the school is making an effort to attract a new crowd of students. Whereas Emerson has often been a haven for artistic high school misfits, it's now catering to the more mainstream bunch--which is cool in some ways, but also causes the college to lose parts of what make it unique.

The best thing about Emerson is how open-minded and accepting the general student and administrative body can be. You can start any group at Emerson as long as it isn't morally evil or illegal. There truly is something for everyone at Emerson, pardon the cliche.

The best thing about Emerson is the networking. My journalism professors have a journalistic background and most professors have actually worked in the business of whatever it is they're teaching. At least in the journalism field, you get people practically begging for Emerson interns because the school has such a good reputation. People in the field are impressed when I tell them I go to Emerson. The school is pretty small but by no means isolated - it's right in the middle of Boston, close to a lot of other colleges, and there are plenty of things to do. Financial aid is a big issue and students tend to get very little. Tuition fees are high and rising by approximately another $2000 next academic year. You are only guaranteed housing for the first year of college - when you're no longer a freshman, you have to get your own apartment in the area. Rent is ridiculous (I live in an apartment 20 minutes' walk away and I pay $1300 a month) so most people live further out and commute every day. The biggest controversy this year was that Emerson ran out of housing so a bunch of freshman are living in nearby hotels for the year. Emerson is building more housing which should be ready in... I think 2010.

The best thing about Emerson is definitely it's size. It's small enough that the students get individual attention from their teachers. If anything, I would change the fact that we don't have a campus, but the Boston Common makes up for that! People are genuinely happy for me when I say I go to Emerson, and it's great because I get to spend so much time in the Theater.

Outside of Boston, people have never heard of Emerson. Occasionally someone recognizes it in association with liberal liberal arts schools. In Boston, people usually are familiar with Emerson and assume you're pursuing some crazy career in poetry that will never materialize into any substantial income. Boston is the ultimate college town, but thats not a bad thing. There are plenty of events at other campuses and plenty of students to meet in different schools. Just when you get sick of the Emerson artsy bunch, you can head off to Boston University for some good down time with frat house bros. But at least they recognize that you've been accepted into one of the best schools for starving artists. It's just the right size-- you can make friends and acquaintances without feeling like a face in the crowd, but you don't have to run into your ex-boyfriend on every corner. The administration at Emerson takes pride in the schools reputation. So much so that they spend all their money on expensive new buildings and other, more superficial investments. This isn't the worst thing they could be spending money on, but for students who are paying tens of thousands of dollars to see little pay off, it can be a little frustrating. School pride at Emerson consists of artsy Emerson students hating on artsy Emerson students.

The best thing about Emerson is that people try really hard at what they are doing. That isn't to say that they are talented. But they do think that they are. The majority of people are talented in various forms of art and dabble in a lot of different areas outside of their major. Majors definitely define people. Film majors and theater majors and marketing majors can be seen miles away. The school is small enough to know everyone's friends' but big enough because no one really lives on campus. Something that sucks is that teachers aren't necessarily professors (with doctorates) but are often from the industry that they teach. This is a positive and a negative because they know what they are saying but they don't really know how to say it most of the time. All of the minors and gen eds are pretty ridiculous and not as challenging as any similarly tiered school. It is in the middle of Boston. Yeah, that's awesome. Everyone lives all over the place. People go to each other's apartments a lot. This makes it hard to make friends. If you didn't live in a dorm for a year or two you are pretty much screwed when it comes to making friends unless you are friendly. I don't know much about the clubs. I think the administration is really lazy. I transferred and no one was helpful in the slightest. It's pretty much DIY everything. The dining hall is expensive the food is ok. The dorms are nice but not enough to house that many people. There isn't really school pride. Some people flaunt that they go here but not many. There is little to no racial diversity on campus. Many, many jews and many fallen Christians. Yet everyone identifies as "agnostic". No one is politically conservative.