Emerson College Top Questions

The best thing about Emerson is the fabulous cafe in Piano Row where you can get waffle fries. I'd definitely add steak tips to the caesar salad over chicken (which is cold btw). I don't really hang out with Ivy-Leaguers so people think I must be smart to go to Emerson. Can't stand the library though, or studying. Love novelty and pats on the back. Boston's a rotten whore inside, most blatantly so around the Emerson area of Downtown. Crackheads, hipsters, old architecture, narcotics, and social control. Independent thought is an illusion! Just give in and enjoy the branding. Starbucks for the elite, Dunkin' Donuts for the masses. Whose side are you on?

The best thing about Emerson is the plethora of opportunities made available. We have a great location in the heart of downtown Boston. With a student body of about 3,200 undergrads and 900 graduate students, the school has an intimate but not stifling feel. The majority of the students are white, although Emerson is actively trying increase diversity.

Emerson has amazing programs in the arts, and a location in the heart of the city. People always react positively when I say that I go there, citing some famous alumni or successful grads. There isn't really a campus to speak of, but I like that, because campuses feel like isolated bubbles to me and I'd rather be in the "real world." The administration is notoriously disorganized, though. Financial aid is tough, there isn't enough space on campus for performances/meetings, and registration is a nightmare. They have, however, acknowledged that the school is growing, and they're building more dorms and meeting space.

Everyone is very focused on their major- which is all well and good, because it's good to be passionate about what you do, but some people are so focused it's like nothing else in the world exists. There are film majors who know every single thing there ever was to know about film, but who act like don't know anything else. Crack a book once in a while!

The best thing about Emerson is the location. I've never been content to sticking to the same 3 blocks constantly, because the Boston Common is one of my favorite places in the world. We are in such a primo location - close to all T lines, Newbury Street, Government Center, a 25 minute walk to North End.. all amazing. School's a great size. Overall, I've enjoyed the Emerson experience except for my fellow students. I find it is very hard for me to fit in because I don't the fit the mold of the trendy, hipster kids who are all skinny and listen to Azure Ray and wear big sunglasses and get drunk 3 days a week. I wish there were more down to earth people here that could go past the stupid facade and just get to know people for who they are.

The best thing about Emerson is that it doesn't have a traditional campus. College life is still big on campus, but it's not really in your face. Especially if you just show up to go to class. There are also many bars located in the immediate area, which definitely made class more bearable. It's in the center of downtown, so the location is great and Boston is the biggest college town in the US, so it's alright in that regard. The administration seems to be your typical business people who are lining their pockets. There is a lot of school pride I guess, but not from me. The real best thing about Emerson is you can live in a castle for a semester for about the same price as a normal semester and all you need to do to get accepted is write an essay stating why you'd like to go.

Our school is a small, pretentious, private school with little major variation. I would have been happier with more major choices. The classes I really enjoyed were the ones I did for my minor, not major. I always felt trapped in my major...like I had no way out. People usually react to the "I go to Emerson" phrase positively. They usually say something along the lines of "That's a good school" or "So you're into Theatre?". Emerson is known for being one of the best performing arts schools in the nation while still having high academic standards. Emerson's Administration was pretty bad when I was there. We had a "walk-out"protest against the president Jackie Liebergot when I was a sophmore. Just about the entire school ran around the city of Boston with orange scarves, chasing down Jackie chanting "Rob and Jackie have to go Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho!" The most frequent student complaints come from cafeteria food both in Boston and abroad. People also complain about how we don't really have a campus because of our location. Another popular complaint is that Emerson does very little to help students transferring in adjust. My first few semesters were somewhat lonely because I was living with my parents (i was not offered any form of housing). People who spend their freshman year in an Emerson dorm meet so many people and love being at school and doing extracurriculars. I knew many transfer students who didn't really know anyone but me and were living in random apartments with people they barely even knew because Emerson wouldn't offer them housing either. One experience I will always remember was my semester abroad at Kasteel Well. Emerson owns a castle in the Netherlands (not Holland! That is politically incorrect to say) and every semester about 80 kids get to go there. I had a Eurail pass and was only 20 minutes from the closest (and one of the cheapest) airports in Europe. I went to 13 countries in the course of 4 months and had experiences like Para-gliding off of the top of the Swiss Alps in Gryon, going on a pub crawl to Reykjavik's best bars that lasted until 5am, and meeting one of my all-time favorite metal bands Dragonforce at a concert in Groningen, Netherlands. The best part about this program is that it is through Emerson, so you can go abroad & not worry about credits transferring correctly or that there will be no one speaking English in any of your classes :-)

If you go to class, you're going to get a great education. The Netherlands study abroad program is probably the coolest thing you could ever do. The best part about Emerson is it's located in the heart of Boston. Your campus is the Boston Commons and your a hop, skip, and jump away from the Charles River, Theatre District, Chinatown, Fannueil Hall, etc. Just know you are going to encounter a lot of truly opinionated, "entitled" kids. This is an artsy fartsy, pseudo-political school. Moderates/Republicans beware.

Emerson is the best. We're elitest about our school. We produce great work and have the experience other kids don't. Our campus really is the city, especially once you hit your junior year and most students life off campus. Oh and we do have good sports teams!

The school is too small, there's no real common area for student socializing. I spend pretty much all my time in classrooms. The administration has poor communication skills. We didn't receive something as simple as our student email addresses until roughly three weeks before move-in.