Boston is nationally recognized and considered one of the best college towns. The city itself contains a wide variety of academically prestigious schools ranging from Harvard, Northeastern, Boston University, Berklee, MIT, Boston College, and more. However, there is a subtle charm found within the small college that occupies Boylston Street across from the Boston Common in Downtown Boston known as Emerson College. Emerson diverts from the traditional university norm, with no large acre campus or many academic buildings, but its small size brings a sense of community among the students who attend the school. Here are some reasons why you should consider Emerson College as the college for you in Boston.
Do not be fooled by Emerson’s small size as an university because in terms of big recognition the school was rated 7th place in Best Colleges of Regional Universities. More notably Emerson is ranked as one of the top Journalism schools in the country according to College Factual and one of the top 10 schools for film by the Hollywood Reporter. Emerson’s credentials for its academic courses focused on the arts makes it a credible choice for students passionate in the fields of writing, filmmaking, acting, and more.
Emerson’s small size as a school ensures that the majority of the classes you take there contain typically 30 people or less. Having small classes compared to typical university lecture halls allows you to have a more personalized relationship with your professor allowing full attention and guidance to help with your academic needs versus a professor who does not even know your name or face in a class full of hundreds of faces.
In addition, small classes diminish intimidation and allow you to connect with the few students within your class. Most commonly, your professor at Emerson will schedule one on one sessions with you to meet and discuss any of your questions or concerns with the class.
The greatest benefit of all in attending an art college like Emerson is the focus on taking courses relevant to your major instead of wasting your time with a basic course that you’ll never use in your writing or filmmaking career. Emerson straight up allows you to enroll into at least 2 courses that deal with your major. Though you may have to fulfill your history, literature, and science credit at least you do not have to worry about Calculus on your schedule.
Not many colleges can say they own an actual 14th century castle in Europe, but Emerson owns a medieval castle located in the Netherlands. Known as the Kasteel Well Program, students have the opportunity to study abroad in Emerson’s abroad campus for either an entire fall or spring semester.
The Kasteel program is a great way to knock out your general education curriculum courses, while simultaneously being able to explore a new country. Additionally, the program encourages students to take weekend trips to other surrounding European countries allowing you to have full control over your adventure needs and not just studying all the time. However, an important disclaimer about the Kasteel Well program is students have to apply one year in advance in order to be apart of the program, so get started on your application!
For most film students working in Hollywood is a dream and Emerson allows that dream to be a reality with their campus on Sunset Boulevard in the heart of Los Angeles. The LA program allows students to pursue internship opportunities with professional companies in Los Angeles that correlate with your major.
The LA program is mainly intended for Juniors and Seniors for either a full fall or spring semester. Specifically, Emerson College’s Career Services department will be your best friend in helping you find the best internship opportunity for your future career goals and to boost up your resume for future employers
Some people may want the traditional large acre college campus full of trees, plants, and fresh cut green grass, but when you go to college in Boston in the winter the outdoors are the least of your concerns. That’s why Emerson College’s campus being technically one strip of buildings on Boylston plus the Ansin Building across Tremont Street is a blessing when it comes to quickly getting to your classes.
Instead of having to hike across the campus to your class or wake up 30 minutes early to walk to your class on time, you can literally roll out of bed and take a 2 minute walk to your classes at Emerson. However, be warned your biggest enemies on being late to your classes at Emerson consist of slow elevators and the walk signal across Tremont that may take 10 eons to change.
Most colleges contain a student run radio station and some of the times a professional NPR radio station, but not many colleges allow the students to get involved with the professional station. Emerson College’s professional radio station known as, 88.9 WERS, is professionally ran but student managed and allows students to get hands on professional experience with the radio industry.
WERS has multiple teams within the station for students to get involved in such as: writing, graphic design, videography, live mix, photography, music selection, and radio hosting. Though, WERS is open towards students, the team leaders of each division do require a application process to get involved with the station, so go ahead and start filling out that application at the beginning of the semester and acing that in person interview.
Typically most colleges every now and then give out free movie tickets for college students to enjoy, but the Paramount Theater in Downtown Crossing hosts free weekly movie screenings. Known as Bright Lights, the Paramount Theater hosts free screenings of some of the top film festival rated films and sometimes unreleased films hosted by the director. Not only are you saving your college budget from splurging on films, but you get to enjoy the film in Emerson’s own beautiful and historic theater.
Emerson’s student demographic consists of a group of students extremely passionate about their majors. Additionally, from writers to actors to filmmakers, talent is found within the student body everywhere, and being in an environment full of talent and passion pushes you to want to do your best and enhance your skill set. Though competition is very prevalent at Emerson, the competitiveness will ultimately help you learn new things and learn how to work with other people.
Though the cost is the biggest negative about Emerson College that you’ll find the majority of the student population complains about, the skills, friends, and knowledge you obtain from Emerson outweigh the cost and serve as a major catalyst towards your dream career.
Full of credible professors who once or are still professionals in the industry to an influx of passionate students, the small homelike feel of Emerson makes it a worthwhile place to pursue your higher education. In fact, you may find the tight knit community of Emerson to be beneficial even in the work field after you graduate with the Emerson Mafia potentially being your employer, with alumni occupying professional companies and industries all over the world.
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