Emerson College
- 4 Year
- BOSTON, MA
CollegeGrad School
Emerson College Reviews
Rating 3.5 out of 5 1,161 reviews
I like the diversity and creativity of Emerson College. It's really great college to make independent films.
While Emerson College is full of students with proactive mindsets and creative minds, their academics aren't as helpful when engaging those skills. The classes may be interesting, but a lot of them offer no real life skills that can be used. In my business class, we learned little to nothing about the actual economic system or any marketing strategies. We had to learn in creative ways that may have been fun, but did little to teach us useful skills.
I personally didn't like it because no one was friendly even if you were friendly to them. It was incredibly difficult to make friends because of this. There was also no party scene and no real sense of community among students. I liked my classes and felt like I learned a lot in my first year however.
Excellent community of people, I love the people I've met, my professors, and the classes I'm taking. Unfortunately, the administration could use some work. There are a lot of admin offices that are kind of useless, in my experience, and it can be pretty frustrating to try to deal with them. In addition, there are a non-insignificant amount of students and professors that are racist or ableist, and a not-insignificant amount of student predators that the school doesn't really acknowledge or deal with. I wouldn't say I regret going here, because I love my friends and the education I've received, but these are things I feel it's important to note going in. If you want to stay safe, you have to rely on your personal community, because the school itself won't help.
Emerson College is an ambition-focused environment that prepares you for the reality of your career choice. I am indebted to their career services, mentorship opportunities, and professors who were - for the most part - working in the field. It's best for extroverted, liberal, and hard-working minds who love participating in extracurricular activities.
Not so good but not bad. People are friendly but also not really. Very low diversity and hard to get a good social life as a non-white student. Nice equipment and nice professors, but some of them have strong preferences in industry and will not teach you about all aspects of the course because all syllabi are made by professors, and it's different in each section. Hard to know what the course is about before you enroll and actually see the syllabus.
I enjoyed Emerson because I learned so much about Journalism about one of the best schools in the country. Although, things were a bit rough socially, I made some wonderful lifelong friends there. I would change how they deal with financial aid. I don’t expect to give full rides to all but at least they make them more decent and worth applying and earning for anyone who came from a difficult financial life.
I love Emerson for so many reasons, but mainly because of how unbelievably prepared I feel for my career, even as a freshman. I have the opportunity to be a part of extracurriculars that build my resume, introduce me to connections in my chosen industry, and some I can get free credits for. On top of this, my professors know everyones names in classes because of small course sizes, and want to see you succeed.
The college is amazing and in the most perfect location. Being in the center of Boston culture and Boston life is one of the most inspiring places to be, especially for an arts college. Inspiration is certainly everywhere.
Emerson does a number of things quite well- the student body is passionate, driven, and motivated, and works tirelessly to create incredible productions and projects. On-campus organizations are popular and most students are involved, allowing students to gain professional experience before graduating. Professors are knowledgeable and understanding, and small class sizes allow for strong student-professor relationships. Unfortunately, a joke among students says that everyone has considered transferring at least once. I have not found the academically and creatively challenging environment I thought I would at Emerson, and this is extremely frustrating. I do not find the student body to be open-minded- the culture is often performative, judgmental, and superficial. The administration is a constant disappointment- students are not permitted to use most school theaters for sold-out plays, and tuition rates are constantly rising. I do not feel the education I have received is an 80k one.
Transferring out. Came into with a creative writing major with a focus in poetry and have not written one poem since getting here. Extremely unhappy and is isolating for introverts. Hard to make friends; very few nice and not snobby people.
The Emerson community is amazing: I love the area of Boston and being surrounded by students passionate about the arts. My professors have all been intelligent, kind, and (mostly) easy to communicate with. My high school was very diverse and this is a huge shift compared to that. I am glad to be studying film and minoring in digital media, and am looking forward to taking some playwriting and game design electives. As all Emerson students do, I really dislike SEAL (student leadership) as they make students’ extracurricular lives much harder than they have to be. Administration is fine, I just wish they would answer my questions directly instead of consistently forwarding my emails to other people.
Emerson College has wonderful programs and is filled with wonderful people. The environment promotes education and pushing yourself to your fullest potential. The only thing that is negative about Emerson is the cost and the lack of financial aid. The classes are great and the professors all have real world professional experience in their respective fields.
The campus is very conveniently located. Since the school is so small, the staff and professors are able to focus extra attention on students and help them. The community is also very close knit.
I had a roomate who was extremely antisemitic. I moved out of my room because every time I was there, they treated me horribly. I moved into a friend’s apartment off campus and it took housing two weeks to find me a new room. often, housing had not communicated with each other and were not aware of the situation I had previously told them about in detail. I felt unsafe on campus and did not have the bandwidth most days to go into the room I was paying for. There are so many things I love and appreciate about Emerson but this really turned me off, especially because it’s my freshman year and my resident director was very dismissive
I can't speak for other departments, but the WLP program at Emerson is amazing. The professors are exceptional and strive to make class interesting as well as connect with you. There are lots of resources available, but you have to find them and make use of them yourself. Do your research, make calls and appointments, look for info on the campus posting sites. The Backstage Deli is definitely the best place to get food. However, the dining plans are a bit annoying, as you either have too many meals that go to waste or you have to ration yourself. As well, tuition - it is increasing every year and the administration is not clear on where all of it goes. Especially because there have been issues with faculty not making livable wages, this is frustrating. As well, financial aid is incredibly low. While a career in the arts is hard, there are resources available at Emerson to help you achieve what you dream of, but you have to be determined and work hard for it.
Emerson has really great and supportive teachers. I also so deeply appreciate the staff working in the school's Healing and Advocacy Collective, who have been nothing but supportive of me during my time here. However, I have yet to meet a community of people who share my various identities here. Emerson has some great clubs that support students of color, but I don't feel particularly supported by the school itself. It sometimes feels like they don't value me or my voice. The school has also been ranked worst financial aid in the country. I personally was not given amazing financial aid, and my attempt to appeal was immediately rejected. This school claims they want to help shape me to change the world, but I am seeing a lot of what's wrong with the world in the first place in the institutional structure of this school. I love the students I have met over the course of this year, but the institution over us needs to do better. We deserve to feel like we are wanted and belong here.
Most of us are new to Boston, adjusting is hard. Residency life sucks here, Upper management handled things very problematically, especially those who in charge of monitor the residency place?. Dorm brings all troubles. Smokes, less time weeds.. But it does appear. Three year commitment to a tiny dorm you need to get serious documentary to get out here, and if you got your docs you even need to do an interview. I would agree about cliquey mostly depends on race. Something I would say I loved is my professors, they are nice and warm. Overall as a beginning three months freshman student, I don't feel happy here, feel DIED already lol.
people are fine - cliquey, but it's basically like high school so if you were fine there, you'll probably be fine here. my biggest piece of advice is to be outgoing because otherwise it can be really isolating. i am a journalism major and the faculty are CLEARLY experienced and passionate about the field. it's a competitive environment, but it's not an obnoxiously difficult workload. my best piece of advice would be to refine your time management skills if that's not something that you are already strong in. orgs are great and an awesome way to find community and boost your resume, they offer a ton of hands-on experience.
The people were great, the location was great, but the program wasn't for me. I was looking fore a more technical program, but they were focusing a lot on theory.