From the moment I entered the city of Boston, MA I felt a nice change in atmosphere and tone—a little less hustle-and-bustle and the people were incredibly nice—a welcomed departure from New York City. With over 50 colleges in its vicinity, I could tell why Boston is a great place for a student. There is a distinct ambiance present there—a great balance between calm and excitement, and sociality and big-city anonymity. This is good mix for college-goers looking to make friends and still being able to slip effortlessly into that mental study-zone.

 

Located at the heart of the city was Emerson College, the institution I chose to visit. With its buildings facing the famous Boston Common park, it basks in all the great qualities of Boston. Emerson’s niches are Communications (TV/Film/Radio) and Performing Arts. It doesn’t have a campus but consists of several buildings. The students there referred to this as Emerson being “very vertical.” Not that a campus is needed with Boston Common right in front! However, the buildings do have lounge rooms that are quiet and sport an impeccable view of the city.

 

The majors that interested me at this college were Film Production and Marketing. And what I learned was that Emerson is a premiere Communications school. Touring their facilities with my friendly tour guides, I learned of all the support the college provides its creative students. Almost every floor in all the buildings provides Apple and Microsoft computers with the latest creative software. For more technical equipment, the college provides several “Quiet Rooms,” studio spaces, latest camera/sound equipment, and pretty much everything one needs to bring to fruition his or her feature film or full-fledged production company. This support includes funding because some projects will allow you a stipend. This also includes providing students with connections: besides the students themselves, Emerson boasts a canon of faculty currently employed by major film studios and TV networks. As pointed out to me, many employees at companies like CNN and HBO are Emerson alumni—which ties to its great internship program. The college also has an internship program located in LA to which you can transfer once you are ready (like Banking or Politics, if you want to get into Hollywood then you should be where the action is).

 

For film majors it’s good to know that Emerson also teaches celluloid, digital-less, production. As my tour guide mentioned, editing on a laptop and knowing how to actually cut film instills in you two very different work ethics. Equally-prestigious Communications schools like NYU-Tisch actually no longer teach a celluloid workflow as of 2013.

An absolutely amazing feature of the college is the EVVY awards. This is an Oscar-like award show organized by students (turns out it’s the largest student-led TV production in the country!) where all types of student works are judged by real industry professionals (e.g.: Saturday Night Live writers). This year, Emerson student Hearin Ko was selected by the actual Oscars committee to be a trophy-presenter on stage.

 

Next up was my class visit. Titled “History of Media Arts,” the short hour class addressed so much: the entire history of the company Warner Bros.—its numerous buyouts and merges and what this means industry-wise; we discussed what creates an art-house-hit; and we analyzed the use of colors and rhythmic editing in the seminal blockbuster, Jaws (1975). Our discussions were friendly and open. The students were mostly young Caucasians with a few minorities and older students present. I really enjoyed the engaging opinions that circled the room. I encountered a promising trade-off in our conversations: I noticed how much more knowledgeable than I these younger students were about the filmmakers’ artistic choices, but how much more insightful I was—as an older student (24), my experience benefited me.

Some great guidance from the Admissions Officer I spoke to: Dorming is given priority to freshmen. The college provides a solid network of transfer students who assist each other in finding local housing and other support. The acceptance rate for Fall and Spring applications is the same. However, there is less time for one to find housing and prepare if applying for Spring. Every student gets a dedicated advisor.

 

Overall, Emerson is one of the institutions that should be on the list of someone interested in Screenwriting, Film or TV Production, Acting, Performing on Stage, or absolutely anything concerning the Entertainment industry, which I definitely am!