Whats up everyone...I don't post here often, but I've been a member for about 2 years now so I figure that makes up for it.

Anyway, yesterday, I was ecstatic to find out I got into my first choice, Emerson, especially after being deferred when I applied early action. I am not trying to brag here, and I feel for anyone who got rejected from Emerson, it was really competitive this year, and I'm thankful to whoever looked at my application and decided I could get in. Anyway, I will be going there this fall, and I know there are a few members of this site who go there, after I posted a similiar topic back in december. So I have a few questions, if you could answer them, I'd really appreciate it, keep in mind, what you say wont change my mind about going there, so be honest.

Anyway here are my questions:

1.) I was raised on Digital Filmmaking and I know I will eventually have to switch to film, but is it an easy transition at Emerson? Do they understand that some people have never been exposed to film cameras?

2.) Emerson has a rep for being a "Unique Person/ Artsy School", and although I consider myself unique and love art and film with all my heart, I dont know if I would consider myself artsy. I actually look like I play linebacker for my highschools football team. I also go to a very socially diverse school so its not like I have a problem with Artsy people, but i was wondering if there are people who would resemble me there. again, I dont have a single problem with artsy people so don't think Im some kind of mean close minded person, cause I'm not.

3.Are they cool with final cut, or should I start practicing Avid.

4.What classes can I take freshman year...film and academic.

5.How is the social life there.

6. I don't smoke weed, will people think I'm a loser.

7.My college book says Emerson is 90% white, which is my only beef with it, has it gotten anymore diverse?

8. A friend's boyfriend will be attending Emerson next year. he is an all county soccer player and will be playing for the team. Are sports at Emerson popular at all, because I have heard different. Are the teams good?

9.Anything else you can tell me about Emerson or their film program.


If anyone who goes there can answer some or all of these questions, it would be greatly appreciated. As you can probably tell from the length of my questions, Im a little nervous, as are all high school seniors probably. Again, thanks, and I'll be looking forward to seeing you next fall.

peace.

Hey congratulations on your acceptance! I am currently finishing up my freshman year there and I think I can give you a bunch of answers.

1.) You will switch to film production classes (Film 1) in sophomore year (either first or second semester, depending on how many general education requirements you can get out of the way). I have not taken any film production classes yet, but I know from some of my older friends that going from digital to actually shooting on 16mm was an “adjustment” - not easy, but not extremely hard. In Film1 you will first do a very short, silent black and white 16mm film (basically a small projects that allow you to get used to shooting with film, using lights, light meters, and other technical/aesthetic aspects of shooting on 16mm). The Visual/Media arts department absolutely knows that many students going to Emerson for film have never shot or been exposed to film. This is why they start you off slow, doing small projects with simple stories and no sound (you start dealing with sound in Film 2 and sync sound in Film 3). The only thing bad about starting the whole film production process is that film costs a lot more money than digital, and while most film schools give you a portion of film stock and a portion of minutes to get transferred, Emerson does not. Kodak gives you free 5 minutes of their film stock, and that’s it…you pay for the rest. (for reference, a 400 foot spool of color 16mm film costs about 90 bucks, that’s only 11 minutes, and that doesn’t include processing fees. Black and white is cheaper, but film is film, and it will be expensive)

2.) Don’t worry if you’re not artsy, while Emerson claims (or is assumed to have) a lot of artsy people, from my observations there is a fairly even ratio of artsy to nonartsy people. People are cool about it, it seems, there are no stupid high-school bullsh*t cliques that divide people like that. Don’t worry if you’re a jock, (or if you look like one, lol), at Emerson we have body types of all kind (haha, this sounds like an infomercial). It will probably just work to your advantage for sports (if you so choose to get involved in athletics) and for girls. Speaking of girls, there are a LOT of hot girls at Emerson. No joke, seriously, about 60 percent of the student body is female, and of the 40% that is male, between 60% to 70% of them are gay. No joke, so if you are single, that leaves a CRAPLOAD of (mostly single) girls to befriend…or….well you get the idea. But anyway, there are a lot of people that would probably resemble you there. By the time orientation was done on the first week of school, I already had about 10-14 friends, and I consider myself pretty introverted and shy. You don’t have to worry about people thinking that you are close minded, but I will warn you…if your political ideals are rather conservative (or if you’re not a democrat), you should probably be careful about who you tell. Don’t get me wrong, Emerson tolerates people of all political beliefs, but if you’re a republican, you probably don’t want to be shouting it everywhere. Oh, and don’t root for the Yankees. J

3.) They are definitely cool with Final Cut Pro. Most of their computer labs have it. They also do have Avid editing stations as well. Which is good because Avid is used more on a professional basis. You don’t have to learn Avid, but if you are interested in becoming an editor in the future, you should probably think about taking some training courses on it (which Emerson does offer periodically, I took a beginners one and it was very helpful). When you take Intro to Media Production your first semester, you will shoot everything digitally, and edit on Final Cut, so it’s a good thing if you know the program well because it will make the class very easy.

4.) Depending on how many General education classes you have taken care of (through AP credits and whatnot), you will take 4 classes (btw, I strongly urge that you take 4 classes, otherwise the workload gets pretty hefty). The four classes I had first semester were: Expository Writing (required unless you have AP literature credit), History of Media Arts 1, Digital Culture (Interdisciplinary requirement), and Intro to Visual Arts (Elective credit). Right now (second semester) I am taking these classes: Research writing (required), Fundamentals of Speech communication (speech requirement), History of Media Arts II, and Intro to Media Production.

5.) Social life is great. You’re practically in the center of Boston. People are very nice (from my experience so far), and it’s awesome for film students because there are a lot of good, public locations, and hell, there’s a huge Loews theater practically 50 yards away (if you’re going to be housing at 80 Boylston Street – the little building). Again, you will find people a lot like you, interested and passionate about making films, and other things,

6.) “I don’t smoke weed, will people think I’m a loser?” Haha, no, just a nerd. Just kidding, but seriously a LOT of people do smoke cigarettes for some reason, I don’t know why. Like any college, people will do drugs, but I’ve met a surprising amount of straight edge people (like me) here as well.

7.) Yeah, Emerson does have a lot of white people. But of course there is diversity, it may be somewhat small, but it’s there. Coming from a high school where 40% of my class was African American, it is a little strange. One of my roommates is actually black and through him I’ve met a bunch of really cool, different people. So from my perspective I think it’s pretty diverse, but then again, that’s only 1 opinion.

8.) I’ll be honest, sports aren’t that popular at Emerson. But a lot of it has to do with the fact that we don’t have a big gymnasium to hold sporting events (but we do have a weight lifting/exercising area at 80 Boylston). The teams are actually pretty good. Guys tennis always gets first in their conference, and the guys basketball team did excellent this year. Don’t know much about soccer, baseball, or any other sports they offer. But in professional sports, we got the best of both worlds for football and baseball (go Red Sox and Patriots!!)

9.) Despite the fact that Emerson has raised their tuition by 3 (or 4?) percent this year -- which sucks for the person(s) paying for your education -- Emerson is a great place. I only visited it once before I started attending, so I was a little nervous and unsure about how I was going to adapt to a school about 800 miles away (I’m from Chicago). It’s a very independent place, yet people are very connected in a way that I can’t really describe. I have about 18 friends and know about 40 more people (mostly from my dorm). It’s a great place to go for film and for a well-rounded education. It’s a little annoying that you don’t get to shoot film during freshman year, but it’s worth it because you get a lot of requirements out of the way, and get in some great film classes too. I heard it only gets better once all your classes start focusing on your major. You also get a good amount of free time as well (unless you’re in the honors program – which I dropped out of because it was really tough, time consuming, and annoying). You’ll definitely want to work hard, but it seems to come easily because a lot of people (and myself) at Emerson seem to be very intrinsically motivated to work (especially for their major). Another thing that’s awesome is that Emerson has the least amount of college days necessary. The school year starts September 14 (for sophomores/juniors/seniors) and September 6/7 for Freshman, and ends practically on May 1, giving you a 4 month summer. (Oh, and we don’t have to make up snow days either).

Damn, that was pretty long. I hope I answered those questions sufficiently, but definitely feel free to ask more if you want to. Once again, congratulations on your acceptance and, who knows, I might even meet you this September.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Trespasser,

haha, that comfirms it. how come everyone gets in but i get the shaft. i hope to god i get in through wait list, but none of my hopes are up.

im so depressed right now. its my damn SAT scores.

Thanks a lot...I guess I'm going to do a numbered response to everything you said, cause I'm bored and all of my friends are at college visits..

1. That sounds good...I was just worried that i'd get to class the first day and be the kid at middle school basketball tryouts who doesnt know how to dribble with their left hand....But the expensive film thing is making me think I should get a job soon.

2.Ha, I may look like a jock (I'm a pretty big guy) but I'm not, I couldnt make my school's football team if I tried, I play tennis. and Don't worry, I am a very liberal guy, though I dont like to shove it in peoples faces. Plus even though i live in New York, I hate the yankees, and cheered for the Bo Sox as they won this past fall. I am a mets fan though, might have to keep that a secret. That sounds good about the 60-70% gay and a lot of hot girls thing though...I am very pro-gay rights while being heterosexual myself and you can say I'm a fan of attrative girls.

3.Thats also good, might buy a book on avid just in case though.

4.sounds like interesting stuff.

5.yeah I've vistited Emerson twice, seems like an exciting place. I am considering putting the little building as my first choice on that littlee form they give you.

6.OK cool...Its not that big of a concern though, despite being straight edge I am really good friends with drug dealers at my school, and am usually the designated driver at parties I go to, I'm not afraid to admit it.

7.Yeah, my high school is about 40% African American as well...At least Boston is diverse though. but it seems like its more diverse than what the numbers imply.

8.Thats interesting..I was surprised when I found out that Emerson had a team name (the lions right?)

9.Sounds like a great place to be...And that 4 month summer has me smiling right now....thats crazy.

Again thanks for all the advice, you cleared up a lot of stuff that my princeton review of the 331 best colleges couldnt do. I am very excited, and yeah maybe we will cross paths, i will be the guy with no eye brow piercing rocking a mets jersey (ok maybe not)...thanks again...peace

kung fu naked mole rat studios

yeah SAT scores do suck..That was the reason i was deferred in December, because Emerson got a bunch of applicants with 1300s (I have a 1210)....I wish they werent a factor at all, who says that someone cant get into college because they arent that good at math and formulaic english...I have a lot of qualified friends who have gotten rejected from places for having lower SAT scores, while the people who did get in, are stupid in real life, but know how to memorize stupid things for the SAT. But cheer up, and good luck on getting in.

yeah, a job is definitely a good idea, but you won't have to spend much (or anything) until sophomore year so you still have 2 summers/years to get some extra cash.

And yes, the teams are called the Emerson Lions.

Thanks for that Trespasser! It helped me too. All good questions, and very good answers

Hey Trespasser, here's a question for you.

For people considering Emerson, is there anything that you think they should know that you didn't know before you went?

good question JW, it's good to know that there really isn't a "campus" mainly because it's literally in the city (I found this out during the tour obviously). One thing that I really wish I had knew was (like I mentioned earlier) that Emerson doesn't pay for film costs or processing (according to everyone I've spoken to.) Also, I wish I had known that you could only rent out film equipment for 1 day at a time (other schools I've visited let you keep it for 2-3 days at a time). OH, and I was rather pissed when I found out that there was not a single ping-pong table in any of the Emerson dorms/buildings (I'm being serious, I play table tennis A LOT). So far that's all I have to say, but if I think of something else, I'll post it.

thanks for the info.

i have a question. i hear that you can double major at emerson, and i am wondering if i can double major in film production and something different, like public relations. thanks.

Yes, you can definitely double major at Emerson (I know a guy who is double majoring, AND minoring in something - he's crazy though, so I wouldn't suggest doing that because the work load gets too much). But yeah, I know some people who are double majoring in film and TV/broadcasting. I'm not sure if there is public relations major (there might be, or there should be since this it is a school primarily for communication/arts).