Get Out!

Since so many of us at Emerson are so enthusiastic about the place, precocious prospective students always ask what we don't like about Emerson. My advice to any incoming freshman also answers this question.

At any college, you will invariably find a "bubble" -- a little microsociety, with its own rules and lexicon and boundaries. I think one of the most important things for incoming students to remember is that the bubble -- be it the Emerson bubble, or wherever you wind up at college -- is just that. A bubble. It's something that's worth escaping from time to time, no matter how wonderful it can seem when you're inside.

If you've toured our residence halls here, you know how easy it is get comfy in the bubble. In apartment-style suites, you have small kitchen area, you have your minifridge, you have 62 channels of cable, you have wireless internet, and you have all your friends under one roof (or, if they live in another hall, right down the street). If you get too distracted with all that, you give yourself very few excuses to leave. And that might by okay, if you're going to school in a rural area, where the bubble offers more activity than you'd find outside.

But Emerson is located in Boston, the greatest college town in America. Which brings me to what I don't like about Emerson: it can sometimes be too easy not to leave. It can be too easy to forget all the opportunities and sights that you won't see sitting in your dorm room watching Quentin Tarintino movies with your film-major roommate.

Once you do leave, though -- once you get out and explore the city, with its museums and parks and restaurants and people and (if you're of age) nightlife -- all the life you'll find will make you so very grateful to go to school in such a dynamic place. We've been blogging all semester about the great things to do and see in the city. Don't sell your experience short by sitting inside the bubble -- as pleasant as that may sometimes be.