Emmanuel College in Boston is truly a hidden gem. Boston is known for its colleges, but once you remove the uber-selectives, the niche schools and the “Boston” schools that are actually in the suburbs, you’re left with very few institutions. This is where Emmanuel comes in. Emmanuel was founded in 1919 as a Catholic college for women and went coed in 2000. Located in the Fenway, Emmanuel has 1800 undergrads, but as a member of the Colleges of the Fenway consortium, students can use facilities, join clubs, eat in dining halls, and cross-register for classes at Wentworth, Simmons, Mass College of Art & Design, and MCPHS.

Emmanuel offers housing for all 4 years and most students live on campus. Opportunities in Boston abound: tickets to the MFA and the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum are free, there's a special night at both the Celtics and the Boston Ballet’s Nutcracker once per year with discounted tickets, and Red Sox tickets are $9. 70% of the students are female, and 25-30% are athletes.

Classes are small: our tour guide's biggest class was 25. Two religion classes are required, one in the Catholic tradition. Most popular majors are Biology, Psychology, Communication & Media, Business, Elementary Ed and Nursing, which is the only direct admit and the most selective program: the acceptance rate is 40%, and the average GPA of admitted nursing students is 3.85w. Experience in health care is a bonus, but math and science grades are paramount: AP Bio, AP Chem, or Anatomy & Physiology is ideal. Precalc is a must, stats a bonus, and calc is even better - it doesn’t have to be AP. A’s in math and science are best; B’s are acceptable. The first nursing cohort entered in 2018 with 35 students and has grown to 100, with no further plans to expand. They’ve put a significant investment into the nursing program including new sim labs in 2020 and have added faculty every year the program has grown. And the past 3 years, they’ve had a 100% first-time NCLEX pass rate. With world-class hospitals within walking distance, most nursing students turn their senior clinicals into a job upon graduation.

Business is also strong: students are required to have 2 internships, first-year salaries for accounting majors are about $80K, all finance and economics majors are Bloomberg certified by graduation, there’s a 2-year-new finance and analytics lab, and the university has connections with the Red Sox for internships for the sports management students. Through the Emmanuel Business Collaborative, business majors are paired with a local mentor senior year. Data science is a new major, as is Biotechnology with a science or business track.

The campus is immaculate and the facilities are gorgeous. Direct billed costs are $70K, but merit scholarships are available up to $30 and most students get something. Emmanuel is also need-blind. Demonstrated interest matters, so please visit and interview! For students hoping to go to college in Boston, seeing Emmanuel is a must!

 I had a great visit to Emmanuel College in Boston yesterday, another College of the Fenway. First of all, it must be said that the dining hall food ties for first place among all the colleges I have ever visited. But I'm starting with the icing on the cake. Let me get to the meat of the matter. At Emmanuel, career services is a 4-year program. There is a first-year course required of freshmen where they learned all about LinkedIn and networking. By sophomore year, they're doing mock interviews. There are internships junior year and job fairs senior year, with employers coming to campus to recruit. After 4 years of college, students need to get a job and Emmanuel understands and supports that. Also there is a wonderful tradition here in the spring of sophomore year where students declare their major with a formal pinning ceremony and families are invited for this wonderful event. Emmanuel is very generous with merit scholarships, awarding them up to $28,000 per year. But do not underestimate this academic powerhouse. They have had 14 Fulbright recipients since 2011 and 39 students who have received funding to present research at national conferences since 2018. With majors in business, education, liberal arts, nursing and more, there's a lot to dig into here. Lastly, with their president retiring, there's there's a search going on to replace her, and it will be interesting to see where he or she takes Emmanuel!