Good luck!! Boston is a mess right now but I’m sure your tour of Emerson will be great. Bring patience and breathe!
I travel through Boston each day on my way to work. You need to give yourself an extra hour, imo, this week to get from Rte 128/95 to Emerson. Regardless of whether you drive or take the T. It may be better by Friday, but don’t count on it. Rush hour is pretty much underway by 6am. I like the bus or Amtrack idea. Although, if the T is having problems with the trains, is Amtrack?? If you take the bus or Amtrack to South Station, you could walk to Emerson from there.
You’d think Emerson would have the good sense to postpone the event given the extraordinary circumstances. It’ll will be a giant pain for every visitor. My recollection of attending an info session and tour there is that it was one of the least welcoming schools and made us feel like they were doing us a big favor by letting us in, so maybe I shouldn’t be surprised.
Boston is in better shape today, and so is traffic. However, be aware of the awful daily rush hour coming in from all directions, every day, snow or no snow.
My brother and brother in law both went to Emerson and have done very well.
Thank you everyone for your comments and advice. At the last minute, I was able to drive halfway to the Hartford area Thursday night and then the following morning we drove the rest of the way to Boston.
We left around 6 a.m., GPS said it was about an hour and a half and we flew all the way up until 20 miles outside of Boston where the traffic everyone noted here started. We made it by 8:30, which was the start of the event.
Anyhow, it seemed a lot of traffic is aggravated by the darn toll booths 2or 3 before reaching the city itself. We parked in the Revere Hotel garage at a discounted price. Going home was much easer and only took 3.5 hours.
Given the number of people there that had flown in for the event, I can see why they did not postpone. The school had hot coffee and tea available all day throughout the visiting areas and meeting rooms to keep us warm. Overall, not sorry we went, just wish the weather would have been better. I doubt anything could be done about the traffic.
The T alternative would not have worked yesterday as there were extensive delays and one line was just not running.
Good move driving part way night before. Glad it worked out. 
Have been wondering if you were able to get there safely! Thanks for the update.
The OP should be very happy they are NOT driving to Boston today…where they are getting another foot of snow!