What are my chances? (Emerson College, Boston MA)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Emerson College
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I applied back in January and it’s crazy to think decisions are coming out a few weeks in April… the waiting was/is literal torture, lol. Anyways, I’m gonna be “that” person and ask a “what are my chances” question. Emerson is my top school, and I already got into Lesley University, Suffolk University, Columbia College Chicago, and Colby-Sawyer. I’m waiting on The New School still, but I think my chances are pretty good. I know Emerson’s a reach, though.

Cumulative GPA: 2.8 (yeah… I know. I failed geometry sophomore year which is why it’s low)
Senior year GPA: 3.9 (showing that upwards trend…)
EC’s: Literary magazine, art club, ukulele club, book club, band, improv club (program was cut after 10th grade), lacrosse (9th-10th grade)
Work: Hot Topic Sales Associate for two years
Excellent teacher recommendations
Honors English for 3 years
AP English senior year
Comes from single parent, low income household
I also took a class sponsored at Emerson during my senior year (hoping this sways them)
Submitted a non-required creative sample
Got additional rec letters from my teachers at the Emerson class (who also teach at the college)
Merit award in creative writing junior year
Major: WLP (writing, literature, publishing)
I think my essay was good. I wrote about dealing with depression and overcoming it. It was a very personal piece.

Emerson is my dream school, and if I don’t get in I’ll probably go to the New School… or I was thinking about going to Suffolk for a year and applying to Emerson as a transfer. Suffolk doesn’t really have what I want academically though.

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Oh! I forgot to mention I go to a private prep high school that I had to apply to get into. Also I was published in the Emerson literary magazine for the class I took.

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((Also I don’t know if this is important or not, but I saw other people posting their senior year schedules, so here’s mine:))

AP Literature
Band
Discrete Math (first sem)
Statistics (second sem)
Studio art (first sem)
Studio drawing (first sem)
Studio painting (second sem)
3D art (second sem)
Anatomy
Media Literacy (first sem)
Christian Living (second sem, mandatory for every senior)

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First of all, good luck. It is not easy to predict if yes or not you’ll be accepted, this is what I’ve learned with American Universities. My D applied in 2014, in acting, not accepted. Went to The New School. She dropped out after two weeks: did not like the program there, neither the way of teaching. She took a gap year, worked on her resume and reapplied to Emerson : waitlisted. But, before May 1st, they called her to accept her off the list. Emerson was her dreamed school, her stats were good. We were surprised how hard it was for her to be accepted.

My suggestions: if you live in or near Boston, don’t go to NY, very expansive for a start. Go to Suffolk and transfer to Emerson. You can reapply if Emerson is you dreamed school.

Other suggestion and this is what we did with my S. Because he was coming from a technical HS, and because he was very young, (19 years old now and in his second year of Associate Degree), I sent him to Bunker Hill Community College, so we won’t spend too much money when he did not really know what he wanted to study. Emerson has a good scholarship for students coming from this Community College : Next Step Emerson, it’s half tuition paid. He will graduate this spring with a General Education Degree. He choose classes that could transfer at Emerson. Their TRansefer coordinator was very helpful in that matter. Now he is applying as a transfer in the Junior Year. He took classes at Emerson in screenwriting. He took one class at BU too, in Film Production, and classes at Lesley when he was in HS, in Animation. Now he is applying at BU, Brandeis, Emerson, Suffolk and Umass Boston. But Emerson is his top choice. WE don’t know if our path is the best for him to transfer to Emerson, but I think it was a good idea anyway. No depts as far as today, a good general education at BHCC, time for ECs that are relevant considering where he wants to transfer.

So, if Emerson is where you want to go and if you cannot enter the first time you apply, consider a state university, a community college or Suffolk and retry the following year.

That said, good luck for this year, we never know with Emerson.

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Thanks for your answer and help! Community college isn’t an option for me, and I didn’t apply to any state schools. I will definitely consider staying at Suffolk for a year if I don’t get in though. I live 30 minutes outside of Boston so I’m very acquainted to the area.