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Emerson College Comprehensive Profile

71 awards Ranking Badges
Fair Price Value for Your Money
51% Acceptance Rate

If you want to know more about Emerson College, such as what majors does it offer, how diverse it is, how well it ranks, and more, this is your one-stop resource.

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* Rankings

How Does Emerson College Stack Up?

#288 Best Colleges in Nation
#20 Best Colleges in MA
Emerson College ranking badge

2026 Rankings

College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities in its annual rankings and ranks them in a variety of ways, including most diverse, best overall quality, best for non-traditional students, and much more.

Emerson College was awarded 71 badges in the 2026 rankings.

Overall Ranking

According to College Factual’s 2026 analysis, Emerson is ranked #288 out of 3,449 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality. This puts it in the top 10% of all schools in the nation.

Within the state, Emerson holds the #20 spot on the Best Colleges in Massachusetts ranking.

See all of the rankings for Emerson College.

How Difficult Is Admission to Emerson College?

51% Acceptance Rate
52% Of Accepted Are Women
16% Submit SAT Scores

Acceptance Rate

The acceptance rate at Emerson College is a competitive 51%, so make sure you take your application seriously when putting it together. Even leaving out a minor detail could be a reason to move you to the rejection pile.

Standardized Test Scores

About 16% of students accepted to Emerson submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 660 and 720. Math scores were between 610 and 700.

SAT Reading and Writing Scores for Emerson College  ( 660 to 720 )
200
800
SAT Math Scores for Emerson College  ( 610 to 700 )
200
800

Emerson received ACT scores from 5% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 29 and 32.

ACT Composite Scores for Emerson College  ( 29 to 32 )
1
36

Learn more about Emerson College admissions.

Faculty at Emerson College

14 to 1 Student to Faculty
32% Full Time Teachers

Class Sizes

With a student to faculty ratio of 14 to 1, Emerson College is about average in this regard as the nationwide rate is 15 to 1. While this does not translate directly to class size, it’s a good indicator of how much time professors will have to spend with their students on a one-on-one basis.

Percent of Full-Time Faculty

When estimating how much access students will have to their teachers, some people like to look at what percentage of faculty members are full time. This is because part-time teachers may not have as much time to spend on campus as their full-time counterparts.

The full-time faculty percentage at Emerson College is 32%. This is lower than the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  32 out of 100
0
100

Retention and Graduation Rates at Emerson College

88% Freshmen Retention
79% On-Time Graduation Rate

First-Year Student Retention

Emerson College has a freshmen retention rate of 88%. That’s a good sign that full-time students like the school and their professors enough to want to stick around for another year. It’s also a sign that the admissions team did a good job in choosing applicants who were a good fit for the school.

Freshmen Retention Rate  88 out of 100
0
100

Graduation Rate

Students are considered to have graduated on time if they finish their studies within four years. At Emerson the on-time graduation rate of first-time, full-time students is 79%. That is great when compared to the national average of 33.3%.

On-Time Graduation Rate  79 out of 100
0
100

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Emerson College.

Diversity Profile of Emerson College

4,145 Undergraduate Students
28.3% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
66.4% Percent Women

The current enrollment includes 4,145 undergraduates at Emerson.

Get more detailed information on the diversity at Emerson College.

How Much Does Emerson College Cost?

$16,772 Net Price
43% Take Out Loans
$26,124 Total Student Loans

The typical net cost at Emerson is $16,772. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group. See the table below for the net price for different income groups.### Net Price by Income Group for Emerson

$0-30 K $30K-48K $48-75 $75-110K $110K +
$31,412 $34,742 $39,297 $43,628 $55,833

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid. Note that the net price is typically less than the published price for a school. For more information on the sticker price of Emerson, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.

Student Loan Debt

Almost 66% of college students who graduated with the class of 2018 took out student loans, but that percentage varies from school to school. At Emerson, approximately 43% of students took out student loans averaging $6,531 a year. That adds up to $26,124 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 2.0%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you’ll be able to pay back your student loans. Get more details about paying for Emerson College.

What Do Emerson College Alumni Earn?

$62,832 Avg Salary of Grads
High Earnings Boost

Although some majors pay more than others, students who graduate from Emerson College with a bachelor’s degree go on to jobs where they make an average salary of $62,832 in their early years. This is good news for future Emerson College graduates since it is 28% more than the average college graduate’s salary of $49,219 per year.

See which majors at Emerson College make the most money.

Location of Emerson College

Massachusetts State
4,145 Undergraduate Students
Large City Campus Setting

Emerson College is a private not-for-profit institution situated in Boston, Massachusetts. Boston is a great location for students who prefer city over country life. Get more details about the location of Emerson College.

Location of Emerson College

Get in touch with Emerson College are given below.

Contact Details
Address: 120 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02116-4624
Phone: 6178248500
Website: www.emerson.edu
Facebook: www.facebook.com/EmersonCollege
Twitter: twitter.com/EmersonCollege

Emerson College Areas of Study

8 Majors With Completions
3,442 Undergraduate Degrees

In the most recent reporting year, students from 8 majors graduated from Emerson College. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.

Most Popular Majors Completions Average Salary of Graduates
Multi-Disciplinary Studies 1,721 NA
Film, Video & Photographic Arts 470 $28,409
Communication Sciences 336 $56,751
Writing Studies 228 $33,587
Drama & Theater Arts 141 $22,766
Marketing 112 $49,949
Public Relations & Advertising 88 $42,632
Journalism 79 $38,675
Business & Commerce 68 NA
Communication & Media Studies 67 $38,656

Learn more about the majors offered at Emerson College along with which ones have the highest average starting salaries.

Online Study Options at Emerson

6% Take At Least One Class Online

Online learning options are becoming more and more popular at American colleges and universities. Online classes are great for students who have busy schedules or for those who just want to study on their own time.

232 students took at least one online class at Emerson College.

Learn more about online learning at Emerson College.

References and Footnotes

Footnotes

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

References

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