Issue: April 2010


On the Town - Boston

Mastering Boston’s Colleges

With more than 250,000 students and 100 institutions of higher education in the greater Boston area, there may be no better place to relive your university glory days. But since visitors aren’t permitted to sit in on classroom lectures or invited to frat parties, how do they get a feel for what really goes on behind the ivy-covered walls of the city’s renowned universities?

BY DAVID WEDGE
ILLUSTRATION BY DAVID GOLDSTONE

Harvard, perhaps the most well-known school in the world, is an A-plus place to get reacquainted with college life. The 374-year-old university in Cambridge is unrivaled in its dedication to literature (its government, law, finance and medicine disciplines aren’t too shabby, either). Free, hour-long tours of the Colonial architecture-filled Harvard Yard provide a glimpse into a school that has educated some of American history’s most important figures, including President Obama and seven other presidents.

After the campus tour, pay a visit to the Houghton Library’s Keats room to view the world’s largest collection of letters and manuscripts from the 19th-century English poet John Keats. Every Friday this month, the library hosts a special exhibit of letters between the romantic poet and the love of his life, Fanny Brawne. They will put the notes you passed to your class crush to shame.

If you were more theatrical than scholarly as a student, you might feel more at home at Emerson College. Located in the city’s theater district, this elite communications/arts school has a Hollywood A-list of notable alumni, such as Jay Leno, Denis Leary and Henry Winkler. Established in 1880, the school also offers semester programs in Los Angeles and recently purchased land on Sunset Boulevard to build a permanent Emerson College Los Angeles Center—a telling indicator of the institution’s surging impact on the worlds of film, TV and radio.

In addition to having the most diverse college radio station in the city (88.9 FM WERS plays more than 20 different styles of music) and a top-notch journalism program that has educated Fox News’ Julie Banderas and Access Hollywood host Maria Menounos, Emerson is home to the recently renovated Cutler Majestic Theater, a century-old, 1,200-seat opera house. Get tickets to this year’s student-produced Stephen Sondheim musical, Into the Woods (April 22-24), and witness a cast of eager theater majors hoping to join the ranks of their famous predecessors.

Just as Emerson has bred a string of Hollywood stars, Boston College—one of only two Division 1 sports powerhouses in New England—has churned out an amazing crop of pro hockey, basketball and football players. And many of the school’s legendary gridiron gladiators—including Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan, New York Giants defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka and New England Patriots center Dan Koppen—shined at The Heights’ annual Jay McGillis Spring Football Game. Named in honor of BC safety Jay McGillis, who died of leukemia in 1991, the free event at the 44,000-seat Alumni Stadium pits offense against defense in an intensely competitive intra-squad scrimmage to determine who may be the school’s next Doug Flutie.

“It’s a great opportunity for people to see Division 1 football talent for free and with great seats,” says Public Affairs Director Jack Dunn of the game, which is taking place April 24. It’s also a chance for former athletes to feel nostalgic about a time when they were in tip-top shape.

If you preferred exercising your vocal chords in college— whether in the a cappella group or during sorority karaoke night—make your way to Berklee College of Music. Getting accepted here is no easy task. The rigorous application process includes a live interview and audition, and the list of talented alumni from the 4,000-student school reads like a Grammy after-party list: Susan Tedeschi, Branford Marsalis, Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen, Melissa Etheridge, John Mayer and Quincy Jones.

The 1,200-seat Berklee Performance Center—one of Boston’s busiest concert venues, holding up to 200 events a year— is the place to see both former and current students perform. This month features a show by six-time Grammy Award-winning jazz virtuoso and former Berklee teacher/dean Gary Burton (April 8). And the next Aimee Mann or Paula Cole (also former students) might be discovered at the student singer showcase (April 15), in the production of Aida (April 21) or at Cafe 939. Run by Berklee students, the all-ages coffeehouse and music club hosts all kinds of performances (rock, jazz, folk, bluegrass, hip-hop, electronica) by students and local artists.

If you were a 4.0 student in college, you’ll fit right in at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Located along the tree-lined banks of the glimmering Charles River in Cambridge, MIT has educated world leaders in everything from science and technology to space travel and international politics, and counts at least 25 Nobel Prize winners among its alumni. Without MIT alumni, the world would be devoid of Guitar Hero, E*Trade, Technicolor, GPS and multiple computer languages.

For a wide-ranging collection of current research projects, visitors can check out Sampling MIT, an eye-popping exhibit at the MIT Museum showing the work of students and scientists, whose research involves testing HoloPod underwater cameras, innovative home solar power sources, nano-based batteries, advances in space travel and 3D holographic video. (Puts what you learned in college to shame, doesn’t it?)

Whether you were a brainiac with dreams of changing the world, a talented thespian or singer, an all-star athlete or a literary type, a visit to Boston’s top colleges can make you feel nostalgic for the good ol’ days. It may even inspire you to go back to school—although you still may not be invited to any parties.

HARVARD UNIVERSITY EVENTS & INFORMATION CENTER
Holyoke Center Arcade, 1350 Massachusetts Ave; 617-495-1573; Tours are Monday-Friday at 10 am & 2pm, Saturdays at 2pm

EMERSON COLLEGE
Cutler Majestic Theater; 219 Tremont St; 617-824-8000; www.maj.org

BOSTON COLLEGE
Alumni Stadium; 140 Commonwealth Ave; Chestnut Hill; 617-552-3000; www.bc.edu

BERKLEE COLLEGE OF MUSIC
Berklee Performance Center; 136 Massachusetts Ave; 617-266-7455; www.berkleebpc.com
Cafe 939; Boylston St; 617-747-6038; www.cafe939.com

MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
MIT Museum; Building N51; 265 Massachusetts Ave; 617-253-5927; www.web.mit.edu/museum

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