Welcome back!

Last week, as a family, we spent a few days in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Our agenda was to just get away for a few days before school starts as well as take our very first “college trip.” My oldest daughter is 16 and will be a junior this fall in high school. She has her sights set on a drama career and there’s a good school in Boston we wanted to visit. So off to fight the traffic and visit Emerson College we go.

We are very early in this process so there really wasn’t any pressure to make sure this college was “the one.” The tour was good. Emerson has some very nice facilities. Since it was the dead of summer we couldn’t get a sense as to what the campus was like when school was in session but one thing we could understand right away was that it was an urban campus located in the heart of the Boston theatre district. Looking for ivy and a quad at Emerson? Forget it. But that said, for an aspiring actress it has a good feel. Anyway, we finished the tour and went off to Faneuil Hall for some lunch at “Cheers” and shopping.

Over lunch my wife and I compared notes about our tour. In the end we decided it was a good school and if Rachel felt that was where she wanted to go, and she could get in, she would be well served there. But afterwards, as I mulled over our discussion, I started to do the obvious comparisons to Syracuse.

Was it academically as rigorous? Did it have similar opportunities for students to learn and grow outside the classroom? How does our faculty stack up to theirs? Do they have a strong career center? In the spirit of professional courtesy, I won’t offer up a scorecard instead let me say something. I am deeply grateful that you are here and chose Syracuse. I do not take your decision to do so for granted. I love this school and truly believe your experience here can be enriching, fulfilling and successful. I also understand that I have a responsibility to help you achieve that success. I promise that I will do everything I can do to make that happen.

I can't wait to get started!