Massachusetts College of Art and Design is a prestigious college of visual and applied art. Founded in 1873, Massachusetts College of Art - or Mass Art, as it is commonly called - is the only publicly funded art school left in the country. Located in Boston's Fenway area, on the border of Mission Hill, MassArt is one of the schools that make up the Colleges of the Fenway. Due to the nature of student work, many art exhibitions are held at the college and are open to the public. In addition, more established and well-known artists often present their work at Mass Art's galleries.
Check out Povo's Guide to Massachusetts College Of Art and Design. Mass Art is made up of six buildings: Kennedy, North, South, East, Collins, and Tower. From the Mass Art Wikipedia Article: Among the nation’s 39 independent schools of art and design, MassArt is the third most selective in undergraduate admissions and second most selective in graduate admissions, ranking among the ten most competitive colleges in Massachusetts, both public and private.[1] In 2006 was named one of the Top Global Design Schools by BusinessWeek magazine.[2] MassArt offers a Bachelor Degree in Fine Arts, a Master of Science in Art Education, a Master of Fine Arts, and in 2007 received Candidacy Status for a Master of Architecture. It also offers a number of pre-college (both credit and non-credit) programs for high school students. Students at MassArt have the option of majoring in Fine Arts, 2D, Fine Arts, 3D, Communication Design, Environmental Design, Media and Performing Arts, and Art Education. Within those majors they can choose to focus on disciplines such as Industrial Design, Art History, Fashion Design, Architectural Design, Graphic Design, Illustration, Animation, Painting, Printmaking, Ceramics, Glass, Sculpture, Fibers, Metals, Photography, Film/Video, and in the Studio for Interrelated Media (SIM). MassArt's curriculum includes a foundation year, which provides compulsory exposure to the basics of 2D and 3D art and design, and requires an elective studio and multiple Critical Studies courses.

Founded by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Mur in 1919, Emmanuel College is one of the six founding memebers of the Colleges of the Fenway. The school is located directly adjacent to Simmons College, Beth Israel Deacones Medical Center, and Havard Medical Research Facilities. It's location particularly advantageous, as Emmanuel is very close to both Fenway Park and a major hospital district.

Emmanuel College proper only houses eight buildings, four of them dormitories. The college benefits from being one of the few enclosed campuses in the entire city of Boston, giving the school the appearance of being very residential. Yet EC's small size has also forced the school to rent out floors at the Howard Johnson Hotel and the Longwood Inn to house the ever-expanding population of students. Merck Pharmaceutials also calls EC home, making Emmanuel the only campus in the United States to have a major pharmaceutical building actually on their campus. Sr. Janet Eisner, S.N.D allowed Merck to develop on Emmanuel's land under the stipulation that the corporation pour money into the the college's science programs and provide special internships exclusively for EC graduates and students.

Currently Emmanuel is experiencing a period of expansion as the college continues to improve upon itself. The completion of the prized Jean Yawkey Center heralded in this new era in 2002, winning numerous awards for its architecture and modern design. Now EC is in the process of erecting a new Academic Science Center to accommodate its burgeoning Biology and Chemistry department which is expected to be completed in 2009.

Until 2001, Emmanuel College was exclusively female when the school decided to admit men due to declining enrollment rates and financial crisis. Luckily, this change in policy allowed Emmanuel to grow at an amazing rate, and the school now boasts a total enrollment of 2,400 undergraduates. Check out Povo's Guide to Emmanuel College.