<p>Any and all feedback would be appreciated by a newbie to this college group in Boston. My D just accepted MassArt for Fall 2012. Info and thoughts on Wentworth Institute, Wheelock, Simmons, Emmanuel, and Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences would be appreciated. Info on the structure and happenings of Colleges of the Fenway might help all of us…</p>
<p>My daughter is waiting to hear from Wheelock and Simmons for her grad school applications . Other daughter was accepted at MCPHS but decided on another school. Great area and they do share their resources with the other colleges of Fenway. I am more familiar with the grad programs there.</p>
<p>The Colleges of the Fenway are all small colleges that formed a consortium several years ago. I have friends whose kids attend some of the schools. They share dining centers, club and intramural teams, and I believe that they also can take classes at each college. One of my friend’s D attends Simmons, and often goes to Wentworth for social events. The schools are in the shadow of the much larger Northeastern and Boston University, and the consortium is a great way for the small schools to share resources.</p>
<p>[Colleges</a> of the Fenway](<a href=“http://www.colleges-fenway.org/]Colleges”>http://www.colleges-fenway.org/)</p>
<p>This consortium really does work. As with others like it, there are many students who are drawn to their college because of the opportunity to take classes at neighboring schools. But, ultimately, they get caught up in whatever they’re doing on their home campus, and four years fly by before they get around to cross-registering. When I worked at Smith, roughly 20% of our students took advantage of the Five College Cooperation, which meant that 80% did not. But that was more than a decade ago, so I don’t know how or if those figures have changed. Yet I bet many more arrived in Northampton intending to take Five College classes.</p>
<p>But the Fenway Consortium does indeed provide a range of options for students in its member schools. And because some of these member schools (e.g., Wentworth, MA Pharmacy) have specific pre-professional classes, the consortium can be a great way to expand liberal arts offerings to students who wouldn’t otherwise have access to them. The proximity of these schools to one another also makes cross-registration easier than it is at Smith.</p>