Engaged Students

Simmons students are passionate about their education, their off-site learning experiences, and their ability to make a difference in the world...

Explore your dreams

• A Revolutionary Idea - Decades before women in America gained the right to vote, Boston businessman John Simmons had a revolutionary idea-that women should be able to earn independent livelihoods and lead meaningful lives. Simmons College was the result. Simmons encompasses the many benefits of a small university, including graduate programs for women and men in health studies, education, liberal arts, communications management, social work, and library and information science, as well as the nation's only MBA program designed for women.

• Interdisciplinary Studies - The college offers more than forty majors and programs. The most popular majors include nursing, psychology, biology, communications, sociology, education, art administration, physical therapy, pre-law, international relations, business, and economics. In addition, more than a dozen integrated degree and accelerated program options allow students to go directly from their undergraduate program to a graduate program at Simmons or one of its affiliated schools, often earning a bachelor's degree plus a master's or doctoral degree in less time than traditional programs. Nearly 30 percent of Simmons students choose to double-major.

• Learning by Experience - Experiential learning is key, both in the classroom and beyond. Students fulfill an independent learning requirement through internship, fieldwork, and research projects. In doing so, they develop skills, impressive resumes, and a network of professional contacts. Simmons students typically spend one or more semesters interning for businesses, schools, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations, as well as in Boston's world-renowned research and teaching hospitals. Students also collaborate with faculty on professional research projects, and publish and present their findings at national conferences.

• A Dedication to Service - Students also gain real-life experience through numerous service-learning and volunteer programs. Both undergraduate and graduate students participate in local and international service-learning courses each year, dedicating a total of approximately twelve thousand hours of community service. Everyone at Simmons-from students, faculty, and alumni, to staff and senior administrators-gets involved in outreach such as Alternative Spring Break, Girls Preparing to Succeed, and Global Community Service Day. In fact, Simmons is the only school in Massachusetts to receive the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction four times, most recently in 2010.

• Education around the Globe - Acquiring a global outlook-including an understanding of languages, cultures, and world politics-is also part of the Simmons experience. From graduate fieldwork with Boston's diverse immigrant communities to the numerous undergraduate study abroad or travel courses offered, Simmons encourages students to move beyond familiar borders and connect with the world. Intensive study-abroad courses range from journalism in South Africa, to music in Austria, to history and culture in Japan. Students are encouraged to spend an entire semester or year abroad, with scholarships and grants available for research and independent study.

• Unique Programming - Special academic opportunities include an honors program; Studio 5, a student-run, creative communications studio that produces projects for Boston-area nonprofits; and the Barbara Lee Family Foundation Intern Fellowship, which pairs undergraduate seniors with state legislators. In addition, an alumni mentoring program allows students to gain professional experience and support. Through Success Connection, select undergraduate seniors shadow high-profile alumni in their places of work.

Great Teaching

Simmons faculty are experts in their fields and caring teachers and mentors. Our classes and labs are led by faculty, not by teaching assistants...

Intensive Professional & Academic Preparation

• With a student-to-faculty ratio of 13:1, Simmons professors are able to spend quality time with individual students. Professors, not teaching assistants, lead all the classes and labs. They know your name, and if you’re absent, they might just call you. Students say that professors care about them, expect excellence, and go out of their way to offer guidance and support.

• Simmons professors are distinguished researchers, published authors, Fulbright scholars, health professionals, and community leaders. Simmons faculty members advise numerous government, nonprofit, and corporate organizations in the United States and around the world.

• Professors passionately uphold their primary obligation to teach and mentor students. In fact, many professors invite undergraduates to collaborate on professional research, articles, and presentations, giving students hands-on experience in their chosen fields.

• In addition to the more traditional courses of study, Simmons also offers unique interdisciplinary majors such as arts administration, East Asian studies, physics of materials, and information technology.

• Simmons College is a member of the Colleges of the Fenway Consortium. Through the Consortium, students may take courses and attend social and cultural events at neighboring institutions, such as Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Wheelock College, Emmanuel College, and Massachusetts College of Art.

Academic Programs
Africana Studies, Art, Arts Administration, Biochemistry, Biology, Biostatistics, Business and Management, Chemistry, Chemistry-Management, Communications, Computer Science, East Asian Studies, Economics, Economics & Mathematics, Education, English, Environmental Science, Exercise Science, Finance, Financial Mathematics, French, Health Informatics, History, Information Technology, International Relations, Marketing, Mathematics, Music, Nursing, Nutrition and Dietetics, Nutrition and Food Science, OPEN Program, Pharmacy, Philosophy, Physical Therapy, Physics, Political Science, Pre-Law, Pre-Medicine, Psychobiology, Psychology, Public Health, Retail Management, Social Work, Sociology, Spanish, Web Development, Women's and Gender Studies

Simmons offers a number of 5-year programs, leading to a master’s degree in education, gender/cultural studies, nursing, and others, and a 6-year program leading to a clinical doctoral degree in physical therapy.

Vibrant Community

Greater Boston, where Simmons is located, attracts more than 250,000 college students each year and offers all the excitement and activity of an educational Mecca: more than a dozen other colleges within walking distance, professional sports teams, world-renowned museums right next door, and films, plays, concerts, and other live performances...

Enlivened by different views, life experiences, and good times

• Located in the historic Fenway neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, Simmons students say it's the best of both worlds - a quintessential brick-and-ivy New England campus in the middle of a thriving city. Simmons's beautiful, tree-lined campus is literally surrounded by music and fine arts, medical care and research, politics and grassroots activism, performance venues and the resounding cheers of Red Sox fans at legendary Fenway Park.

• Simmons is within walking distance of 15 other co-ed colleges, and is part of the Colleges of the Fenway (COF), a consortium of six schools in the area. The COF allows students to cross-register at other colleges, and hosts a variety of social events such as block parties, ski trips, comedy shows, and more. In a neighborhood that boasts nearly 11,400 students, there is always an interesting event, party, or cultural opportunity on the Simmons campus or just around the corner.

• Simmons also offers more than 50 student organizations and academic liaisons, and plenty of intramural and just-for-fun activities to add excitement to life outside the classroom. Campus events range from dances and parties, to performances and lectures by guest speakers, to hall teas where students can mingle with each other and faculty members.

• Ten NCAA Division III varsity intercollegiate teams are open to student athletes who seek award-winning coaches, a competitive game schedule, and a personal challenge.

Successful Outcomes

Simmons students succeed. We have a network of outstanding graduates who are excelling in important fields – from education and health care to film and music, business and politics...

Empowered to make a difference in the world

• Located in Boston, one of the world’s great “career capitals,” Simmons offers numerous inroads to the city’s health care, finance, education, technology, social work, communications, and research communities. Students stay connected to the world outside Simmons’s walls through faculty connections and a wide variety of internships and fieldwork opportunities that yield outstanding networking and career prospects. And Simmons graduates throughout Boston and across the globe, many of whom have ascended to key leadership positions in their respective fields, remain dedicated to their alma mater and fellow alums.

• The Career Education Center (CEC) works directly with students beginning their freshman year to create a plan to help them establish the careers that they aspire to through mentor guidance, workshops, and one-on-one counseling.

• The CEC reports 97% of the Class of 2010 were employed (both part and full-time) or in graduate school within one year of graduation. Of this population, more than 89% are employed at jobs in a field related, or closely related to their major while at Simmons.

• More than 50,000 Simmons graduates live throughout Boston and across the globe, many of whom have ascended to key leadership positions in their respective fields, remain dedicated to their alma mater and fellow alums.

• Simmons alumni have gone on to success in many fields. Some of the most well-known include Suzanne Yalof-Schwartz '89, executive fashion director for Glamour Magazine; jazz vocalist Nnenna Freelon '79, two-time Grammy nominee who performed at the 2001 Grammy Awards; Denise Di Novi '77, president of Di Novi Pictures, producer of such films as Little Women, Heathers, Batman Returns, Edward Scissorhands, and James and the Giant Peach; Gwen Ifill '77, moderator and managing editor of the PBS television program Washington Week in Review; and Lisa Mullins '80, anchor and senior producer of The World, a BBC and Public Radio International program.

• The annual "Success Connection" program allows exceptional seniors to visit some of the most dynamic work environments in the country. A group of Simmons alumnae from a wide variety of professions give Simmons seniors an up-close perspective on the daily demands faced by professional women in prestigious organizations.