The Professional Arts Consortium (ProArts) is an association of six neighboring Boston institutions of higher education dedicated to the visual and performing arts. Its members are:
- Berklee College of Music
- Boston Architectural College
- Emerson College
- New England Conservatory
- Massachusetts College of Art and Design
- School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University
Students, faculty, and staff can register for undergraduate classes at the affiliated schools. There are two opportunities to cross-register: the open enrollment period (held during the preceding semester), and again during the add/drop period. The specific dates, as well as the full list of cross-registration courses and a copy of the registration contract, are available on ProArts.org.
Students are allowed to submit a maximum of 4 applications per semester per institution, after which point you may no longer be considered a candidate for cross-registration at that school for that semester. You may start by submitting two applications, and then may submit up to another two for consideration if both of your preliminary applications are denied. For example, if you apply twice at SMFA and are denied, you can only apply, at most, two more times at SMFA.
Also note, students are not to contact faculty in regards to cross-registration unless you hear from the host institution first (this does not apply to MassArt).
Please remember that there is no guarantee that you will make it into a ProArts course. Please first register here at Emerson, as if you will not get into a ProArts course, and later drop a course if needed.
If you are interested in participating in ProArts cross-registration, please read the follow guidelines carefully:
For students:
- Cross-registration is open to undergraduate students only. Emerson undergraduate students must be registered for a minimum of 8 credits at Emerson in any semester in which they are taking ProArts courses.
- Students may take up to 4 ProArts credits each semester and may take a maximum of 28 ProArts credits as a part of their Emerson degree program. ProArts courses are not meant to duplicate or substitute for coursework at Emerson and may not count toward liberal arts, major, or minor requirements unless approved by the appropriate department chair/dean.
- Students enrolled in their first semester at Emerson are not allowed to enroll in ProArts courses. Students must have a minimum GPA of 2.7 to be eligible to enroll in ProArts courses.
- Students pay tuition at Emerson at Emerson’s tuition rate. Students taking 17 or more credits, including ProArts credits, in a semester will be charged at the per-credit rate for each credit above 16. Please visit the Billing & Student Accounts webpage for more information on the per-credit tuition charge.
- Credit hours, grades, and honor points are transferred. Emerson takes ProArts courses for the number of credits they are worth at the host institution.
- Students may not audit ProArts courses. ProArts courses must be taken for a letter grade.
For faculty and staff:
Full-time faculty and staff qualify for up to 4 credits through ProArts each semester. Faculty and staff should contact Human Resources to complete the tuition waiver form before submitting the ProArts cross-registration contract.