Simmons University

Simmons University is a private university in Boston that has been educating students since 1899. It offers a women-centered undergraduate experience alongside co-educational graduate programs and online degrees. Undergraduates work through a customizable, interdisciplinary curriculum, and the school puts weight on leadership, scholarship and activism, describing leadership as an everyday practice that can come from anyone. Students get both academic and professional programs in the center of the city.

Small class sizes and close work with faculty are a large part of the pitch, with students describing professors who treat them almost like colleagues. Graduate offerings include professional programs such as physical therapy, social work, library and information science, behavior analysis and public policy. Research and fellowships pair scholarship with real-world experience, and the online programs promise a tight-knit digital campus where faculty know students by name and advisors offer steady support.

What to Know

• The school was founded through a bequest from Boston clothing manufacturer John Simmons.
• It was known as Simmons College until it became Simmons University in 2018.
• It sits in Boston’s Fenway area, near several other colleges and the Museum of Fine Arts.