Girls come to Emma seeking more than the typical high school experience. They want to be challenged as they learn to serve and shape their world. Learn More
I am making friendships
that will last a lifetime.
Emma Girls come from 35 countries and 31 states, allowing girls to make globe-spanning friendships in our supportive, fun community.
Emma honors each girl's personal journey by providing time, support, and guidance through our personalized study programs. Learn More
I am fierce
on and off the field.
Girls are encouraged to try out new skills or excel in an activity they've been training in for years on one of our 13 interscholastic JV and Varsity athletics teams. Learn More
Emma Willard School is a place to discover what it means to be your best self. We commend you on taking the initiative to seek out the perfect school for you. By doing so, you already show that you are ready for something more than the high school experience.
Madame Emma Hart Willard founded her school on the basis of providing girls with a first-class education that challenged, inspired, and enabled them to serve and shape their worlds.
More than 200 years later, Emma Willard School proudly continues to carry on this mission.
Emma Willard School's curriculum allows girls to focus their future aspirations, and equips them with the interdisciplinary knowledge competitive colleges are looking for.
Our academic program offers more than 140 courses, including Advanced Placement options, where girls engage in discourse that brings context to high-level concepts and understanding of the world we live in. Personalized study programs enable girls to dive deep into a topic or field of their choosing, and gain hands-on experience.
Education at Emma isn’t limited to the classroom—it’s woven into the fabric of our community. With girls from around the world and across the United States, and faculty and staff with a wide breadth of life experiences, you will broaden your perspective the moment you walk onto campus.
Bonds created between Emma Girls in the residence and dining halls, while practicing for an athletics match or arts performance, at one of our many cherished traditions, and all the little moments in between, define many girls’ Emma experience.
Wherever life takes you, the Emma sisterhood is there. Community connectedness is a longstanding Emma Willard School tradition carried on by our alumnae. Our vast alumnae network of over 8,000 unique, intelligent women spans the world, and includes Olympians, top-level politicians, high-profile CEOs and acclaimed architects.
An education is one of the most powerful gifts you can give a girl. When you give to Emma, you honor our fearless founder’s legacy, and allow Emma Willard School to offer incomparable educational experiences for tomorrow’s leaders, and in many cases, make their time here possible.
Honoring its founder’s vision, Emma Willard School proudly fosters in each young woman a love of learning, the habits of an intellectual life, and the character, moral strength, and qualities of leadership to serve and shape her world.
When Leah Friedman ’02 announced that she was going to be on JEOPARDY!™ in February 2021, she joined a distinctive group of Emma Willard School alums who have put their trivia knowledge to the test. The first Emma alumna to appear on the famous game show was Jane Erskine ’75 back in 1986. Since then, Liz Reardon ’73, Ann Doyle Thurlow ’74, Amelia Hershberger ’01, and now Leah have experienced the adrenaline rush of appearing on “America’s Favorite Quiz Show.”™
When Leah Friedman ’02 announced that she was going to be on JEOPARDY!™ in February 2021, she joined a distinctive group of Emma Willard School alums who have put their trivia knowledge to the test. The first Emma alumna to appear on the famous game show was Jane Erskine ’75 back in 1986. Since then, Liz Reardon ’73, Ann Doyle Thurlow ’74, Amelia Hershberger ’01, and now Leah have experienced the adrenaline rush of appearing on “America’s Favorite Quiz Show.”™
During the 2020-2021 academic year, Emma Willard School faculty have been invited to participate in sessions designed to strengthen their teaching practices. These colleague-to-colleague events, “Sharpening the Saw” and “Critical Friends,” provide a space for faculty to share and learn from a greater collective of institutional knowledge.
Each year, the Black Latinx Student Union (BLSU) hosts a packed assembly for Black History Month (BHM) to share important pieces of Black history and commentary on the experience of being a Black student at Emma Willard School. This year’s theme, ‘Celebrating Black Joy,” was woven through all of the skits, speeches, poems, and visual art presented over two days of celebration.