Where Did Emma Watson Go To College?

Even though Emma Watson shot to stardom as a young child, the "Harry Potter" alum never put her studies in the back-burner. The British actor was only 10 when she was tapped to portray Hermione Granger in the franchise, a role she fulfilled for the next decade of her life. Of course, at that age Watson had no way of measuring the repercussions of taking part in a project that would require her full commitment through her entire adolescence and early adulthood. Instead of going to school like a regular kid, Watson was being tutored alongside her co-stars onset. But even back then, Watson proved she and Hermione had a lot more in common than meets the eye. 

Despite being two years younger than Rupert Grint, who played Ron Wesley, Watson was in his class in the real life developing in Hogwarts. "I don't know what this says about where I was on the curriculum, but I was schooled with Emma," Grint told MTV's Josh Horowitz on the "Happy Sad Confused" podcast in November 2019 (via Bustle). "She's pretty smart. She's just not supposed to be that smart [at that age]."

Watson continued to prove her education was as much a priority in her life as her acting career. Watson concluded her senior year at Headington School, Oxford, with A's across the board while she announced she planned to go to college, The Telegraph reported in 2008. Her choice of school took Brits by surprise.

Emma Watson always knew she would go to college and envisioned attending her parents' alma mater. "As a child, I aspired to go to Oxbridge, because that's where my parents went," Watson told Interview magazine in April 2009. "When my dad talks about his time there, he says it was the most incredible experience." But the future had something different in store for her. Instead, Watson went to Brown University, a whole ocean away from her original location. 

The "Harry Potter" star began to look in the United States after getting insight from the system from American students she met during a Shakespeare class at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. "I started talking to them about what they were doing at their schools, and I respected the approach," she told Interview. "Here, I feel the specification is very narrow, whereas in America, you're encouraged to be broad and choose many different subjects."

After graduating from high school, Watson opted to take a gap year, according to The Telegraph. After 18 months at Brown, Watson announced on her website she was taking a year off to finish work on "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2," the franchise's last installment, and dedicate time to other acting projects. Nevertheless, Watson emphasized her decision was only temporary. She returned to Brown in 2012 and graduated with a degree in English literature on May 2014, E! News reported at the time.

Emma Watson nearly quit "Harry Potter" over the emphasis she put on her education. When she first came onboard the project, Watson and the others signed on to do the first two films, producer David Heyman told The Hollywood Reporter in 2013. After that, producers had to negotiate with the actors after each installment, Heyman explained. If anyone hesitated, more often than not it was Watson. "Emma [Watson], in particular, was quite academic and was very keen in pursuit of schooling and was wrestling a little bit more than the others," the producer said, adding the negotiations were never "about a financial [matter]."

Watson struggled with the decade-long commitment she made before she could understand it, she said on the HBO special, "Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts" (via People). "I think I was scared," Watson told Rupert Grint, asking if he could relate. "I don't know if you ever felt like it got to a tipping point where you were like, 'This is kind of forever now.'"

The prospect was particularly scary for Watson because she wanted to go to college and have an experience that resembled normalcy as much as possible. Luckily, franchise producers always worked with her to find a solution. "We had to be sensitive to her needs and how important school was to her ... I deeply respected her, encouraged her. She's very smart, always was, and fiercely intelligent," Heyman told THR.