Pratt Institute

Horrible, traumatizing, horrible experience. If you like incredbly mean, emotionally immature, narcissistic careerists with Napoleon complexes and Asperger’s syndrome then by all means go. Otherwise don’t. And I’m just referring to the staff. The student body isn’t much better but just add Adderall and heroin to the mix and you’re sort of getting the average student at Pratt. Also the level of exploitation Pratt Institute engages in with fundraising is breathtaking. All they care about is money. It’s a money-​grubbing degree factory. I’ve done absolutely nothing with my useless fine art degree. I could’ve had an art history minor but my radical lesbian separatist communist art history teacher/​supervisor suddenly decided that she alone was going to decide what the criteria was for an art history minor and declared that hers was the magical year she wasn’t going to allow for any of her students to have art history minors based on the criteria in the school policy. She was later fired. So the one thing I could’ve used in my degree and could’ve made money from was denied me because of this b**tch who suddenly decided that the one policy Pratt had instituted that I agreed with, she wasn’t going to use. Complete waste of time and a typical example of the lunatics running the asylum/​active blocking of a right to an education and a career. I didn’t meet any quality people when I was there, everyone was out for themselves, everyone had an undiagnosed personality disorder or were clinically depressed, or were exploitative manipulator sociopaths, it was a horrible experience. I would not work with any of those people if my life depended on it. I’m completely embittered by the experience and have PTSD from the level of insensitivity and abuse I experienced while I was there. I was mugged, a few women I knew were assaulted and/​or raped on campus, the school did absolutely nothing about it nor did they offer any solutions after the fact. The neighborhood around Pratt was horrible and now it’s probably even more insufferable now that it’s a yuppie heaven. I specifically told the alumni board to not send me any requests for donations ever upon graduation and yet it doesn’t stop them from sending me the mailed requests for twenty years now. Pratt will ignore you and segregate you by major (there’s virtually no interaction between majors at all, and Pratt loves to keep it that way– cults and kidnappers employ the same tactic so no one can compare notes.) Everyone there was mean and horrible and arrogant and perpetually in a bad mood. I did not like this place.

This review is for the bursar office.
I am now on leave of absence and sick of dealing with these rude people. Assistant director from student financial services has just sent me an email about the payment for fall 2015. I already paid tuition for last semester and then they charged me the whole semester rent even though I moved out and the res life and housing charged me the amount I stayed in the dorm until I moved out. I replied to email for clarification and they replied rudely and just said it is the payment for fall 2015 which doesn’t make sense to me. I replied and explained what my tuition bill says on my account and waiting for their reply… but at this point I’m really sick of dealing with the administration that lacks communication and just simply want to take our money.

I met the most talented people ever in my life at Pratt. I am so glad that I didn’t choose NYU for my master instead. Pratt is someplace that you can always be inspired.

expensive and not worth it.
CAMPUS AND DORMS: yes the campus is pretty but not a fan of the dorms or some of the classes. how do some rooms not have AC. how are people finding cockroaches all over. how are the bathrooms only cleaned once a day? like half the times theres a couple toilets clogged and there’s a really bad smell and sometimes there’s menstrual blood on the ground. it’s disgusting, honestly. the furniture in the dorm isn’t great too. broken mirrors, paint on stuff, drawers that won’t close. and students are required to file work orders, which makes sense, but who on earth has time for that when the school work is so intense and unbearable? the workrooms are also too neat and organized, which is like weird for an art school. I went to RISD pre college and the work rooms look like actual work rooms. there’s dried paint everywhere and it’s nice because you know you can like… get paint on stuff and not have to worry about it. here since the work rooms in the dorm are basically like connected to the hall way, you need to keep it in mint condition. for that reason, I litearlly never work in the work rooms.
CLASSES AND HEALTH AND COUNSELING: classes are way too long (6 hour studios) and professors are often times not understanding of the fact that people are still adjusting to college. some of my friends have had really bad experiences. you’ll notice that classmates are desperately trying to get their hands on like drugs to help them study more and drugs for them to escape the ridiculous amount of stress they have. for a school that emphasizes the importance of like mental health, they should be more aware of this. they should maybe lower down the school work. they should work with students with time management. they should understand that some students suffer with depression or family issues and DO need extensions. I know the real world doesn’t slow down for these things but it’s a matter of basic empathy. people are going through a hard time and they HAVE the brains to get good grades, they are just going through a hard time. if you go to health and counseling with this issue they pretty much offer no concrete advice. when you ask them on extensions or programs for people with mental illnesses to adjust to class and school they tell you «it’s up to each professor»
DINING HALL: as for dining hall food, it’s atrocious. they need to start training the people they hire. you go to the sandwich shop and you order a wrap and they will NOT KNOW HOW TO ROLL A WRAP. and you’d think that’s part of the job. if you order pasta, the pasta will not be completely drained of water so you’ll be eating like super watered down marinara sauce. these are just small things that could make the food significantly better. the food is also expensive and they require freshmen who are dorming to be on this dining hall plan. you have to pay for like $ 8 for an awful sandwich here when you could get an amazing vegan sandwich with REAL AVOCADO for $ 8 a few blocks down. like if pratt dining hall is going to charge so much, it better be good food. they earn enough every year from tuition, a dining hall and requiring people to be on the meal plan should not be part of their sick, greedy way of earning money.

i almost died here today, also the health and services office was closed… so yeah i literally could have died, but now im eating french toast sticks and im feeling swell

Be true to your work and your work will be true to you. This is Pratt institutes’ iconic mission statement and if you dig deeper into its meaning will find it rings true for the education offered, and the work you will pursue in life.
I’ve now read many of the reviews of Pratt institute and shook my head at the love/​hate relationship the school creates. I will not argue that Residential Life/​Administration/​Security/​or Culinart (the food service company) are perfect, because they are not. In my four years of attendance I have had my qualms with each of those major departments, and have love/​hate stories about all.
In the end, I did not come to this school for anything other than the education, and for that I will always defend Pratt Institute. In my years here I have grown as a person and found meaning and happiness through my design work. I did not come here to make missives of friends, live an unbelievably stylish Brooklyn life, or be coddled in the face of challenging situations. So as in life, as in design; be true to your work and your work will be true to you!

Best school experience of my life! I was lucky to have the best professors, especially when l had a class or 2 in the Graduate building! Graduate professors giving great advice that still stays with me today & works! It’s always been a prestigious school for a reason.

I will be starting a graduate program at the Pratt in the Fall. In fairness, the academic advisor for my course has been top notch but, the person who is meant to be helping me in the Financial Aid office is so RUDE. She doesn’t respond to e-​mails and information isn’t forthcoming. I phoned to ask a simple question about my award package — and completely unprovoked she just started yelling the answer at me. Maybe she wasn’t having a good day but, it was bizarre and unnecessary.
I was really looking forward to starting in the Fall but, I’m feeling a little disappointed now. I’m currently work in the Academic sector and I deal with students everyday so, I know it can be stressful. But, this behaviour is pretty unacceptable. The lady in the financial aid office in clearly unhappy in her jobs and she doesn’t even try to hide it. I’m actually afraid to ask anymore questions.
If I hadn’t had a good experience with my advisor and my program didn’t look so amazing — I would be seriously reconsidering whether I wanted to study here.
Reading the other reviews, it sounds like this isn’t an isolate incident and needs addressing.

Do NOT go here for Sculpture. They have a couple of unethical Professors in the Department. They will grade you unfairly and they will not grade you based on the caliber of your work.
I complained about two Professors and they retaliated against me by giving me a bad grade. That is Unethical. Your senior year will be a complete waste of time and MONEY. The Professors do not care about the students.
There are other Professors in other departments like Painting, who are great, However, the Sculpture Department is awful.

This review is for their financial aid department. Deplorable is the word I’d use to describe it. If you didn’t have to juggle so many student loans to go here it wouldn’t be as scary. Less money on shrubs and more money on competent administrative staff that actually seem like they care, please.

I just want someone from the school to call me and spend time on the phone to fix my problem. It’s been a year or so.

Yeah, you’re not in the greatest neighborhood. Yeah, the buildings are old and the facilities could be refurbished. Yeah, the administration were a pain to deal with every year. And yes, it’s a very expensive school.
That said, I’m giving Pratt five stars because I loved going to school there. I graduated from the Fashion design program with honors in 2010, and I had a job lined up for me right after I graduated because I took advantage of the career fairs the Fashion department organized for its students. (For some reason a lot of students in my class didn’t go to them because they thought that working for corporate was below them, but I just wanted a job!)
Pratt is very demanding school with very rigorous academics. The acceptance rate for my year (2005) was around 30% and the drop-​out rate was super high in my program – I think that 1/3−½ the kids in my class dropped out before graduation.
My art classes and my major classes kept me busy. The students who actually cared about doing well at school were incredibly talented and innovative, which is one of the best parts of going to Pratt. Being able to study alongside people who are going to be future rockstars in your field is one of the best gifts that you can get from going to a good art school. You learn A LOT from your classmates, and you have to push yourself to be better and more original every single week, just so you can keep up with everyone else. I think that I averaged 3 – 4 hours of sleep every single night just to make sure my work was ready for critiques.
The liberal arts courses at Pratt are a cakewalk – my AP classes in high school were much harder than Pratt’s liberal arts classes. But they were easy A’s if you did the work and studied.
I am very confused over the reviews that nitpick the administration, the food, or weird things like cats peeing on their stuff. (Dorms are a teeny tiny space! And the cats have to go through three different doors before they can gain access to your dorm! There’s no way a cat can «sneak in» and pee on your stuff unless you are blind or have bad communication with your roommates.”) Those things are such a drop in the bucket compared to the overall big picture. Those things are just completely irrelevant.
I went to Pratt understanding that it would be expensive and that it would be an uphill battle once I got my degree. However, I loved all my art classes, I felt extremely challenged the whole time, my personal work improved by leaps and bounds, I made some great friends, I worked my ass off, and I had a job in my field in the middle of an economic recession. School is what you put into it. Understand the risks before you enroll, don’t just do it because of a flight of fancy, otherwise you are making a very expensive mistake. There were a lot of students at Pratt who just showed up to class, never did the work, and then dropped out – don’t let that be you. You have to be scrappy and work hard to make it at this school, because that is the only way you’ll make it in the real world. The real world was a breeze after Pratt!
On another note, most of my friends are working in the fields they studied for. And at my last company, almost every designer on my team had graduated from Pratt, and they were all extremely talented, wonderful women.

Go to this place if: You’re rich and mom & dad are footing the bill for your education.
Don’t go to this place if: You’re responsible for paying your own way and don’t have a trust fund to fall back on. You will NOT be able to finish. The cost is excessively high, their scholarships don’t stretch far enough to cover the cost of attendance, and the school is useless in helping you figure out how to pay.
Plus, you’re an art major! You’ll be graduating with nearly (if not more than) $ 100,000 in student loans and working at Walgreen’s for $ 8 an hour… tough to live on when Sallie Mae is knocking at your door wanting their payment and you reach into your hand-​me-​down jeans and pull out a ball of lint.
Don’t buy into their hype about graduates securing jobs. Don’t buy into their hype about them helping graduates to find jobs. It doesn’t happen. I transferred after a year to study a more useful field (nursing) and out of everyone I know that graduated, a handful became successful in their field (and by a handful, I mean 6 people… and this was spanning the past 10 years). The rest became successful as secretaries, bartenders, or grocery store managers.
Dorms are actually not too bad — minus them trying to cram in as many people as possible into a small space. A 3 bedroom «dorm» (former apartment) housing 7 people… awesome if you all get along, terrible if you hate each other. If you have a mental illness, please do everyone a favor and don’t live on campus. College is supposed to be fun.
Food. Terrible… but you’re in NYC, there’s good food everywhere and it’s probably a lot cheaper.
Neighborhood: HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE. It’s not gentrified, it’s not «beautiful», it’s the hood. And what is in the hood? Thugs. And what do thugs bring? Violence. Gangs. Drugs. Crime. Granted, I lived there without incident, but after living in other parts of Brooklyn, you realize how lucky someone actually is to never have been mugged while walking home at night.
Again, if you’re rich, go! Mommy & daddy will be bailing you out of all of life’s mistakes anyway, so why not live a dream of being in NYC studying art? You have the resources, do it. For all the working schmucks out there, think carefully into the future and think very carefully about putting yourself into a butt load of debt for a B.F.A.

This rating I gave is for the OIA.
I have been trying to contact them both on phone and email just ask for a link since last week and did not get help at all, the staff on phone was terrible, I only called three times in two weeks while she said you don’t need to call 100 times, well i guess if you are still not helping i would have to do that, even i do not want to talk to you too. seriously!

So, now that I’ve finished my MFA in Photo/​Advanced Certificate in Art Education at Pratt (and no one can rescind my diploma), here are my thoughts.
The graduate photo program was, as of when I finished printing my thesis show in December 2011, not adequately set up to be a graduate photo program. I am not sure how I didn’t have an aneurysm during all the technical snafus, denied access, weird red tape, and general frustration just on the «PLEASE JUST LET ME PRINT MY PHOTOGRAPHS» end.
I had some really good, thoughtful, caring, involved, intelligent professors whose classes/​help were worth every penny of tuition. Some of those people actually helped me, like, in real life — either to make art, solve a problem, find professional opportunities, or get a job, or something else useful I wouldn’t have been able to do without serious mentoring from smart people. SOME OF THOSE PEOPLE EVEN CAME TO MY THESIS EXHIBITION. I also had some really, REALLY bad professors who completely phoned it in, repeatedly missed classes, obviously didn’t even read student work, and seemed to grade entirely without the hassle of objectively considering elements like actual work.
The point of getting a piece of expensive paper like an MFA, for me, was to challenge myself to make better work, learn new techniques, gain access to MFA-​grade photo facilities, and surround myself with an intelligent community of critical people. That’s some lofty shit, and I’d say I got a lot more out of the Art Ed department than the Fine Arts department, both in terms of a community, professor engagement, and the whole «challenging myself» part — because I felt that only a handful of my Fine Arts professors actually seemed interested in student work or nurturing the development of an individual style. Like one of my photo professors, who seemed hell bent on turning every photo grad into a clone of her, and making all the work in that class completely the same.
I was discouraged by the fact that I found critiques here to be less useful (in terms of actual informed criticism) than critiques I experienced as an undergrad. While I assumed that there would be different methods of critique in graduate school, I’d hoped they would be harder, and more centered around historical, technical, and critical knowledge than based on feelings — this is definitely just my opinion, I know there isn’t a «wrong» way to discuss art, but it’s frustrating to feel like you’re having sunshine or storm clouds blown up your ass when you’re looking for informed analysis.
I think it’s probably worth naming names here, so I want to mention that Pradeep Dalal, Robert Morgan, Michael Brennan, and Allen Frame are totally what I was hoping for in Fine Arts professors. It was so helpful to take their classes because these instructors have a deep knowledge of current and past artists and movements — I discovered some of my new favorite artists through these guys and they helped me refine my own work. I wouldn’t have finished my thesis without Donna Moran advocating for the photo grads and actually trying to improve our experience, in spite of her being in a basically impossible situation. I absolutely appreciated the Art Ed professors and I found them all to be helpful, well informed, and engaged. It’s pretty great that Pratt allows grad students to study Art Education while in the MFA program, I don’t know if I could’ve gotten an MFA and an advanced certificate in art ed at the same time anywhere else.
I am really, truly grateful for the friends I made at Pratt, and it was awesome to have access to current photo equipment until they kicked all the graduate students out of that facility (while some of us were in the middle of our thesis projects, thanks). I really enjoyed the camaraderie I developed in the studio spaces, until I was forced to move my studio 3 times into increasingly weird spots — it was definitely fascinating to discover that the boiling water pipe in the middle of my studio space actually releases hot, steamy mist in the middle of July, which made for a really interesting working environment. It’s nice to learn from adversity… I say that now that I’m not in the middle of that disaster.
Every institution has some bureaucratic issues, to be sure, but Pratt was beyond daunting in this respect during my time as a student. I am ultimately glad I went, but would have likely had a much more positive experience as a photography student somewhere else, where my major wasn’t an awkward afterthought that bore the brunt of interdepartmental fighting and funding issues.
I hear the undergrads have a pretty good time. Maybe this is a spot for undergrads and not angry old people like me who walk around grumbling about «in my day,» and «back at SAIC…»
Most importantly, there are cats everywhere on the BK campus, and that is really fantastic. The end.

Okay I’ll just put this simply.
this school SUCKS.
They will try to milk money out of you in as many ways as possible, the students there can really start big drama with you, and the workload is a phenomenally large amount, which is okay but when working in a dingy studio… it kinda sucks. I remember when my classmates came to the point where they saw rats under their desks, and instead of being grossed out by the rats, they would feed them. FEED THEM! That’s just sick.
Plus the freshman dorm, Pantas. it was disgusting. I developed a serious tonsil infection there, where I received strep throat 4 times consecutively. It’s a very unsanitary area. They also have cats walking around, which is fine by me since I love cats, but when they sneak into your dorm room and piss all over your belongings, they don’t seem so cute afterwards. And yes. a cat soiled my sheets by sneaking into my room. Sucks, don’t it?
They were also very rude to my parents, especially the Bursar’s office. They charged me with «hidden fees» which I have inquired about before, saying that I would not have a penalty but in the end I received one. When my dad came to the Bursar’s to talk about it, the man in the office straight up yelled in my dad’s face, and I couldn’t even do anything or go against this psycho or else both my dad and I would get into whole other issue.
This school is not worth the money. PLEASE. students who are planning to go here. don’t come here. I promise you it will be the best decision you’ll ever make. And students who currently go there, I suggest you switch out of this god forsaken school as soon as you can.

Terrible website with typos and idiotic links that lead to other idiotic links.

some very dedicated teachers. But you have to hunt to find them.
some decent facilities. But you have to fight for access to them.
some good students and artists. But also a lot of talentless hacks in ‘art summer camp.‘
some nice aspects to the campus — trees, sculpture garden, etc. But also anything that’s not nailed down will get stolen, and anything that is nailed down may well end up defaced.
you will not get any career placement help. They literally gave my graduating class packs of tic-​tacs with a sticker on them that read «good luck on your job interviews». That was the most help I got from Career Services. (Ha ha!)
you will not get any advice about how to find collectors or get into galleries.
you will likely leave with tens of thousands of dollars in debt, whether you graduate or not.
many offices (the bursar and the registrar in particular) are the opposite of helpful.
Still, if you are persistent and use your time well there, you could maybe do some really good stuff, make some contacts, maybe even have a hope of paying off your student loans one day. But don’t count on it.
BTW, the person who claimed the library is the size of an apartment is on crack. The Brooklyn library is two stories plus a basement, with mezzanine stacks crammed in between the floors. Those used to libraries from major universities may be disappointed, but the collection of art, architecture, and design materials is one of the best I’ve ever encountered, and that’s what you’re here for, so that alone gives this institution another half star.

Baaaaaaad.
Grad program was a monumental waste of money. Other bad review was exactly on point.
I didn’t pay to look at trees on a «beautiful campus». Its nice for Brooklyn, but the context is warped. In the grand scheme of the rest of the city (and country) its a tiny campus with some trees, some art scattered around and very poor instruction from professors. Professional mimes would have done a better job teaching the grad courses I took.
Ask a lot of questions before you go. Ask for job placement stats after graduation in whatever program you are applying for. Ask for references from previous students and then ask them how their job search went.
Ask what their endowment is and how much is awarded to students in your program — and ask how to apply for scholarships. If your program doesn’t have them, try another grad program at another school — there is a reason they don’t have money to offer students.
Their financial aid office is a complete disaster and will take loans and never disperse them to you until you ask for them. They will also over-​bill you so you really need to question every charge.
Libraries at both campuses are the size of an apartment and a joke.
They may have gotten a good reputation in Interior Design, but 95% of the programs they offer are horrible. Grade inflation is a strong principle at this university. If you get an «A» because you worked hard, the lazy bum next to you probably got an «A» also just so they would have a false sense of accomplishment in order to keep them in the program.
Manhattan Campus is claustrophobic and feels more like mental institution than a place to learn anything. The only thing missing from the stark all-​white interior were white straight jackets for the students who were falling into comas from mind-​numbing boredom.
The outside of the Brooklyn campus looks nice, but the 95% of inside is old and shitty — unless you like mice and roaches running past you during a lecture.
Save your money and go elsewhere.

What a beautiful campus! I never realized that you could attend a university that allows you to stay so close to the city while feeling you’re in Pennsylvania with all the… well, happy birds and perfect landscaping. It is a reality, and it’s all at Pratt.
For those Fine Arts buffs, this place really embraced me; maybe that’s because I’m an engineer and I «get it», or maybe it was because I felt a sense of comfort, intellect, and prosperity as I walked around the library. I’m really glad that my company decided to complete an off-​site meeting here and change the atmosphere a bit.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but if you want to be the reason and purpose for that beauty, I think you must have graduated from Pratt.