Older Student Struggling In First Semester At Pratt

Hey everyone

I am an older (25 years old) transfer student who finally decided to go back to school. I got accepted to Pratt’s Associate Degree Program at their Manhattan Campus and am studying Graphic Design there.

I moved to New York from Portland Oregon about six months ago and am halfway through my first semester. I had visited New York for a few weeks two summers ago and thought I really loved the city. School has been going fairly well, I enjoy my classes and am liking the school experience overall, although I am a little disappointed not to be attending the Brooklyn Campus.

I have a number of friends out here that I know from previous encounters/time spent together on the west coast. I’d like to think that I have a fairly solid friend group, and have even been meeting new people at school. My social life is pretty eventful and I have had some good times exploring the city.

I feel like New York is really starting to wear on me though. It’s super noisy, claustrophobic, and overwhelming compared to Portland. I miss being close to nature, having easy access to farmers markets/local organic food, and just the generally relaxed vibe of the west. My bedroom (all that I can afford) is super small and my neighborhood in Brooklyn is just kind of dirty and depressing. I don’t even really enjoy going on bike rides or walking around here, its just not very aesthetically pleasing.

I’m just not sure if this city is right for me. I feel like it’s already stifling my creativity. I am considering moving back to Portland and attending the design program at Portland State University. I am proud of myself for getting accepted to Pratt, but don’t know if I can deal with living here just to attend a prestigious school. Would I be doing myself a huge disservice by transferring to a far less prestigious state school? It would be significantly cheaper to attend PSU, but my biggest concern is getting a good education. I absolutely want to continuing with my schooling but I think another city might be a better fit for me.

Any help or advice is appreciated. Any thoughts about PSU vs Pratt? Or any thoughts about getting settled better in NYC?

Thanks in advance!!

@1000flowersbloom - Wow, what a change! I adore Portland and NYC but they are different worlds. Here’s what you can do that won’t hurt you at all - get up and out of your neighborhood during the day, even for an hour or so. Get a metrocard and go to other parts of NYC. Go for a paddle or a sail in the harbor (there are some days of the month when it’s cheaper or free), go for a run around lower Manhattan on the waterfront early in the morning, hit a park in the afternoon. Take a train up the Hudson on Saturday. Get up early on Sunday and find a weekend farmer’s market. NYC is NOT Portland and it will never be but it has a lot to offer for the price of transportation - go find it.

If you do your best to embrace the city, you find its green areas and quiet corners and you’re still yearning for home, well maybe moving back is the best choice!

I can’t be of any help with PSU vs Pratt but I think if you have talent and determination, you will find the best education for yourself. Just make sure you give NYC a fair shake before deciding it’s not for you.

How are you paying for school? If Pratt requiores a lot of debt but PSU doesn’t, then I might consider PSU. How many years do you need to finish your degree?

Rent a zip car for the day and driver nd hour north to Westchester County. Plenty of nature, hiking, and woods.

Personally, I would go back to Oregon. Portland is wonderful, and you are going to save so much money. Your career path may be one that isn’t going to pay off for a while. Why saddle yourself with so much debt? If you ultimately see yourself heading back west anyway, do it now, while you are young and don’t have a lot of other responsibilities.

Thank you all so much for the responses!

@CaMom13 I really appreciate the tips. It has been such a huge change! I didn’t really think about it enough I guess. I thought “oh new york has lots of everything”. Which it does to some extent, but now I realize it might take you an hour on the train to get to farmers market or a park. Speaking of parks, I do really enjoy both Sunset and Prospect Park, but the commute kills me! They aren’t really in leisurely afternoon bike ride distance from me and the train takes almost 2 hours round trip! I didn’t realize how claustrophobic these NYC bedrooms feel either! I’m not use to anything huge, but jeeeeze $700/month doesn’t get you much here.

I do need to take the metro north up the Hudson though. I have been reading about that. I’m trying my best to embrace the city. I’m thinking on my next day off I’m going to walk around Clinton Hill and see if that neighborhood might feel like a better fit for me. I’m just not a huge fan of Bushwick I guess!!

As for Pratt vs PSU, I know I would obviously be giving up some of Pratt’s resources (amazing library, 3d printers, weekly artists talks) but I’m not sure if those are worth $20k a year and living in a city I’m not super fond of.

@austinmshauri I got a fairly significant scholarship and a good amount of financial aid but did have to take out some loans. I am not really blown away by the program that I’m in and think for the cost PSU might make more sense. I still have a little less than 3 years left. I have about 30 credits completed at the end of this semester.

@Lindagaf Renting the zip car sounds great! I hadn’t thought of that. I had a truck while I was living in Oregon and have been feeling really stuck without any way to get out of the city for the weekend. One of the main reasons for the move to the East Coast was my interest in exploring New England and all the states in close proximity to me. Now I’m realizing that’s going to be pretty difficult with out owning a car in the city (or at least a lot more limited than my adventures were on the west coast).

Thanks for the advice. I really do miss Portland. I thought it was a good time for a change. I lived there for most of my early twenties and thought I might as well live in a new city for the other half of my twenties. I just don’t know if New York was the right choice and can’t really think of any other city I would like to live in at the moment. I guess it might be easier to exist in NYC or the bay area once I am out of school and hopefully working at a design firm.

And I totally feel that about the debt. I thought Pratt would be giving me an experience that was unparalleled by cheaper schools but overall I’m honestly not blown away by this first semester (although the library is pretty awesome!).

Start going to NYC parks! Prospect park in Brooklyn for sure.

On the weekends maybe go up the Hudson River…there is great hiking and what not.

How many days a week do you have classes? If they aren’t daily you could switch things around and move further out from the city to quieter areas (at a lot less expense). and commute into the city for classes. Then you’d automatically be closer to the things you enjoy during weekends and free time.

@gouf78 That’s definitely been a thought. I have class four days a week this semester and am supposed to be taking another three credits next semester so I assume that will add another day to my schedule. A majority of my time is spent at school, so it is nice being fairly close. I do go to the Manhattan campus, so I already have about a 30 minute commute from Bushwick (when the trains are running well).

That being said I have thought about relocating to Ridgewood, Cypress Hills, or Astoria. Not super far out, but a little cheaper, a little more quite. I’m just not sure how much I want to add to my commute. I’ve honestly been missing the ability to ride my bike anywhere I needed to go. A bike ride to campus sounds a lot nicer than spending 30 minutes on a packed train every morning. I even thought maybe a change in neighborhood would help. I walked around both Green Point and Clinton Hill the other day. They seem nice but even more expensive than where I’m at right now.

When trying to make a choice about something, I find it helpful to make pro/con lists.
Also, you can ask yourself what choice you might be happiest with in the long run.

@Julissa98 Thanks for the tip! I actually have mad a list of pros/cons (both my mom and a good friend recommended the same thing). Its still a construing decision, Portland and Brooklyn are so different in the long run and there are a number of different negatives and positives for each location.

At the moment I am thinking that I might relocate back to Portland for a few years to finish my BFA. That will give me time to reassess my plans and visit some other cities in the meantime. Maybe I’ll be able to move to another city and finish up and MFA at a school there.

Thanks for the responses everyone! I’ve been having a really tough time with all of this.

There’s are good graphic design programs at Oregon State U and Portland State. Just make sure to do at least one internship in graphic design as you study, and also do design work for clubs and organizations on campus, so you graduate with work experience and a solid portfolio - same as you’d do with Pratt.

It’d be a good idea to work in graphic design for some time before you decide if you need an MFA. You may find you don’t need one. It depends on your career goals. Many careers in design don’t require one, and don’t give advantage in hiring to people who have one, so you may find you’re fine without it.

I heard good things about the OSU program as well. I guess I should look into it. That’s totally what I’m thinking as well. Internships, and the effort that I put in, will be the most important parts to having a good portfolio/work experience. I only really mention the MFA because I’m also quite interested in industrial design and I’d love to do another two year program especially if I could do it for a reasonable price internationally.