<p>Hi nocalmom. My d is a writing major - she's buried in work, specifically reading - told me she had a read a small library's worth of material by last Tuesday. She too is socalizing and not sleeping much - but she did those with enthusiasm at home too. She's still got a bf here in Houston - so she's looking foward to coming home for the holidays. Best of luck to your d - by Christmas they'll have had some seriously cold weather probably and your d will be happy to come home to the california sun.</p>
<p>DGB- We too were surprised how much work was done between April and August. The campus was beautiful. Loved the bench area they built. </p>
<p>Caro's Mom- I also thought the orientation was outstanding. Very organized and very welcoming. We never felt out of place.<br>
We too also felt the genuine pride that the staff has for Pratt.</p>
<p>Taxguy
Thank you for the detailed info. Did you have a student who attended?</p>
<p>Beacon, no, my daughter didn't like either the location or the extreme disrepair of many of the buildings. </p>
<p>Speaking of this, I noted that Pratt had a lot of buildings that were old, had cracked tiles and paint, and leaking ceilings. I just found out that their accreditation was being questioned due to have so many problems with their facilities. They did try to fix them enough to keep their accreditation,but I would bet that the facilities still needed a lot of repair. I guess they had to repair many facilites or they could have lost accredition. It really was that bad.</p>
<p>Be advised of this. It is a big problem in my mind.</p>
<p>Taxguy: when were you last on the Pratt Campus? There were dramatic improvements in the condition between April and August of this year as I noted months ago, and as another poster reaffirmed in September. If your information is not up to date, it is misleading to those who might be considering Pratt. I'm not claiming any authority about the conditions this month, but I know that there were substantial improvements earlier this year.</p>
<p>My daughter is in her freshman year at Pratt and she loves it. The buildings have been improved quite a lot since last April when we visited. It is certainly an old campus and needs more work but she loves everything about the area and NYC and wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Her teachers are very demanding and she says her art has improved dramatically. The whole art school decision is a very personal one for each student.</p>
<p>D is now in her second year and is a Comm Design major. She is also having a great experience. She did tell me that she knows a few kids that are dropping out next semester due to the demands of their art courses. Many kids are just not prepared for the time that needs to be invested. She also has an internship at The Society of Illustrators in NYC which she is enjoying very much.</p>
<p>Cama</p>
<p>Taxguy,
In response to your question... My D is indeed finishing her first semester of her sophmore year. Now that she is in her major she likes it even better. She likes all of her profs except Art History or perhaps it might be that Art History does not come as easy to her as her studio classes do. This semester she got an internship through one of her profs at the Society of Illustrators in NYC and finds it interesting. One night Tony Bennett came up to take a class there and he looked "vaguely familiar to her". When he signed in she realized who he was, though there is a generational issue for her to be able to recongnize him. Some people she knows did or are dropping out because they can't handle the work load, but she reallly seems to have found her nitch...art school in NYC. Since you can't have a double major she is planning to come out with a double portfolio in illustration and art advertisement, both are in the Comm Design department.</p>
<p>Cama</p>
<p>Glad to hear the good news concerning your daughter. Please keep posting her experiences at Pratt. I am hoping to evenually convince my daughter to go there, at least for grad school.</p>
<p>I have recently received an invitation to take their summer arts program...but the cost is pretty sharp for us at the moment and i was wondering if it is really worth it?
I am planning to apply to an ivy league summer school next summer so this summer is the only chance i will basically get for attending Pratt
I would appreciate any help,
Thanx</p>
<p>Summer arts programs for HS students are an excellent opportunity to help them see what the next level is all about. Our d was at CalArts in the summer before her senior year in HS, as a CA Arts Fellow. She came back home a different person, more serious, very focused, ready. If you have a chance to attend a summer arts program at Pratt, or some other national-caliber program, I would encourage you to go for it.</p>
<p>I go to a very old boarding school with many of the same maintanance problems, so I'm pretty used to the whole old, low quality thing. The only real issue that I'm looking forward to getting away from next year is that of the heating in my dorms. We use radiators. It's really a pain. It's either too hot or too cold, and I just really don't like it. (If you didn't already catch that.) So the only question I have about Pratt's issues is, do they have the same thing?</p>
<p>Carn06, sorry, I can't answer this. Maybe someone whose son or daughter attends Pratt can answer this.</p>
<p>Haha, doesn't matter anymore. I'm already here. :)
And for the record, I'm in love with it.</p>
<p>Hi Cam,</p>
<p>I have a daughter who may be interested in Pratt in a few years. I've been reading through all these posts and saw yours dated today. I'm so glad to hear that you are liking it so far. Please keep me updated. Where are you from originally?</p>
<p>I'm from Maryland originally but I've lived in South Florida for about 2 years and attended boarding school in Lititz, PA for five.</p>
<p>After reading every post on this site I feel that I have a good feeling for the school and we intend to visit this year. I have appreciated and learned from both the positive and negative comments. I then went to studentreviews.com and looked over their section on Pratt. It was full of very negative comments about the administration and the difficulty people have getting questions answered or correcting problems with paperwork and financial issues. There were also quite a few posts naming the supposedly alchoholic head of one department. Can anyone shed some light on these issues? I realize that you do not attend a school for the administration but it is something to think about.</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>Scoop, I can tell you that the person who was an alcoholic is no longer at Pratt. Thus, all those comments concerning him no longer apply.</p>
<p>As to the other negative comments, you have to take students review web stie with a lot of skepticism. Negatively affected people will post more than positively affected people. When I visited Pratt and toured around, I asked people how they felt about the school. The vast majority liked the school and liked their program. I even met two parents who were touring with us who both were alumni of the schools and recommended the school to their kids. </p>
<p>As for the administration, it probably is still bad. You saw my comments about lack of signage and the lack of warm furries that I didn't get from anyone in admission or in security. However, it is in New York .It could well be the typical New Yorker attidude.</p>
<p>Scoop, My sense from my three viists to Pratt over the last year, is it is a school trying hard to clean up it's act. The remarkable renaissance of Brooklyn in general as well as the Ft Greene/Clinton Hill area has made Pratt a far better option than it was 10 years ago. Many of their programs are consistantly rated the best in the country, the campus is lovely, and the studio spaces are huge for a city school. When we visited at accepted students' day in the spring as well as freshman orientation last month there were many informational sessions for both parents an students which were very informative and well organized. Freshman orientation lasted a week and included trips to plays and museums, tours of the surrounding area, and safety seminars. It all certainly seemed well run. Pratt did however seem a bit "cheesy" after some of the very prestigiuos LAC we looked at , but frankly my daughter would trade the MOMA for an 80 million dollar fitness center anyday. She is a Fine Arts Major and likes all of her 5 courses except Art History (which is kind of a drag because she loves Art History), but she hears similiar complaints from her friends at Ivy League schools: such is the life of a lowly freshman. We haven't dealt much with the administration ; they took our money and the merit scholarship was as expected. I found the admissions office really ugly, which seems odd considering the Architecture and Interior Design programs are so highly regarded. The admissions rep was very helpful, personal, and did a good job selling the school.</p>
<p>artschoolmom,</p>
<p>I very much appreciate the information you posted. My daughter in not interested sports, sororities or fitness centers. What she feels she is lacking in HS is the chance to become friends with more people who share her interests. When I told her that part of orientation was seeing a broadway show her eyes lit up. The art teacher at last nights open house spoke of a past student who majored in industrial design and now has a wonderful job based on contacts she made at Pratt.</p>
<p>Keep in touch.</p>