<p>Does anyone know anything about Pratt MWP? Has anyone studied there? What's it like? What is Utica like?</p>
<p>DD and I visited after the school year ended, so the campus was a ghost town. However, the tour was thorough as we saw the inside of every academic building. Both the facilities and the level of student work were impressive for a school so small (well under 200 students, more like 150.) DD was especially taken with the sophomore show that was mounted in the Munson Williams Proctor Museum. Really nice work for second-year students.</p>
<p>The campus incorporates the grounds of a small mansion whose owners endowed the museum; the mansion remains intact and the outbuildings have been repurposed. The old carriage house contains the ceramics and sculpture studios; these spaces have tremendous charm and DD was quite taken by the environment. The kilns are located in a covered outdoor area, and there’s a wood-fired kiln that one of the profs built after learning how in Japan.</p>
<p>Two new buildings right next to each other house the fine arts studios and communications design labs. Again, these spaces are nicely sized and when you consider that there are around 70 students per year (freshman and sophomore) space doesn’t seem to be an issue.</p>
<p>There’s also a small student union with a lounge/dining hall. In between meals they close off the dining space with an accordion-type wall. The lounge has two large screen TVs, a pool table and air hockey. The bookstore is also located in this building.</p>
<p>The freshman dorms are nothing special and appear to be quads – the suites have a large open room with a kitchenette, desks, and one small couch. Attached is a private bath (one toilet, one shower/tub, just like a bathroom at home). The ‘bedroom’ is really a narrow space with double bunks and tall metal cabinets that function as closets; it’s not the kind of space that looks particularly comfortable to hang out in. The tour guide says that the rooms aren’t always ‘full’ so if shared by 2-3 students, they would be roomy.</p>
<p>The buildings are situated in a neighborhood that looks a little rough; not necessarily high crime but not ‘pretty’ to those who’ve grown up in the sanitized suburbs or rural communities. Violent crime isn’t an issue – you can count how many murders there are in Utica each year on two hands. But the homes are run-down.</p>
<p>The campus sits behind the Munson Williams Proctor Museum, a Philip Johnson designed building, which fronts Genesee Street, Utica’s main drag. Within walking distance is the Stanley Theatre (an old-style theatre that’s gorgeous inside), and further down is the Radisson and the Hotel Utica (the former your typical 1970s era building and the latter a nicely restored circa 1912 building.)</p>
<p>Utica is small (about 60,000) and the downtown area isn’t really a place to hang out. There are suburbs where you’ll find the usual stores – Old Navy, Barnes & Noble, Panera’s – and a mall (Sangertown Square in nearby New Hartford) that has a Macy’s, Target and American Eagle, Hollister, Pac Sun (you get the drift) – but you’d definitely need a car to get to the mall and the shopping areas.</p>
<p>Utica sits in the snow belt of upstate NY, so you’ll see snow – at times a lot. Utica is southeast of one of the Great Lakes – Lake Ontario – so it’s subjected to something called ‘lake effect snow’; moisture from the lake is carried down when weather conditions are right, and it can snow snow snow even though there are no ‘storms’ in the forecast.</p>
<p>Pratt MWP isn’t a school for everyone, and Utica isn’t a town for everyone. The nearest mid-sized city is Syracuse (about an hour away heading west – it’s home to Syracuse University which has its own decent art school) and the night life / shopping / entertainment options there are much better.</p>
<p>But the education at Pratt MWP seems very personal with lots of contact between students and faculty. And the reward is continuing at Pratt in Brooklyn without having to apply as a transfer student.</p>
<p>DD liked it and plans to apply, but would like to return to get the campus vibe once the students return. Admissions told her that 1/3 of the students are from out of state, and that 80% of Pratt MWP students go down to the Brooklyn campus after finishing their two years in Utica. Since they are generous with aid and merit awards (97% of students get some financial help) and you save about $11,000 per year over Pratt Brooklyn tuition, if you can stomach a small city, the snowy weather, and aren’t afraid of a small class size (70-80 per year) and want personal attention, Pratt MWP makes good sense.</p>