I’m in my second semester at Pratt, I am extremely unhappy. I feel like the education is just okay, I’m not sure if I’m actually learning anything. I feel so guilty I’m spending all my parents money on a school I’m unhappy with. I’m so lonely here, I had a group of friends but all the do is smoke pot. They don’t even take advantage of the fact that we’re in New York City. I try to get them to go out, but they’re always too stoned. I’ve tried making other friends here, I’ve tried reaching out, but everyone here seems to be the same. The drug culture here is too much. At most schools it’s a party thing, here it’s 24/7. I also feel like it’s impossible to have intelligent conversations with any of the other students. All the students here fit the stereotypes of art students perfectly. Students here think they are so open minded, don’t get me wrong, they are liberal and so am I, but they think every one who has a slightly different opinion is wrong. I feel like VCU would allow for a more diverse school population, different kinds of people. People who aren’t all art majors. VCU would also give me the option to take more academic classes which does in someways interest me. Maybe I could minor in something more academic. They only thing is, Pratt is in NYC, it does have good connections, it has a good name, and I don’t know if VCU will do the same for me. I don’t know if four unhappy years at Pratt will be worth it just for the name.
Go visit VCU, and have nice long chats with people in the design program and in the career center about job placement. Find out where their graduates get work. There is no reason to be miserable for four years if you have other options.
My son is a freshman at VCU this year. One of the main reasons we chose VCU was because it is an excellent art school that is also part of a large university. My son’s roommate/BFF is a Mass Comm major, and he has other friends who are studying anything from education (future teachers) to business to engineering. Aside from his love of digital art, he doesn’t seem to have nearly as much in common with the other art students. He’s a sports junkie and attends almost any sporting event on campus. So for him, VCU was the perfect choice. While he gets alongwith the art students, his close buddies are not art students.
Richmond itself doesn’t compare to NYC, but VCU Arts has MANY strong connections to the major players in the art world. They have outstanding internship opportunities, impressive speakers, and offer impressive study abroad opportunities.
Definitely check out VCU. Do not spend your college years being miserable. There are WAY too many other options for you.
ok so my D is at vcuarts and is a graphic design major so I am happy to post her experience as I have done many time s in the past. having said that , I would suggest you need to be completely honest with yourself on what your actual issues are with Pratt/design school / etc. You need to think hard if these are things that likely are at most schools as there would be no point in making a change that could possibly just be the same.
For our D who is from the tristate area, she really likes Richmond and VCUARTS. She is very involved with her school and her major . She has been proactive from day one. Its a wonderful design school and is respected by VCU as well as the design community. But there are certainly “artsy” students . Yes the other classes are more diversified with the entire VCU community but make no mistake , the bulk of your time is spent on design and with designers.