SOS: RISD or Pratt

<p>Hey everyone. I was accepted to a number of design schools for fashion design but I've finally narrowed my options down to RISD and Pratt. I need some serious help choosing between the two!!! RISD is such an awesome school, gave me a $17,500 yearly scholarship and I can also take courses at Brown but the location isn't great for fashion. Pratt on the other hand is also a strong school (not as strong as RISD but still strong), gave me $16,000 in scholarship and the location is perfect and I can also minor in writing, which RISD doesn't offer. Would anyone happen to know which school companies hire more students from? And also, any other opportunities one school offers that the other doesn't? PLEASE HELP ME! THANK YOU.</p>

<p>Uhhlyssa, yes, you can take courses at Brown in theory. However, from what people have told me, the studio courses at RISD can conflict with many of the courses that you might want to take at Brown. Thus, it isn’t as easy as they make it out to be.</p>

<p>I can’t tell you which school would be the better choice since I don’t know about either schools program in fashion. However, what surprises me is that you didn’t apply to the schools that were most well known for Fashion: Parsons and FIT.</p>

<p>thanks for the insight taxguy. and i did apply to parsons and fit and was admitted to both but i really loved pratt and RISD was very impressive and both schools gave me more scholarship money. Parsons is still an option but i have to see about the scholarship appeal.</p>

<p>If you are a NYS resident, I would strongly encourage you to consider FIT! You would receive a stellar education, enormous opportunities for internships and networking, and you would probably graduate with no debt since the cost is so low. That may leave you seed money for launching your career. It’s in a much nicer area than Pratt as well, actually a better area for your intended major as it is in the heart of the fashion district. Whatever you decide, good luck!</p>

<p>Since you have narrowed down your choices, I won’t suggest you change your mind and consider other schools. I’ve visited the RISD FD department and talked to students. They mentioned appreciating being out of NYC while in school to have the chance to focus on developing their own work while not feeling the rat race pressure that can come along with beng in the city. But when they need to go to NYC to see shows or buy fabric it is not hard. Peter Pan runs a bus that is $20 to NYC. And when they do internships many of them go to NYC (summers and wintersession).
There are a few Liberal Arts concentrations at RISD. I don’t remember what they are but take a look on the website. There is a good selection of writing classes each semester. My son has had good experiences with his liberal arts teachers at RISD. Some have even been professors from Brown. He has not yet taken any liberal arts courses at Brown and he is almost done with his third year. It is not that it is impossible but his priority every semester has been getting into and working hard in the classes for his major and that has taken his focus away from exploring what else is available outside of RISD. But that’s just him. There is also the fact that to register for Brown classes you have to wait for the day the Brown semester begins. That means you need to register for a RISD class to fill the spot on your schedule (and to have insurance just in case you don’t get the Brown class you want), then go to the first day of the Brown class, get permission from the professor and do an add/drop. Not impossible but you have to really want it :)</p>

<p>I don’t have any info for you on specifics of the Pratt FD program. I’d love to hear more about it from you or anyone else as my friend’s daughter is looking now and she’d appreciate some insider perspective.</p>