SUNY Purchase VS. Pratt Institute VS. Ithaca College writing programs?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Pratt Institute
1

Recently I’ve been accepted to both Pratt Institute and Ithaca College (undergraduate) for creative writing. I will not hear back from Purchase College for another month or so. (I’m hoping I’ll get in) I plan on majoring in creative writing in college and aspire to work at a publishing house as an editor. (and, ideally, to eventually be a published writer)

I REALLY love SUNY Purchase and Pratt, and I can’t pick between the two (visited both, haven’t visited Ithaca yet). Ithaca is a contender as well. I received a $17K merit scholarship from Pratt and a $2OK merit scholarship from Ithaca. Although these scholarships are quite generous, the tuition is still very high for my family. I was hoping that anyone could advise me on which, out of all these schools, would be most beneficial to my career? I am fully aware that Purchase College is a state school, which will save me an enormous amount of money. However, if Pratt or Ithaca are better at getting me a job post graduation, those schools may be a better investment.

I know that Ithaca has had students in the past intern at Random House Publishing (the main reason why I applied) and when I visited Pratt, on the tour they mentioned how great the school is in helping students receive internships and job placement in their desired field.

Any advice from people with first-hand experiences from these schools and know much about them would be greatly appreciated. I’m really worried about making the wrong decision when May 1 rolls around.

2

At this point in your decision you need more specific information than what was provided during the general school and campus visit. So, regarding Pratt you should definitely attend their Undergraduate Accepted Student’s weekend in April. I think the specific day for the Writing Program is April 11 - here is the link:

https://www.pratt.edu/admissions/applying/applying-undergraduate/accepted-students/

They say you can visit your major’s academic program and meet with the department chairs. That will be a great opportunity for you to ask specific questions about where students in creative writing intern, where their graduates get jobs and how the school helps them in these endeavors - for instance, do they have a creative writing lab or studio that allows the students to do some writing projects for the community (including potential future employers); how does the program encourage/does it actually REQUIRE an outside internship, what other types of professional development opportunities does the program require it’s students to undertake, etc. Hopefully you’ll walk away from the event with a better understanding your prospects for employment if you enroll at Pratt.

BTW, we are attending on the 12th as my D was accepted to ComD (Graphic Design) and we will be asking the same sorts of questions.

Good luck to you!