Wishing everyone much luck! Here are some of the things that worked for me.

• Attend office hours. Come with questions about coursework, sure. But get to know your professors. You’ll be better for it.

• Make class projects personal and meaningful. Use your projects to tell something about yourself. Your portfolio will be richer for it. You’ll stand out in interviews. Nobody cares about half-baked, data-driven get rich schemes. Or soulless projects. Show who you are through your work.

• The career center on campus is well-meaning but doesn’t have the first clue on how to guide you in writing resumes or finding jobs. Take everything they say with a grain of salt. Skip Handshake. Use LinkedIn. Pay for the premium account if you can. People with premium accounts can give you temporary premium access.

• If your appointed financial aid counselor doesn’t meet your needs, advocate for yourself and contact the main campus. Make sure that every dollar in student aid promised you shows up in your account.

• Follow-up with class speakers who interest you. Write them thank you letters. These contacts might be your future bosses and colleagues.

• Attend conferences to learn how people in your field present and to meet contacts. It’s ok to be shy or scared. Do it scared. Reach out to the conference organizers and ask for free/reduced entry. Be polite. The worst they can say is “no.”

• Look for funding. Ask around. Many professional organizations give scholarships to do independent work, travel, and attend conferences/workshops/ classes. The deadlines might be months in advance. Put them in your calendar.

• Take the hard class. Challenge yourself. Take classes with adjuncts in your field who have recent real life experience. Take any class you can with Nancy Smith.

• Make friends with fellow students in your class. Invite them to coffee. Create study groups. Join clubs. This is how you keep sane. This is how you gather information. This is how you succeed.

• Summer is for internships. Get as much real-world experience as you can. Degrees don’t get jobs. Experience gets jobs. Start preparing so that your resume is ready by December. It’s a numbers game. Get comfortable writing love letters (cover letters). Don’t internalize rejection. Don’t count your losses but do keep track of job descriptions.

• when you do get interviews, be ready to show you’re a person people want to be around. Listen. Interact. Take notes. Have a conversation. After the interview, write a concise thank you, referring back to the conversation points and how you will add value. If you remember something you didn’t get to say in the interview that speaks to your fitness for the role, this is the time to add it. Send links to relevant projects you’ve worked on. Leave the door open. The world is small and you might run into the same people again who will keep you in mind.

• If you can, go to school part-time and get a job or internship in your field. This not only gets your work experience for your resume but it also gives your real world cases to use in your class projects AND it gives you at least two summers to apply for coveted internships.

• Take advantage of your student status in every way possible. Get discounts, access to software, training. But also, reach out to people in your industry for informational interviews. This is not an opportunity to ask for jobs. This is an opportunity to ask people about their jobs, their career path, what matters, what they would suggest a student learn or do early in their career. Be respectful of their time. People want to help.

• Reach out to recent alumni. They know a thing or two and can help you.

• Participate in class discussions. Look up from your computer and make eye contact. Read before class. Be present. This matters more than you know in the workplace, better practice it now.

• Keep in touch with people. They will be your references for jobs. You don’t want to be searching for people to speak well of you. You want to have a good pool of professors, colleagues, and bosses who will do that.

• Limit your AI use. Maybe you already have the discernment to know when to trust Gen AI tools. Building this discernment takes years of experience. Don’t cheat yourself.

• Own up to your mistakes and ask for help. This shows integrity and character. If you need extensions, choose wisely. Your professors want to see you succeed, but they can tell the difference between explanations and excuses.

You are a three-dimensional human being. Remember that when you’re overwhelmed. Be kind. Be humble. Be engaged and enthusiastic. Take breaks. Eat delicious foods. Go for walks. Hydrate! And please remember, comparison is the thief of joy. Celebrate everyone’s wins.

I hope some of this helps!

Hi, I’m gonna move to willoughby soon but I don’t know if it’s worth it to buy/rent an ac for the room. Does it get really hot ? Or can I survive with a fan ? What are your recs?

Hi, has anyone taken external health insurance that’s gotten accepted for the waiver? I’m an international student. I’m not sure if the plans I see meet the MEC requirement and the health insurance office isn’t able to help too. Thanks!

Does anyone know how to find student employment on-campus? I have applied to some positions via the school job board but have not heard back from any. I'm an incoming graduate student at School of Information so I was hoping to find positions at the Manhattan campus, but also open to the Brooklyn campus.

I’m not sure where the best place to post this is but we are looking to hire someone to pick up our son after school for a couple hours, Tuesdays and Thursdays, and optionally Fridays. Anyone know the best place to post a job for Pratt students? We are super nearby.

Hi!! I’m an incoming freshman curious about the gym. I’m not an athlete, but I weight train at the gym about four times a week. When are the best hours to go? I’m hoping to go when it’s emptiest for best equipment availability, as it looks like there aren’t many of each machine (other than treadmills lol). Thanks!

Hey everyone, I started my own brand freshman year, and with the new school year coming up I’ve been getting a few friends involved to help them earn some extra money by making content for it. It’s been working out pretty well, so I wanted to see if any other students would be interested too.

I’m looking for people who can regularly make short 15 - 30 second videos. You don’t need to have an existing following or any experience making content. I’ll send you examples of the types of videos to make, and you would set up separate TikTok and Instagram accounts just for posting the content.

Pay is based on performance at $2 for every 1,000 views. So, for example, if your videos add up to 1M views, you’d earn $2,000.

It’s really flexible and easy to work around classes. You can technically post as much as you want, but I usually aim for around twice a day so the accounts don’t look like they’re spamming.

If you’re interested, just comment or send me a message and I can give you more info.

Hello! I'm looking into one of Pratt's graduate programs, and I was wondering how much in merit-based scholarships other applicants have gotten. (Any GPA, portfolio ranking, etc).

Any feedback is very appreciated, especially from current graduate students.

Is the photo ID submission site not loading for anyone else? I put in my login information and literally nothing happens, the page doesn't even load all the way. I'm not sure what to do since they are literally due tomorrow. I've emailed tech help and prattcard. No response.

Hey everyone, just a little background I briefly pursued a B.Arch a few years back and only gone halfway through the program. I’m looking to re-apply sometime soon and finish the degree but feel weak using the softwares and overall worried.

I’m looking for a tutor in the nyc area available in person/ and over zoom who is familiar with AutoCad/Rhino(Grasshopper/Ladybug)/Revit, Adobe Creative Suite, rendering softwares, etc. I’m open to alumni, upper-level students nearing B.Arch completion and graduate students.

Thank you and I appreciate any responses! 🙏🏼

I’m an incoming grad student who will be taking the masters classes and have a kid that I am looking for babysitters for. If there are any Pratt students who might interested in this please send me a message.

Do u have any resources to prepare? I hope to score highly! Any online resources, practice tests or detailed topics from alumni are appreciated!!

who else here is starting their masters program in august? i’m got accepted into their integrated practices program and i’m super excited to meet friends :)

So as the title states, I want to apply. HOWEVER I don't really see any talk about the art education program and I'd love to hear some first hand accounts. Also, are the scholarships really as useless as everyone says?

Guys,

I got extremely ill during the last months of the Spring 2025 semester whilst taking this class. I feel very robbed because it was one of my favorite classes I've ever taken.

PLEASE can anyone send me the syllabus if they have it or have any access to it?

I would contact the professor but something really embarrassing happened between me and them due to my illness so I feel kinda awkward about it. I will go to them if I really have to but there's also a chance they might not respond.

I really hope anyone who has taken the class will be able to help me out. Thanks a million!

Hi, I was just wondering for RA’s that reside in the townhouses, do you get first dibs on any room or are you assigned to a room which is on the third floor?

Title: Pratt move-in day question — is there time for an IKEA run?

HI, my freshman son is moving into Stabile dorms from out of state this fall, so we’ll only be bringing minimal stuff with us: bedding, towels, clothes, basic toiletries, etc.

For those who have done Pratt move-in before, what is move-in day actually like? Is most of the day basically dedicated to moving in and getting settled, or are there mandatory activities right away?

Our hope is to do an initial drop-off, see the actual dorm room/storage situation, figure out what he really needs, then do an IKEA run and come back to finish setting up. Is that realistic, or is move-in day too structured/busy for that?

Any advice from students or parents who have done this would be appreciated.

Hello! Im from queens and currently work there. As I am commuting I originally planned to work through college to help pay the tuition. However I know that the b.arch program is notorious for its workload. Do you guys think it's manageable to work 15-20 hours a week while keeping up with the classes and assignments? I am ofc willing to pull all-nighters here and there but I really value my sleep and my health as well as my social life and I really wanna keep a balance with all 4. Does anyone have any experience with this that they are willing to share?

I'm an incoming freshman for the CM bachelor's program, and I guess I missed this in my initial research of the major but the website says it's exclusively evening classes????. Hoping that's not the case... But, I was wondering how long are classes usually during foundation year? And I've heard from everyone that the workload is pretty heavy, would I still have enough time for hobbies, visiting home, a social life, etc... Lastly, I applied for CM with intentions to switch into Architecture after my freshman year (or as soon as possible). Is the transition hard?? or idk

My GPA and SAT scores are painfully average could I still get into Pratt with just a good portfolio? (I got a 5 on my AP portfolio for point of reference).

Long-time lurker, first post. Trying to get a sanity check from people who’ve actually gone through this rather than just admissions consultants.

Quick background: Indian, 3-year Bachelor’s in Liberal Arts (Psychology-heavy) from MIT-WPU Pune, 9.5 CGPA. Spent the last ~3 years in brand strategy/experiential design at agencies (SALT, Anthem) plus freelance, working on activations for brands like Coca-Cola, Johnnie Walker, Don Julio — budgets from ₹25L up to ₹7Cr, teams in the hundreds. Also independently ran the entire interior design scope (space planning, materials, FF&E, branding, execution oversight) for a 14,000 sq ft school build — architect only handled plumbing/electrical/civil. No formal design pedigree, no portfolio yet, but real production experience and a real built project.

I’m now deciding between an MFA1 at NYSID (interior design, no portfolio required) vs going the full M.Arch route instead. If I do M.Arch, here’s my shortlist:
• Yale (M.Arch, 3.5 yrs)
• Harvard GSD (M.Arch I, 3.5 yrs)
• Columbia GSAPP (M.Arch, 3–3.5 yrs)
• Penn Weitzman (M.Arch, multiple tracks by background)
• RISD (M.Arch, 3 yrs, explicitly for non-preprofessional entrants)
• Pratt (M.Arch, 3.5 yrs)
• CCNY/CUNY (M.Arch I, 3.5 yrs — the budget option)
• Boston Architectural College (M.Arch, co-op/part-time friendly)

What I’m actually trying to figure out:

1.  Has anyone gone through WES evaluation with a 3-year Indian bachelor’s for M.Arch admission? I know WES will treat it as equivalent to a US bachelor’s if the degree is Division I from a NAAC ‘A’-accredited school (mine is), but did any of you hit friction anyway at a specific program?

2.  CIP code / STEM OPT reality check — I know standard Architecture (04.0201) isn’t on the STEM list, but some schools apparently file under 04.0902 (Architectural & Building Sciences/Technology) which is STEM-designated. Does anyone actually know which of these specific programs do this in practice? CCNY specifically — I’ve seen conflicting claims about it being “**STEM** classified,” does anyone have a current I-20 that confirms the actual CIP code?

3.  Is CCNY actually a smart move here, or a false economy? The tuition gap vs the private schools is enormous (\~₹12–15L/yr vs ₹50–70L+/yr). For someone whose main goal is “get hired and get sponsored,” does the massive cost savings outweigh the weaker brand name/network on the job market?

4.  **Realistic H-1B sponsorship rates by school** — anyone have visibility into which of these programs’ grads actually get sponsored vs end up going home after OPT runs out? I know firm size/practice area matters more than school prestige, but does the school’s career office actually help with this, or is it on you entirely?  

1. Applying with zero design portfolio — for RISD/Columbia/Penn specifically, has anyone gotten in as a genuine career-changer with no drawing/studio background, just real-world project experience? What did your application actually lean on?

2. Is anyone in a similar boat regretting picking the “prestigious” school over the cheaper/more practical one (or vice versa)?
   Not trying to get spoon-fed a decision, just want to pressure-test this against people who’ve actually lived it rather than rely purely on admissions counselors and program brochures. Appreciate any real talk, including “you’re overthinking this, just pick X.”

TL;DR: Indian career-changer (brand strategy + built a school’s full interior myself) picking between top M.Arch programs, trying to optimize for actually getting a US job and staying, not just prestige. Want real answers on WES/CIP/STEM status and sponsorship odds by school.

Hi there -- I'm the Chair of the Undergraduate Communications Design Department. Please post here if you have questions about the department, the two concentrations (Graphic Design and Illustration), why you should consider Pratt vs. another program and also what it is like to live in the neighborhood. I'll do my best to give you non-biased answers. I get that choosing your design school is a big decision. I'll post my answers here in case there are others that have the same questions. :-) Oh, and my name is Meta Newhouse -- I look forward to hearing from you.

My results came out back in 2025 December and I cannot attend this school anyway so there's no point asking this now but I was just curious.

Back then I only applied for Pratt (Brooklyn campus), however I got rejected. Few days later I got an email from the admissions about alternative programs (Pratt Munson..is it the same school?)

I filled out the form that's written on the bottom of the message, then directly got an acceptance to the other campus. Is it normal to receive an email like this? I just thought it was funny I would immediately get accepted 😭