Advice please! Transfer from Art Center to Pratt?

Design Discussions students and schools
1

Hi all,

I am considering transferring to Pratt’s grad ID program from Art Center College of Design’s product design major. I am trying to weigh out the pros and cons of each - mainly, trying to figure out if it’s better to have relatively less rigorous training at Pratt and graduate with a master’s degree, or, to go through the intensive eight terms (appx. 3 years, without summer breaks in between) at Art Center with a second bachelor’s degree, probably without internship experience under my belt by graduation. Could anyone please offer any insight you have about what you’ve experienced at Pratt’s ID program so far, and how you think it compares to the strengths and weaknesses of other ID programs/schools, and/or Art Center?

-What are some of Pratt’s best resources for its design students that
other schools might not have?
-What does the faculty do in it’s spare time (are they mostly working
professionals or are they full-time professors?)
-How many people make it through the program and graduate? What kinda
jobs do you hear about from graduates from the design school?
-What are Pratt’s strengths compared to other design schools? Particularly in the Industrial Design major?
-Philosophy of the design school? Does Pratt stress drawing skills,
modeling skills, thinking/ideation skills, artistic/practical?

Thanks so much!

2

-What are some of Pratt’s best resources for its design students that other schools might not have?
It’s in NY, so you will be able to do internships even while you are in MID.

-What does the faculty do in it’s spare time (are they mostly working professionals or are they full-time professors?)
Many of them are working professionals, there are some full-time instructors, but not many (at least compare to my undergrad).
I don’t think they are supportive. I never see the most of instructors outside of the class.

-How many people make it through the program and graduate? What kinda jobs do you hear about from graduates from the design school?
It depends every year, but several people left for different reasons (too intense, financial problems, didn’t like the program or ID, low grades, etc)

-What are Pratt’s strengths compared to other design schools? Particularly in the Industrial Design major?
Internship experience; it’s a well-known school in NY, and there are a lot of graduates working in NY, so it simply makes it easier to get internships. May people go part-time during school and work a couple days a week.

-Philosophy of the design school? Does Pratt stress drawing skills, modeling skills, thinking/ideation skills, artistic/practical?
It’s complicated now. I think Pratt is skill based school so they stress drawing skills, and modeling skills. Since the dept chair changed last year, they are trying to stress creative thinking. Compare to my undergrad, their classes tend to be more practical /commercial than academic. There are some corporate sponsored projects, as well.

Other things:
The MID program at Pratt is actually 3 years program although they advertise as 2 years program. You can graduate in 2.5 years if you take summer classes, though.

Pratt accepts students who has no design background. I believe Art Center’s MID doesn’t if it hasn’t changed.

It depends on what you want to do in ID, but if you want to gain skills, I would go Art Center undergrad. If you want to do thesis, I would go grad school. In Pratt, we spend a year in Thesis, so there isn’t enough time to gain very strong skills like drawings, forms, etc. (The first semester of the thesis year, you can take other studios, etc)

You might want to look up their thesis as well. If you have a chance to visit the school, stop at the Library.

Good luck.

3

Thanks for all your answers - they’re very helpful!

Also, I’m wondering what about Pratt made you decide to attend their program?

(as a sidenote: I didn’t have a background before entering Art Center’s undergrad program, so I’m still pretty new to the field. However, I’m very inspired by sustainable design, pop art, architecture, entertainment design and how culture relates to people through art)

It seems that deciding between Art Center and Pratt would be essentially deciding between having strong skills vs. having a thesis. What’s the difference? What are the pros and cons for each? Do you think it makes a big difference in the kind of career a student finds later on, and why? How does each (strong skills vs. thesis) support/hurt a student’s chances of finding a job in ID?

Thanks very much for your time!

4

What don’t you like about Art Center?

IMO Art Center is one of the strongest and well recognized design programs in the world. Pratt has a great program as well, but I’m wondering what is driving your motivation?

As far as degrees go - the practicing ID world cares very little about them. Having a great portfolio that demonstrates a solid set of skills combined with great thinking is what lands jobs. So I would consider where you think you’ll be able to develop a more comprehensive portfolio. Getting a masters done in less time will not necessarily reflect better on you if your portfolio is weaker but all focused around a single thesis project.

5

To answer your question:

Also, I’m wondering what about Pratt made you decide to attend their program?

I had to stay in East Coast for my family situation. I considered RISD MID, and Pratt MID. I visited both schools. I was very impressed by drawings and random models hanging around at the studios in Pratt, and felt that Pratt MID can offer better foundation skills than RISD MID. I was also in New England area for 7 years, and worked with RISD grads, so I knew the RISD culture and thinking; as much as I value them, I thought I should get to know a new value in a different city. I’m also not from the states, and the diversity that NY can offer was attractive. I feel comfortable being with classmates in Pratt who have different cultural backgrounds.

Art Center and Pratt would be essentially deciding between having strong skills vs. having a thesis. What’s the difference? What are the pros and cons for each? Do you think it makes a big difference in the kind of career a student finds later on, and why? How does each (strong skills vs. thesis) support/hurt a student’s chances of finding a job in ID?

In thesis, you come up with your own topic, and research + design something for a year. For undergrad (skills), you take a class such as “furniture” or “table top” which you can do that in grad school as well, but would be less time for it than being in undergrad. In undergrad, the school will teach you “how to make a model” “how to draw”. In grad school, we don’t spend much time learning in how to.

I personally recommend that people go to grad school after having working experience. It’s hard to have a strong vision if you haven’t worked and seen the real world. If you are spending a year doing thesis, it should be something as strong and meaningful as you find a topic that you can work on for many years after you graduate, or even for your life.

In terms of what kind of jobs people are getting, I don’t know enough examples. Some RISD MID student mentioned internships in IDEO. At Pratt, I know students did internship in Martha Stuart, Fisher Price, Steve Madden, and Tumi. I heard Nike hires students from Art Center. You might want to contact career center in the schools to see if they know more about where people are getting jobs. You can also go to the website of the company you might want to interested in working. Sometimes they have the profiles of employees.

Hope it helps…Good luck!

6

We also have quite a few Art Center guys here at frog, all from the last few years. I feel like we are seeing some very good Art Center portfolios lately.

7

Thank you all for your helpful advice! And thank you, yo - I’ve read a lot of your contributions on core77 forums. I really appreciate it!