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Pratt Institute vs. Rhode Island School of Design

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in your own opinion and reasons. Which one you think is better in terms of overall life experience and education in architecture.

 
Apr 28, 15 11:40 am
Archi49

Easily Pratt Institute.

 

They are ranked nearly the same however Pratt has several advantages over RISD. 

 

Firstly, Pratt's location cannot be beat. Studying architecture in NYC is an invaluable experience and having a degree from New York will give you the credentials to work anywhere. In addition, there are hundreds of museums and cultural institutions which can only help. 

 

New York is probably has the highest concentration of architecture firms in the country. One would have more success and connections studying in New York to land summer internships and jobs. Many of the professors at Pratt have their own firms and hire Pratt students. 

 

Pratt's size is also an advantage in that there are more resources and paths to specialize yourself. Because of the larger student body, there are more electives to choose from and different design professors to choose. Even though Pratt may be larger, classes are limited to around 10 students though. Smaller schools will not give you as much choice. In addition Pratt has individual schools like a traditional college. There is a whole separate School of Architecture, a separate School of Liberal Arts, a separate School of Design, etc rather than just departments at RISD. 

 

One thing that is appealing about RISD though is the connection it has with Brown.  

Apr 28, 15 12:07 pm  · 
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BR.TN

^ very interesting perspective, Archi49.

I know two alumni from the 80s and 90s who thrived in the program and it worked out very well for them, but the industry is certainly different now.

Recently, I've only heard bad things about Pratt, ranging from a reputation of hollow student work, to C-grade competitiveness towards securing jobs in NYC. Ultimately, these sources say that its not worth the money to study there, and the cost of living + tuition would be better served at Columbia (alluding to the fact that employers want Columbia grads over Pratt). Ive had about 3-5 different people account for this - but none of them were students there, so I trust Archi49's impression more.

Apr 28, 15 1:01 pm  · 
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Annieebanana

I got into both Pratt and RISD for my M.Arch this Fall and I picked RISD

May 2, 15 2:05 pm  · 
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