Spring went back into hiding today - April snow?! This turned into rain for our trip to Brooklyn, New York. A part of me didn't mind, it's a good idea to see New York in a color it can wear a lot in winter - grey.
After creeping along in heavy traffic, we turned onto the Pratt campus and it was as if we went through the looking glass! Beautiful tree lined streets, clean bright buildings, people strolling down the street - not honking their horns. The heavy rain even turned into a drizzle!
Pratt Institute is a small private school on a 25 acre campus. Five residence halls which can house approximately 1,600 students. They don't use the common app, but their own online application with an essay explaining how you first got interested in Art/Fashion. Admissions want a letter of recommendation and want SAT scores 510-620 or ACT composite range 23/28.
The school was founded by Charles Pratt with 12 students enrolled in fine drawing October 1887. Five months later the school had 307 students ranging from painting and drawing to fashion. The Pratt library was the first free to the public library in Brooklyn until 1940.
We arrived for our tour early so we walked around the corner to the recommended Luigis Pizza - 686 5th Avnue. So good!
It's a window front to make your selection from a huge variety of pies with no place to eat inside! Once you get your selection, pay, turn around and you're back outside!
Ready for the tour!
We left this new admissions building, The Willoughby Buiding, to tour the campus with Megan. She is a senior who started Pratt wanting to a career in drawing and painting. She took a class in metal work and sculpture - and she was hooked. With this she made a great selling point - once a student takes a class in any different subject outside their major, they have access to those studios for the rest of their time at Pratt. So even if Megan only wanted to play with metal sculpture from time to time, her key pass would always grant her access to the studios. I get the feeling that the students are strongly encouraged to cross pollinate - I think that's fantastic.
The campus is a lovely combination of old and new. The school has kept much of the original power plant in the exposed brick wall and wood floors, but the newer walls are clean and bright and sit so well with the old.
Mimi would be able to start with her major right away in freshman year with a few requirements - math, science, English to fill along the way. Internships with major fashion industries - Donna Karan for example, are plentiful - a bonus of living in NYC.
I wish I could have gotten a picture of the garden outside the library. It's filled with fantastic sculptures - but don't get too attached to them! The art is switched out on a regular basis. In the fall the school brings in a troop of horses to the garden for the students to sketch and in the spring a wide range of flowers and plants. I wonder if this has anything to do with an annual horse show and house and garden convention?!
I got an a strong sense of community here with the students, staff and campus. Mimi had her portfolio reviewed and critiqued after our tour and had a good experience. That's good! Her adviser who viewed her drawings made some very good suggestions and will be working with her throughout her application process. Will all the fashion schools we look at do that I wonder?
One cute thing that happened was our student guide was giving us the tour of the gym and began talking about clubs the kids can join or create. She and her friend started a salsa club! So I asked "Do you dance here in the gym?" She replied "Oh no! I mean the kind with chips!"
Pam
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