Pratt receives over 3900  applications for its entering graduate class of 500, enabling the graduate department admissions committees to select a student body whose members have a wide variety of backgrounds, experience, and achievements. Forty-seven percent of the new graduate class comes from other countries, including China, Taiwan, India, South Korea, Mexico, Canada, Thailand, and Turkey. Fifty percent of the graduate enrollment comes from states other than New York, giving Pratt a truly national and international student body.

Although it is possible to attend Pratt part-time, 88 percent of graduate students choose to study full-time, reflecting a high degree of commitment. The Institute’s entire student body is composed of more than 4,000 under­grad­uate and graduate students. 

Living on Campus

While there is limited housing on campus, most graduate students live off campus in a variety of housing options, from apartments to brownstones and lofts, sharing with other students. Many opportunities are listed through the Office of Residential Life. Various optional meal plans are available for residential students.

Notable Alumni

What do the Chrysler Building and Scrabble have in common? Both were designed by Pratt alumni. Pratt has approximately 26,000 active alumni, whose achieve­ments are a testament to the soundness of the Institute’s educational philosophy. Pratt alumni have designed well-known and award-winning furniture, clothing, buildings, and commercials, as well as artworks, which are regularly exhibited in major museums and galleries.

William Boyer, designer of the classic Thunderbird

Shawn Christensen, Academy Award winner

Tomie dePaola, children’s book author and illustrator

Jules Feiffer, cartoonist and playwright

Harvey Fierstein, playwright and actor, Torch Song Trilogy

Steve Frankfurt, advertising innovator

Bob Giraldi, film director

Felix Gonzalez-Torres, installation artist

Michael Gross, executive producer, Ghostbusters

Bruce Hannah, furniture designer for Knoll, named Designer of the Decade in 1990

Eva Hesse, sculptor and painter

Betsey Johnson, fashion designer

Ellsworth Kelly, minimalist painter

Edward Koren, cartoonist, The New Yorker

Naomi Leff, interior designer

George Lois, advertising designer

Robert Mapplethorpe, photographer

Peter Max, pop artist

Norman Norell, fashion designer

Roxy Paine, conceptual artist

Beverly Pepper, sculptor

Sylvia Plachy, photographer

Charles Pollock, furniture designer

Paul Rand, graphic designer, created IBM logo

Robert Redford, actor and director

Robert Sabuda, illustrator

Stefan Sagmeister, graphic designer

David Sarnoff, president, RCA Corporation

Tony Schwartz, creator, Alka-Seltzer commercial

Jeremy Scott, fashion designer

Annabelle Selldorf, gallery and museum architect

Robert Siegel, architect, Gwathmey Siegel Kaufman

Pat Steir, contemporary painter and printmaker

Mickalene Thomas, contemporary artist

William Van Alen, architect, Chrysler Building

Tucker Viemeister, product designer, Oxo Good Grips

Max Weber, modernist painter

Robert Wilson, avant-garde stage director and playwright

Carlos Zapata, residential and commercial architect

Peter Zumthor, Pritzker Prize-winning architect