No matter which part of the world Pratt’s students come from, most have known since childhood that they enjoy creating things, making things, solving problems, and share a desire to change the world and leave an imprint.

Pratt receives more than 7,000 applications yearly for its first-year class of 760 incoming first-year students. Thirty-three percent of the first-year class comes from other countries, including England, France, Spain, Brazil, China, Canada, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey, and Korea. More than 70% of the undergraduate enrollment comes from states other than New York, making Pratt a truly national and international school.

Although it is possible to attend Pratt part-time, 100 percent of the first-year class chooses to study full-time, reflecting a high degree of commitment. The student body is composed of more than 4,000 undergraduate and graduate students. 

Student Life

Pratt students can choose from more than 60 student activities, including honor societies, clubs, sports, and the student-run school newspaper, publications, or radio station. Students regularly attend films, plays, lectures, art openings, and concerts—both on campus and around New York City. These cultural outings play an essential role in the Pratt experience.

In addition to the residence halls and cafeteria and cafés where students meet for meals, campus life is also centered around the Library, the Schafler Gallery, the new Student Union, and the Activities Resource Center, where most sports and wellness activities take place.

Athletics and Recreation

Pratt’s athletic programs are based in the Activities Resource Center, which has a 200-meter indoor track, five indoor tennis courts, basketball and volleyball courts, a weight room, dance/exercise rooms, and saunas. Pratt is currently engaged as a provisional member of the NCAA Division Three. Men’s and women’s varsity sports at Pratt include outdoor and indoor track, cross-country, basketball, volleyball, equestrian, soccer, and tennis. Pratt also offers intramural sports, fitness and wellness, and informal recreation. See www.pratt.edu/athletics. Questions about participating in varsity athletics should be addressed to wrickard@pratt.edu.

Living on Campus

Pratt is one of the few colleges in New York City that offers on-campus housing. More than 90 percent of first-year students and more than half of all students live on our main Brooklyn campus in one of Pratt’s residence halls. Students can choose to live in a single room, a four-person suite, or a full apartment with one, two, or three bedrooms. First-year students can apply to live in one of the campus’s recently renovated historic townhouses, which house six students. Various meal plans are available for residential students. A new residence hall opened two streets from campus in fall 2019. The building was designed by Thomas Hanrahan, Pratt’s Dean of the Architecture School.

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.

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

Jeremy Scott, fashion designer

Tony Schwartz, creator, Alka-Seltzer commercial

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