curious on your opinions on Pratt in NY or Otis in LA

[CSanta]

Hi I am still deciding between Otis in LA and Pratt in NY. If anyone has any impressions of either school for an MFA fine art/painting would you please share? Thanks for your help!

Christina

[crey01]

I live in LA and hear all sorts of things regarding the many different programs around the city, especially during my application process. I have heard nothing but bad things from Otis. I know they have a great reputation as an undergraduate school, but all of my professors (I went to USC for art undergrad) and my boss (an artist who went to Otis for undergrad) said the MFA program has too many problems (not developed, thought out, etc...) and doesn't help the artists (they look at the students as competition). I don't know anything about Pratt so I can't give you an opinion on that school, BUT I have lived in LA for a decade now and I know that the program is not respected here. Not to say that some great artists have come out of the program...you can always make the best of a program and make it your own.

[grad_wannabe]

I live in LA and hear all sorts of things regarding the many different programs around the city, especially during my application process. I have heard nothing but bad things from Otis. I know they have a great reputation as an undergraduate school, but all of my professors (I went to USC for art undergrad) and my boss (an artist who went to Otis for undergrad) said the MFA program has too many problems (not developed, thought out, etc...) and doesn't help the artists (they look at the students as competition). I don't know anything about Pratt so I can't give you an opinion on that school, BUT I have lived in LA for a decade now and I know that the program is not respected here. Not to say that some great artists have come out of the program...you can always make the best of a program and make it your own.

I was just ruminating on how strange it is that the hottest art programs are often in non-art schools. With the myriad of art-dedicated schools out there, how is it some of the brightest programs are at UCLA, USC, Yale, Hunter and Columbia? You'd think art schools would have cornered the market on that...

[misstea]

are we talking about the fine arts program here?

as far as the communication design ms program, as far as reputation goes, my sense is that pratt is trying to make a comeback.

I live in LA and hear all sorts of things regarding the many different programs around the city, especially during my application process. I have heard nothing but bad things from Otis. I know they have a great reputation as an undergraduate school, but all of my professors (I went to USC for art undergrad) and my boss (an artist who went to Otis for undergrad) said the MFA program has too many problems (not developed, thought out, etc...) and doesn't help the artists (they look at the students as competition). I don't know anything about Pratt so I can't give you an opinion on that school, BUT I have lived in LA for a decade now and I know that the program is not respected here. Not to say that some great artists have come out of the program...you can always make the best of a program and make it your own.