General Education (Gen Ed) is the thread that weaves together your academic experience at Pratt. Rooted in a set of courses in the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Gen Ed will support you in finding ways to deepen your creative practice, and to make knowledge and meaning—no matter your major, media or project.
Along with Foundation, Gen Ed is one of the first programs that you encounter at Pratt and remains a pillar for you to stand on through your four years. Whether it’s diving into the history of art and design to understand the relationship between text, print, image, and bookmaking, drawing connections between math, philosophy, and game design, or finding your voice in words and literature, Gen Ed works with you on your capacities for communication, collaboration, and self-reflection. Thus it supports you in seeing your own major through new lenses and new ways of thinking and doing. In deepening your awareness of the social and civic environments—both here in New York and across the world—the program helps you to see your role in the world differently—with new perspectives, information and modes of exploration.
The breadth and depth of the Gen Ed experience means that it is one of the places where you will try new things, take risks, and find not only unknown interests but untapped abilities.
As all of this happens, you’ll create the fabric of your own story.
Gen Ed also comprises part of the First Year Cohort Living Learning Communities (LLCs), groups of 30 first-year students who share a mix of classes (including their Foundation courses, History of Art and Design HAD-111/112, and Humanities and Media Studies HMS-101A/C) and live in the same residence hall. These cohorts enable students to more easily build community and extend that Gen Ed experience outside of the classroom.