The Pratt Institute was the first to offer a fashion programme in higher education in the United States. As an applied fine arts college, students who matriculate at Pratt have abundant opportunities to collaborate with other artistic disciplines during their studies. The fact that it is an art school with a fashion programme, rather than a fashion-focused institution, explains students’ concerns with the state of marketing and business courses, which ranked among the lowest in our survey. Student comments identified the importance of creative influence from other departments at the school, including artists and photographers, which informed new modes of approaching the creative process. Courses in technical skills were rated very favourably and an impressive 100 percent of the students surveyed stated that they felt prepared for the fashion industry.