AEM or Hotel?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cornell University
1

<p>I am pretty set on applying to Cornell, but would like to hear if you guys suggest AEM or the hotel school. I was originally set on doing something with finance in the future, but lately I've stumbled across this seemingly amazing hotel school and have done some research.</p>

<p>Apparently, the hotel school is a great start for almost any field in the business world later on, even if its not hospitality-related. Also, I was previously interested on management, and this would probably be a great way to get into that. My only concern is that this option seems waay too limited. It seems like I'll forever be stuck in hotels for the rest of my life; can anyone speak to this?</p>

<p>AEM is apparently the normal track for someone to go in pursuit of the finance field. I might want to try out investment banking in the future, and I'm assuming AEM would be pretty good for that. My main concern here is that AEM is not the most prestigious of business schools compared to the likes of Wharton, Stern, Sloan, etc.</p>

<p>Cliffs:
Want do something business-related in the future
Hotel management looks interesting and is one of the best programs in the world, but I feel like its too limiting
AEM is more directly related to finance and overall business but its not as strong of a program</p>

<p>Thanks for your time</p>

2

<p>
[quote]
My only concern is that this option seems waay too limited. It seems like I'll forever be stuck in hotels for the rest of my life; can anyone speak to this?

[/quote]

that's what hit me, after researching about it and stuff for a few weeks. talekd to my dad (a businessman). he suggested AEM instead. i'm sticking to AEM. plus i don't know about that whole interview thing? they sent me 4 200 word entries to do instead. i also have no hotel experience.</p>

<p>
[quote]
AEM is more directly related to finance and overall business but its not as strong of a program

[/quote]

i hear it's a young school, so within a decade, school will be top 5 for undergrad business, rumor has it.</p>

3

<p>OK as a junior AEM major going into ibanking, dating a hotellie, I can tell you, I wish I was in hotel.. AEM is a new program, and subsequently has fewer outside connections directly related to aem. Hotel is hooked up, sending a ton of people to investment banks, real estate finance, etc. Hotel require a lot of group work (rather than just multiple choice tests for AEM), has more specialized classes (you can always take an aem class as an elective anyway), and prepares you much better for the business world. Hotel requires proper formatting of documents, and has a more specialized microcomputing class and focus. Hotel students learn how to go into interviews and how to present yourself. The hotel faculty is full of renowned, successful, business professionals, while AEM faculty consists of many researchers and local accountants/businessmen who do not have experience in big time finance, etc. Hotel is also a very tight nit community where literally everyone knows each other. This is very important for networking.</p>

<p>That being said, AEM is a good business program that will prep you well. It has less of a hotel focus, and if you do not have internships/some ec's that show your interest in hospitality before applying, you have a better shot at AEM. You will not be looked down upon if you go into AEM from companies. You will also not have to take hospitality classes like facilities management and hotel operations based classes which are a pain. AEM does have a lot of cool courses (like biotech marketing, politics of the WTO, valuation, etc) but you can take these if you are a hotel student. While AEM may be top 5 in a decade, you are going to be applying to jobs in 5 years. It is still a highly regarded program, but I personally feel like hotel has better connections (especially because of the tight nit community and a lot of people go into finance that isnt hospitality related), it is the number one school in the world of its kind, and it prepares you better for the professional world ( in ways that are outside of knowing accounting/finance).</p>

4

<p>"you will not be looked down upon if you go into AEM from companiies" - ummm obviously...its the #10 undergraduate business program in the country.</p>

<p>i wholeheartedly disagree with pretty much everything you said. in no way does hotel prepare you for business better than AEM. are you kidding? so you are saying that taking the required culinary courses and courses strictly about hotels and hotel management are going to prepare you better than ACTUAL business courses in AEM? give me a break.</p>

<p>on another note, where are you getting the statistic that hotel is "hooked up" at i banks? are you nuts? i mean yea a bunch of hotel kids do end up going into IB but in terms of recruiting, AEM and even ILR blow hotel out of the water. most banks have recruiting events on campus for AEM students and sometimes ILR. rarely will a non hotel related firm recruit directly out of the hotel school. i'm not taking anything away from the best hotel school in the entire world....but i think that someone in AEM should have a little more pride in their program when its one of the best around, regardless of its age.</p>

5

<p>Well, I did comment on how some hotel-specific courses were a pain, but the principles of valuation, finance, etc hold true whether it is about a hotel property or a company. In hotel, you get a much more hands-on learning experience through projects, etc. I think it stinks that the students in hotel that are not interested in hospitality have to take culinary, facilities management, etc. As I said before AEM is a good program, but I believe it fails in the sense of preparation for the real world, only offering learning through test taking. Hotel students know how to best prepare documents, and apply valuations to things other than a prelim. </p>

<p>On another note, I didn't say that banks recruit directly out of hotel or offer any statistic. "Hooked up" is not a statistical term at all.. and I dont mean they are guaranteed jobs. In the hotel/real estate/real estate finance world, any one would love to have a Cornell hotel student. Many of the people at banks from Cornell are hotel though, and I don't see any one offering any statistic on "AEM/IRL blowing hotel out of the water".</p>

<p>You will not be at a disadvantage recruiting-wise if you are in AEM, I did not mean to make it seem that way. You also will not be at a disadvantage going into finance from hotel or ILR for that matter. I just think that it is beneficial to be able to apply what you learn to projects, and to learn how to present yourself in a professional setting, and to learn from some of the top business professionals in the US.</p>

6

<p>here is a website which has a basic breakdown of the careers of hotelie grads</p>

<p><a href="http://www.hotelschool.cornell.edu/s...tSummer-v4.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.hotelschool.cornell.edu/s...tSummer-v4.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

7

<p>I agree whole-heartly with jcas...I think the fact that jcas is dating a Hotelie has made him understand the program a little bit better.</p>

<p>I think you can't really say Hotel is better than AEM or vice versa. The school's success is based on how well you do at the School and the opportunity you take at the school. So I disagree with ajp when he stated "taking the required culinary courses and courses strictly about hotels and hotel management are going to prepare you better than ACTUAL business courses in AEM? give me a break." The Hotel School offers very advance real estate finance classes as well as independent studies. Hotel students also can take AEM classes (and vice versa.)</p>

<p>Furthermore, Hotel students do have plenty investment and banking recruitment events. As you can see from the career day list (Career</a> Day,) many of these companies are more finance/real estate related than operations related.</p>

<p>the Hotel School is almost completely funded by alum donation. Somehow Hotel Alum have this dedication towards the School. For example, I had to contact alum for a communication project. All my contacts replied to me within a day--I was very impressed. Like people have mentioned before, Cornell School pays their professor better--and their professors are much more likely to be teachers than researchers (confirmed by one of my professors, he turned down a position in AEM because it paid 1/3 less than Hotel School.) </p>

<p>Hotel School is also like high school---where everyone is obsessed with Hotels (or most people.) If you are not, you may feel a bit left out. So, bottom line, don't apply to Hotel if you don't like it.</p>

<p>Okay, I am going to be unbiased here. I am not going to say Hotel or AEM is better. I was actually looking at both programs when I applied and here is what I have observed after attending here for a while:</p>

<p>Hotel:
*advantage- Networking, active alum, reputation (not within cornell but in the industry), charismatic people, amazing professors</p>

<p>*disadvantage- kinda like high school--if you don't like Hotel, you may be an outsider. Trust me, the students can sniff if you don't like the Hotel Classes. and HA 105 and 106 as well as culinary will kill you (imagine memorizing specific trends about the Hotel industry and about cooking temperature if you don't like it.)</p>

<p>AEM
*Advantage: cheaper for in-state, not as many required credits (my friends in AEM has much more freedom because again, Hotel school is like high school, they preenroll you for the first two years,) more related to banking (less excessive classes.)</p>

<p>*Disadvantages: I hear some professor are more interested in research. The Hotel School teaches you how to be professional (in HA 165 and 174.) I had to work with an AEM kid once on a project, he was impressed by how professional I can present myself. Hotel School has more networking opportunities (since the business industry is all about people skills and networking...unless you are happy with an entry level analyst job.)</p>

<p>Good luck on your decision. I tried to present both good and bad from both programs. Either (both) programs are great. If you do well, you will excel no matter what you chose.</p>

8

<p>wow, thank you guys for giving me such detailed responses. Every piece is valuable and I must say I've learned a lot.</p>

<p>props to all of you! ty</p>

9

<p>amazing post appleapple!</p>

10

<p>
[quote]
i wholeheartedly disagree with pretty much everything you said. in no way does hotel prepare you for business better than AEM. are you kidding? so you are saying that taking the required culinary courses and courses strictly about hotels and hotel management are going to prepare you better than ACTUAL business courses in AEM? give me a break.

[/quote]

having a gf from there plays a role ;)</p>

<p>thanks, ajp, acas, and apple x 2!</p>

11

<p>If you want an AACSB accredited business degree – choose AEM. The Hotel school only has accreditation in the graduate program. The only schools in the Ivy League that offer accredited undergraduate business degrees are Penn (Wharton) and Cornell (AEM). I am an alum of both Cornell (BS) and Wharton (MBA), and I can tell you that Cornell's (AEM) alum recruiting is very strong... By the way, Hotel is great too - their alum network, especially in hospitality is amazing.</p>

12

<p>On Tahoe's note... you can still go into business school after either school (trust me, if you want to do finance and ibanking...you get paid alot more if you have an MBA. After all, people are trusting you will millions of dollars, some extra math won't kill ya.)</p>

<p>In terms of getting into grad MBA programs... your GMAT and GPA are really important. But your work experience and what you want to do with the MBA is more important. A good amount of Hotelie get MBA after a few years of graduating and working.</p>

<p>Something I forgot to address in my last post...someone had mentioned Hotel was too limiting, but I think I disagree. The curriculum at the Hotel School works like this:
You HAVE to take your basic business related courses-</p>

<p>financial accounting
managerial accounting
finance
managerial (business) communication x2 (writing and oral presentation)
OB
Stats
Marketing
Information Systems
Strategy
Hospitality and Real Estate Law</p>

<p>These courses, I believe, is very similar to the core AEM classes. Bottom line, all business majors have to take these classes and you will be at least somewhat prepared after taking them for the business industry.</p>

<p>However, the Hotel School also makes you take hospitality operational related classes such as:</p>

<p>Hotel Operations
Food and Beverage Operations
Culinary
Hospitality Planning and Development
Facilities
Restaurant Management
(and a few others)</p>

<p>These classes, like jcas stated before require alot more hands on experience. For example, people on these forum joke about Hotelies making beds and folding napkins. Well, some of these classes (in addition to lectures and labs) make you do a practical at the Statler where u have to work every aspect of the Hotel. For example, Restaurant management makes you pay attention to more than just the finance of the restaurant---you have to also be aware of the appearance and stigma the Restaurant resides.</p>

<p>Then as a Hotelie, you can take Hotel and free electives. Some Hotel electives are great for finance. For example, you can take real estate classes with Professor Quan--who I heard is amazing. He graduated from LSE and was the chief mortgage economist at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve. </p>

<p>You may also want to research Charles Chang (Charles</a> Chang,) </p>

<p>and consider these classes (Finance</a>, Accounting, and Real Estate)</p>

<p>Of course, AEM has some amazing classes on ibanking and trade too. But if these Hotel classes interest you, you are more likely to get into them if you are a Hotelie. (You are probably more likely to get into AEM classes as AEM)</p>

<p>I know this is really long and sorta rambley. I am trying to provide you and cc with some information since this is a common topic here. There's also a stigma that Cornell Hotel School is a joke because its HOTEL. I am here to tell you that this is not true. AEM started out as an agricultural management program but grew to one of the most successful business program in the country. Hotel started out as a Hotel school but has grown more into a business program now. I hope you will click on those links and really consider these classes.</p>

<p>Good luck, pm me if you have any Qs. I don't feel like studying anyways for my final</p>