Hi! I am a graduating senior. I am trying to decide between attending Barnard College in NYC and the ILR school at Cornell University. I would greatly appreciate any and all advice, especially from former or current students of these schools!
If what you really want is the ILR program, Cornell is pretty much the only place to study that.
If you aren’t sure about the major you want, Arnard would be a better choice.
ILR is one of the most focused college at Cornell. If that is your intended major you can’t go wrong.
Big differences though in campus feel between NYC and Ithaca!
You have great options, think about academic and personal fit.
Thank you for your replies! I was also wondering about access to internships. Given Barnard’s NYC location, I know internships would be more plausible all year round, but I have also heard that these internships are quite hard to get.
Balancing an internship during the school year would be extremely tough as a full time student.
Choose ILR only if you really love the curriculum. I’m a lawyer, and sat in on an ILR admission’s presentation with our S. I wished I were 100 yrs younger and could go back to school! Look carefully at their classes. If collective bargaining, workers rights, and “Sorry to Bother You” are your thing, you’d love it there. ILR even has its own student government. Amazing program, with credit internship built in. But, it’s only going to appeal to certain people.
Some excellent comments, as it’s critical to consider the curriculum. My daughter graduated from ILR a few years ago and had a wonderful experience. But she always intended to go to law school (she’ll be attending this fall), and if law, working for a union, Human Resources, or business are not in your future, ILR is probably not the best choice.