Hello everyone. Got accepted into the ILR school at Cornell and the college at Georgetown. My main academic interests are government and economics. At Cornell of course I’d have to major in industrial labor relations, but the major is filled with a lot of government and economics courses. Leaning towards political economy major at Georgetown. My career ambition is to work in government, perhaps apply to law school or run for office some day. Cornell is about 20k cheaper for me, but I’m not sure if the opportunity to intern in DC all year would be more worth it. I’ve heard about grade deflation at Cornell, not sure about Georgetown, but I’m concerned about law school preparation. What do you think is a better option? Thanks in advance.
Just to add more to consider, I was also selected as a Hunter R. Rawlings III Cornell Presidential Research Scholar.
Go to Cornell. Save your money. Get good grades, and land the internships. Take advantage of any semester or year programs that Cornell has in DC. Use the money you save to help pay for law school.
They’re peers so I would save the money.
Go to Cornell and save money.
My only concern about Cornell is the ability to network with public officials, and the fact that my government courses would be limited because of the ILR curriculum. Wouldn’t I be better off at Georgetown because of the access to DC internships/networking. I’m open to entering a public service career right after undergrad, without going to law school, hence why the savings at Cornell might be moot. However, if Cornell has enough DC connections, I may be wrong about this.
See https://www.ciw.cornell.edu/ for semester and summer programs in DC.
For specific Cornell contacts in DC, look here: https://www.cornellclubdc.org/ and check with Cornell’s career center.
Is the 20k difference for one year? Or is it your best estimate of the total difference over all four years?
It’s roughly the difference for one year. Since I’m an instate student, tuition at the ILR school is much cheaper.
$80K and counting is a lot of money. Go to Cornell and use their connections for summer internships in DC if that fits your plan.