<p>The pervasive tone at the two schools are very different. A simple visit to either campus will quickly help you make your mind. That said, there are likely 2,000 students at Cornell who would fit right in at Swat. At the same time, there are probably 8,000 students at Cornell who wouldn’t fit in a Swat in a million years.</p>
<p>I do agree that the social sciences are marginally stronger at Swat than they are at Cornell, but if you are seriously interested in issues of labor and political economy, you should definitely look at the ILR school more closely. </p>
<p>While the majority of your peers will likely be more professionally-oriented, the school has a history of producing top-level academics in its fields, and is widely seen as the best place in the country to study issues of labor/employment. The last Cornellian to win a Rhodes Scholarship was an ILRie, and many of my friends have gone on to be placed in top five economics and political science grad programs from the ILR school.</p>