Hi everyone, I am in the process of applying to schools right now and have a few questions about some schools that I have not visited and probably will not visit unless I am accepted for Early Action/Regular Decision. How do the Iowa State University and Cornell University Food Science Programs compare? I am a high school senior from Pittsburgh who does not know anyone at these schools, so online information from niche, instagram, and the program websites have been my main sources of information. Currently my top reasonable choice for a school/major is doing an accelerated program where I will major in Food Studies (BA) and also obtain an MBA all within 5 years from Chatham University in Pittsburgh. However, at these other 2 schools it seems like the BS is the way to go for better job outlooks, and the BS is something that Chatham does not offer. I am not really sure if I want to go for the more Business or Science oriented route yet, so any guidance for that would help, pros/cons of each within the food science/studies world. I really enjoy the social aspect of food and potentially would want a job that involves a bit of traveling, so if I should look at other majors/programs to put me on that track please let me know!
If by the social aspect of food you mean food policy, you could look into Agricultural Economics.
We toured part of the food science program at Cornell and it was very impressive. Food and plants are a huge speciality, as you know. And they have a lot of global links.
I’m sure you know this but food science is very corporate, for lack of a better word. Involves a lot around making and packaging food. Taste preservation and enhancement, additives, manufacturing issues. It’s more technical and applied. Plants science is more on the science of plants and crops - something my D is interested in. How will food production keep up given global warming, etc.
Anyway, you can cross enroll between CALS (where food science is located) and other schools like Hum Ec or Dyson and that was a big draw to my D. Getting a BS in CALS at Cornell allows more credits outside of major than some other BS plant science programs she was looking at for a while. (Not sure about food science but it seems like a guiding principle in CALS overall from what I gathered.)
And they have a whole IAD program (Int’l Agri Development, I think?) that is pretty awesome – you can do a science route within that or more of a policy route. It’s def. a ‘save the world’ program and my D thought it was the coolest ever.
She ended up going a different (broader) direction for college (and not going to Cornell), but I think it’s possible my D will apply again for grad school.
Can’t comment on the other colleges you mentioned.
Good luck!
At this point, I would apply to both and see if you get accepted.
Another thing you can try to do is look on something like LinkedIn at people who have the type of jobs you are interested in and see where they went. Or look at people who went to colleges of interest and food/nutrition major and then what jobs they have.
At Cornell, there are business, science and safety tracks. You could look at the curriculums of each and see which sounds more interesting…or you could just start with the normal freshman classes in that major and then decide later as you talk to your professor and advisers.
https://foodscience.cals.cornell.edu/undergraduate/degree-options-and-requirements/
I would definitely look most at your state’s land grant college (probably your State U) as that will be the most affordable.