<p>I posted a similar thread in the Cornell forum, but I figured you as parents may be able to give me some insight.</p>
<p>My dilemna is that I am currently in the College of Arts and Sciences at Cornell and while I love things like economics, gov't, and english, I'm also in love with the hospitality industry. I've been doing an internship this summer at my city's convention center managing events and I've really warmed up to the idea of studying hospitality in the Hotel School at Cornell. My question is, assuming that switching to the Hotel School is possible, how do I decide which one to study? I find econ, go'vt, english, philosphy, and psychology VERY mentally stimulating and I see them as very rich subjects, but at the same time I find hospitality fun, exciting, and practical. How does a kid my age decide which one he wants to study? I know people say you usually have time to decide, but this is pretty much a "decide soon" thing b/c I'd have to start taking hotel classes right away. How do I make the right choice knowing this can basically affect future jobs and career opportunities?</p>
<p>Not a parent, but here's a couple of thoughts:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Would Cornell allow you to double major in hospitality and one of the academic fields you named? Or major in one and minor in the other?</p></li>
<li><p>Consider that you can probably get a job in the hotel industry with a degree in English, economics, etc., but you might have a tough time getting a job out of the hotel industry with a degree in hospitality.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Someplace on another thread I saw that it's possible to transfer into the hotel school as a sophomore and take the freshman block of hotel courses that year. I wouldn't panic about not being able to take that block of intro course work this September. If you check out the 4 year course template, you'll see that there is a lot of elective room in the later years of the program.</p>
<p>The hotel school is generally considered the best hospitality program in the country if not the world. There are several different tracks in the hotel school including FARE (Finance, accounting and real estate). </p>
<p>I don't think you can double major, or major/minor across schools/colleges. However, you can and are encouraged to take coursework across the university. Go get your feet wet and see which direction you want to go.</p>
<p>DO you know anyone in the hotel/restaurant business? Can you do some job shadowing or even a formal internship? Can you talk with somone about what background led them to their position? What about emailing counselors, profs, admins in the hotel school?</p>
<p>You aren't alone, most frosh are in your position. Many can do a minor in their "practical" field, but not all can. You'll figure it out.</p>
<p>Yeah cangel, I do know some people. My uncle owns his own traveling agency in Can Cun, my aunt sells time shares in Can Cun at a major resort, and I'm doing a formal unpaid internship at my city's convention center working with the director of event management. My uncle studied hospitality, my aunt only did high school, most of the event managers at the Convention Center didn't go to college, and some of the "higher-up" people in the Convention Center studied hospitality (some at Cornell, which I think helped me get the internship). I'll look into e-mailing a professor in the Hotel School and asking for his or her advice.</p>
<p>cnp55, so if I transferred to the Hotel School my sophomore year after spending one year in Arts and Sciences, would I still be able to complete the program in 4 years? I know you can do something through the Internal Transfer Division, so I think I'll contact them too. I just need to ask if it's possible to start taking Hotel courses along with my Arts and Sciences courses and then possibly transfer if I decide to do so.</p>
<p>jessiehl, I don't think they allow double majors across colleges and I don't think you can minor in hotel admin. And you bring up a very good point about the versatility of an Arts & Sciences degree.</p>
<p>I guess I feel that Hotel Admin. is not very intellectually challenging and would kind of short-change me if I decided to pursue a thing such as graduate or law school. Not saying that Hotel Admin. doesn't have its own challenges, they're just different challenges than Arts and Sciences.</p>