My S was given a guaranteed transfer option (or TO I believe) to Cornell’s ILR school in the sophomore year. The other schools he is considering are Villanova School of Business (although he’s on the wait list), Lehigh Business (wait list) Bucknell School of Management, Boston University Questrom School of Business, Indiana University (I believe he’s on the Kelley track with a scholarship), and Tulane University (scholarship). There are requirements to transfer, including some basic writing, economics, science courses and a 3.3 minimum GPA with nothing lower than a B. Given that these are all business school’s that he’s applied to and must take liberal artsy courses and also must maintain high grades with no slip ups, where would you recommend for his first year?
and to make this a little neater, the options are:
-Villanova
-Lehigh
-Bucknell
-Boston University
-Indiana
-Tulane
Can you confirm in advance that each of these schools will allow him to enroll in the classes that ILR wants their GTs to take before arriving as sophomores?
Is he absolutely certain he will take the GT? If not, perhaps he should choose the ‘next best’ option, both in terms of affordability and where he might be happy for four years.
Not the question you asked, I realize…
He says he is completely sold on the GT, and I am not sure if he can get the classes that ILR wants at all of the schools I listed because they are business schools. While in all of these the courses he wants are 100% featured in the liberal arts programs, he may still be able to take them depending on what the freshman curriculums at these schools entail. Just not sure which do. Are you or anybody else well versed on whether the courses are “doable” in these business schools? He needs to take a microeconomics, a writing, and either a science or history course. There are a number of other requirements but he meets them with his AP’s
I have a GT to ILR as well. Since your son is 100% on taking the GT, you may want to consider a local community college if money is an issue. Plus, it’s close, cheap, and the courses are probably way easier to get that 3.3 GPA. I’m sure those courses are doable in the business schools you listed, but call up to make sure. Sometimes some schools have their own requirements (ex. they may only allow their business students to take courses in specific departments).
Well, good luck! See you @ Cornell someday!
Congrats on your son’s GT! Those are all great schools, so I guess my first question would be, which one does he like best? Are costs or distance from home a factor?
Like you mentioned, make sure these schools offer the classes ILR wants and that he’d be able to take them his first year! (For example, UCLA usually doesn’t allow freshmen to take biology, which would’ve been problematic for me as a CALS GT) In any case, I think taking Microecon, English and History first semester sounds very manageable.
Best of luck!
Another question… in the email he received giving him the transfer option it was called a “transfer option” and abbreviated TO. Is this the guaranteed transfer? Given he meets the requirements of course.
I.e. is TO=GT?
Airspirit money is not an issue in our circumstance but CC is certainly an entertained idea! I agree with you that it saves cash and would be easier, but is this path something that Cornell would look down upon? Would they not accept his transfer or course credits because the classes were obviously much easier? Basically, is this something that a lot of GT students do?
Question: Why is he thinking about going to a business school for freshman year? Seems to me he would have less flexibility to take the classes he needs because there will be the requirements of the business school.
ILR is not a business school.
westchestermom57: Going to a CC is not frowned upon by admissions. In fact, if you research it you will see that Westchester CC has a transfer agreement with Cornell. This means that the courses at Westchester are guaranteed to satisfy the transfer requirements. The bigger decision is whether or not to go away to college, which may be more difficult, but where your son may be happier and where he has the option to remain throughout his four years.
@westchestermom57, in the world of “shit happens”, I would suggest he attend a school that he will be happy at for 4 years in case the transfer options does not finalize (sickness, family issues, bombs a class, falls in love, does not want to go thorough another transition, etc…) it happens.
Our daughter had the ILR GT option coming out of HS in 2013. While she said she would definitely take the option if she could fulfill the criteria, her mother and I encouraged her to go somewhere for Freshman year as if she were going to stay four years. She went to a fine LAC, did very well and had a great experience. She worked closely with ILR to make sure the classes she planned to take would fulfill ILR’s requirements.
I had some doubts that she would in fact accept the transfer, but she felt it was an opportunity she could not pass up – I’m an alumnus and she’s had a lifetime of exposure to Cornell – and is a sophomore at ILR now. She’s had a wonderful year both academically and socially, although she’s certainly been more challenged academically than she was at the LAC. She’s in the running for some great summer internships, and while she misses some of her friends from last year, I don’t think she has any regrets.
Brantly- While he understands ILR is not a business school, many of the career paths it leads to overlaps with those of a business school (his goals are either corporate lawyer/tax lawyer, investment banker, or consultant at a Big Four firm). He planned on taking finance/accounting/management courses at the undergrad level and then studying law in grad school. ILR, as I understand it, contains prelaw/management/economics (and much more like human resources) that he would still benefit from and many graduates go on to law school. While at ILR, he would still be able to take finance/accounting courses at Dyson (the actual business school), which is much more selective and he had a lesser chance of acceptance.
And thank you everyone for the feedback! Very helpful especially on the CC situation. scoop85 may I ask what LAC?
ILR really can be a business degree. I went through it that way 25 years ago, taking classes in Ag Ec, Hotel, the Johnson School, Econ in A&S, and even one in Engineering in ORIE. The degree is very flexible.
If you look at the course offerings of the business minor from Dyson, you will see that some ILR courses satisfy the requirements of the minor.
Also, the university markets their undergrad business program as Dyson, ILR & SHA. There is a website somewhere showing all three programs. Students in all colleges can pursue the business minor at Dyson, except SHA students since that really is a business degree.
I have not drilled down on the ILR GT, but I thought that Micro & Marco Econ were among the required courses, so I think the most important thing is to find a school where he can be certain to be allowed to enroll in all required courses. After that, finding a place where he could be happy for four years, if need be. Not opposed to the CC route, but looking to cover all bases.
He covers a lot of requirements with AP’s, but still needs to fulfill the Microeconomics, Writing/English, and either Western History or Science requirements with a course each.
Would he be able to take courses at a CC over the summer and then attend any business school? Or is a summer course inadequate?
My son is currently a Junior in ILR - he had a TO and attended Indiana Kelley School with a scholarship his Freshman year. He loved IU so much it was a hard decision at the end of the year to actually transfer - however, he now thinks that transferring to Cornell was the best decision he ever made. He carefully chose his classes at Kelley and they all transferred to Cornell and ILR. These classes also positioned him for a minor in Business offered by AEM (if I have that right). Kelley is not easy, especially Freshman year, so I advise that your S gets some advice on the sequencing of classes and profs if he chooses to go there. My son also took a summer school class the summer before the transfer to get an additional class out of the way.
ILR provides documentation on requirements and there is also an individual in the ILR administration that will work with your S to make sure the classes are correct and help answer any questions. We were quite impressed at how helpful Cornell ILR was throughout the process and how easy they made the transition for our son.
Good luck!
Dickinson
My son is currently a sophomore at Cornell. 2 years ago he received a transfer option to ILR. We met with the admissions office when we toured the campus. My son was eager to take the option and he planned to enroll at a state college to take the required courses. Admissions at Cornell made it clear they had no preference where the student completed their freshman year as long as the student took as many of the required courses as possible. My son decided to enroll at the local community college and was in constant contact with the transfer person at Cornell to be sure the courses would be accepted. He completed his freshman year with a 4.0 (some honors courses too) and transitioned smoothly. The social aspect was most difficult as a freshman because most of his friends had gone away, but he stayed focus with a goal in mind and is doing very well and is very happy. Not to mention all the money we saved. Best of luck to you!