<p>1) I hear a lot of about Cornell's notorious workload. However, it appears as though most of the complaining comes from those in the sciences. How would you say ILR's workload compares to that of the rest of the University?</p>
<p>2) Post-graduation do you find that people are impressed by an ILR degree or are just confused? I would assume that b/c it says it is from Cornell grants it some legitimacy in the eyes of most employeers no?</p>
<p>3) How exactly do ILR concentrations work? I have found the list of concentrations, but do they take up the general elective credits or are the concentrations outside of the credits? like are they extra classes?</p>
<p>You seem very insecure about your decision, almost like you care more about the perception (or as you put it, "legitimacy") vs. the quality of the education. Even trivial things like where ILR students hang out on campus, where Ives hall is in relation to the arts quad, where required classes are taught, or if you'll be able to take a class in goldwin smith seem to concern you. How about a question like "how do I get involved around campus?"</p>
<p>In any case:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>ILR = I Love Reading, and expect 350-600 pages of reading a week from some of the intro classes. </p></li>
<li><p>After I graduated, I never really found the need to go up to people and discuss degrees earned or level of education. It's tacky. Those who need to know (employers or grad schools) know what ILR is about, those who don't know don't matter. Nobody likes the tool who can't stop talking about their ivy league education, anyways. </p></li>
<li><p>Concentration = minor. You have general elective credits that you can do whatever you want with, some people decide to take these and study 1 thing for a concentration. You have to meet separate requirements for concentrations, usually 7-10 classes in a specific subject.</p></li>
</ol>
<ol>
<li><p>In much the same way that the thought of Calc for Engineers makes us cringe, some of the hard science majors I know balk at the thought of having to do as much reading as we do in ILR. I can't say for sure that people in other schools do more work than we do (except for premeds, who have pretty insane requirements over a lot of different fields), but we definitely do a different kind of work. Also, it might be easier to not study and still do well in ILR, though if you care about what you are reading and doing, you can really get into it (i.e. bust your ass like a science major, my specialty), and do quite well.</p></li>
<li><p>I'll get back to you in three years? I honestly can't give you a good answer on this one (yet!)</p></li>
<li><p>Concentrations take up general elective credits. You can pursue a formal concentration outside of ILR (the ones listed on the website you found) and/or do one informally inside ILR ("informal" because it doesn't show up on a transcript). You do so by taking a lot of courses in whichever of ILR's six departments you like best; these would count toward the 40 ILR elective credits you need for the BSILR.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>do most people choose to do a formal concentration or just take whichever random class interests them? what is more common: concentration or no concentration?</p>
<p>also, how is the reading? interesting or just boring textbooks?</p>
<p>most people don't do a concentration</p>
<p>Being out of state will I feel a little bit odd being in one of the state schools (ILR)? Will it be difficult to make friends with a lot of people knowing eachother?</p>
<p>The readings for Intro to US Labor History are ten or so small books about specific cases. Of the twelve? we read in my class, I really enjoyed ten of them. Other classes like Intro to Organizational Behavior, HR, and Stats use textbooks. </p>
<p>I am from Maryland, and I have had no problem making friends.</p>