We recently learned about the Industrial & Labor Relations School at Cornell. The disciplines they offer seem to match my son’s interests greatly. My husband and I are both nerdy scientists, so what the heck is ILR and what do you do with such a degree? Any idea how tough it is to get in compare to some of the other schools at Cornell? Thanks a bunch.
I have no recent knowledge but took a couple courses in ILR back in the dark ages. Basically, it involves economics and social science, often with an eye towards organizational applications. It’s right across the street from the business school, which has a much more “corporate” mentality (or at least it did in my day).
The ILR school focuses on the social science side of work (as opposed to finance, investment, etc. – although some people do go into these fields. ) It also focuses on labor/employment issues. A lot of people go to law school from ILR. Many go into human resources or consulting. The admissions office REALLY tries to screen out people who are more interested in an undergrad business school. Getting is all about fit and understanding what the program is. The essay is the key. Of course, scores and GPA are important, but even with outstanding scores and GPA, if the essay does not demonstrate the right fit, the applicant will be rejected.
Here are two links for you to look at:
https://www.ilr.cornell.edu/career-path/postgraduate-information
https://www.ilr.cornell.edu/sites/ilr.cornell.edu/files/ILR_bachelorTRIFOLD_2015_FInal_B.pdf
In terms of what people do with Cornell ILR degrees, there are a lot of heads of human resources who went through that program.
The page for ILR School page has a lot of excellent information. I’d start there and read through all of the tabs on top of the page.
https://www.ilr.cornell.edu/
ILR is one of Cornell’s land grant colleges, i.e., it’s quasi-public. Therefore it’s cheaper for NY State residents than the school of arts& sciences. http://finaid.cornell.edu/cost-attend I don’t know if it’s still the case, but quite a while ago, it was a lot harder to get into ILR than A&S as a freshman if you lived in NY. Several NY state CCs have articulation agreements with Cornell ILR so some NY instate kids, especially upstate, do two years of CC and transfer in. Again, I may be out of date. I don’t know if that option is still available. (Looks like it probably isn’t. BMCC only has an articulation agreement with one of the Cornell land grant colleges now and it’s not ILR.)
Lots of ILR grads go into law.
Two current commissioners of professional sports leagues are ILR grads:
Rob Manfred, MLB commissioner
Gary Bettman, NHL commissioner
And the COO of the NBA, Mark Tatum, went to Cornell too, although no ILR.
A friend who went to Cornell’s ILR program is an arbitrator; she resolves cases involving union/management disagreements. She worked for a labor union before she became an arbitrator.
My daughter graduated from Cornell four years ago. One of her friends was in ILR. That person now works for the federal government’s Department of Labor.