Application Requirements
To be eligible for admission review, applicants must provide a complete application package as outlined below through the online application system.
The PhD program at ILR is very selective, with less than 15% of applicants accepted. Application and supplemental materials are accepted once a year, for a fall matriculation.
UNOFFICIAL TRANSCRIPTS
Applicants must have a bachelor's degree from an accredited institution, or an equivalent international degree. Many applicants have an undergraduate or master’s degree in the social sciences (e.g., anthropology, economics, government, history, psychology or sociology), although this is not a prerequisite.
You must upload unofficial transcripts from all colleges or universities you have attended. There is no specific minimum grade point average used as a cut-off, although undergraduate coursework and grades are a factor in the admission decisions. Please note that admitted applicants who accept their offer will be required to submit official electronic transcripts to the Graduate School Admissions Office. Official transcripts are not required unless admitted.
RESUME or CV
Recently updated work history and experience, skills and areas of expertise, academic achievements, and any information that is pertinent to your application.
LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION (2)
We recommend that you submit two academic recommendations. If you are unable to submit two academic recommendations, we strongly encourage you to submit at least one academic reference with one professional reference. You can submit your application without completed letters of recommendation, but your recommenders must upload their letters within 10 days of the application deadline.
ACADEMIC STATEMENT OF PURPOSE (1-2 pages)
In the form of an essay, describe:
- your academic interests,
- your academic background, preparation, and training, including any relevant experiences,
- your reasons for pursuing graduate studies in this specific program, and
- your academic and/or professional goals.
PERSONAL STATEMENT (1-2 pages)
The personal statement allows you to provide the admissions committee with a sense of who you are as a whole person, and you should use it to describe how your personal background and experiences influenced your decision to pursue a graduate degree.
WRITING SAMPLE
The writing sample should be academic in nature and may be in the form of an essay, short paper, research paper, etc. It can be published or unpublished. We do not recommend co-authored works unless you provide excerpts that were entirely completed by you. The document you provide should help the review committee better understand your writing, analytical, and/or communication abilities. It does not necessarily need to be on the same topic of your application field.
LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY EXAM
All applicants must provide proof of English language proficiency. There are 3 ways this may be done:
- Submit Scores – Provide official IELTS Academic or TOEFL iBT test scores that meet the Graduate School’s minimums. For TOEFL, ILR recommends applicants have a minimum total score of 100 score and sub-scores of 25 in each category.
- Request a Standing Exemption in your application for admission – On the first page of the application form, you will attest that you meet one of the standing exemptions. Provide documentation if required.
- Request a Special Exemption – In exceptional cases, applicants may ask for a special exemption.
GRE / GMAT (required)
- GRE school code: 2098
- GMAT school code: 5JW-7J-88
Financial Support
Admitted PhD students receive full funding (tuition, stipend, and health insurance) for five years by serving as teaching or research assistants to the faculty. PhD students are still responsible for the student activity fee, for finding their own housing, and working out additional costs of living expenses beyond what the stipend provides. There may be opportunities for advanced PhD candidates to teach their own class, under faculty supervision, before they graduate.
Program Requirements
The ILR PhD program is a full-time residential program based at our Ithaca campus and is designed to train future professors who will do academic research and teach at research universities.
Concentrations
Students specialize in one of four areas:
- human resource studies,
- international and comparative labor,
- labor relations, law and history, or
- organization behavior
Students may also minor in any of the above areas, as well as in statistics and data science.
Applicants who wish to have statistics or economics as their major area of specialization should apply directly to the Graduate Fields of Statistics and Data Science or Economics. They may choose to have a minor in one of the other the areas of study within ILR.
Milestones and Time to Degree
PhD students must make academic progress in accordance to the Graduate School policies, including meeting the following milestones:
- Form a Special Committee in alignment with Graduate School policies.
- Submit the Student Progress Review (SPR) each academic year.
- Complete the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) training.
- Take and pass the Admission to Candidacy Exam (A Exam) - before the start of the 7th semester.
- Take and pass the B Exam (final dissertation defense) - before the start of the 14th semester.
- Submit and have the final dissertation accepted.
- Continue to make academic progress between milestones.
The program typically takes 5 years to complete with the first two years often devoted to graduate-level coursework on campus and the beginning stages of developing a dissertation outline and research plan. Following the Admission to Candidacy (A Exam), the remaining time is typically devoted to dissertation research and writing, but students can also take courses throughout their program. According to the Code of Legislation, students may be enrolled for a maximum of 14 semesters.
Special Committee Formation
Each student is responsible for putting together their own special committee. Students work closely with their committee members in selecting appropriate courses and developing a dissertation topic.
Students have a lot of flexibility when it comes to selecting members of their special committee. Any member of any graduate field may serve on the special committee, with occasional limits imposed on the faculty based on their field standing. The special committee chair must be from the student's graduate field.
By the end of the third week of classes, PhD students must formally appoint their Committee Chair, representing their major area of specialization (Labor Relations, Law and History, Human Resource Studies, International and Comparative Labor, or Organizational Behavior).
By the end of the third semester, PhD students must formally complete their Special Committee by adding two minor members, representing other areas of specialization. One minor member must represent a field outside of ILR.
Completion of PhD
To complete the PhD degree, the student must complete all milestones, including passing the B Exam and submitting their final dissertation on ProQuest. Their entire Special Committee, DGS, GFA, and Graduate School must approve the official dissertation submission before a degree may be granted.
A PhD student must complete a minimum of six semesters of registration, at least two of them after the A Exam, to be eligible to complete the final milestones for degree completion.
Cornell's ILR PhD degree program is governed by the Graduate School. Please visit their website for additional, in-depth information regarding academic requirements.
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