Cornell MILR

I have been accepted to Cornell's master of industrial and labor relations program. Anyone here done that program or know much about it? Maybe know someone from it?

 I am particularly interested in the human aspect of corporations and labor relations and think I would like to do management consulting. I know this is the top program in the country for corporate HR. Just curious what some industries to look into and consider for a career path. Could this degree get me into IB? 

I am from a humanities undergrad at a state school and my work experience is mostly military and retail banking.

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American_Psycho11, hey, look at the bright side, at least you didn't get a ton of monkey shit thrown at you...here is my best guess on threads that might be helpful:

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I did the MILR program. It was a great experience, but not great for being recruited into management consulting. Deloitte is the only consulting firm that regularly hires graduates into its human capital consulting group (one each year). I went into leadership development consulting, which MILR is a good fit for - problem is no one really knows what the degree is outside of HR circles. Spent a lot of interviews explaining the value of my degree, and who knows how many recruiters looked the other way because they didn't understand it looking at my resume.

Going into consulting with a MILR degree isn't impossible, it's just harder. If you're set on doing management consulting, I would maybe consider doing an MBA or even the MBA-MILR joint degree. MILR is a GREAT degree if you want easy entry into internal/corporate HR. Google "Cornell MILR post graduate report" and look at reports from prior years. In the older reports (2016-ish) they actually listed the companies that hired grads. 

Also MILR almuni are super friendly! If you find some on LinkedIn graduated recently or work at companies you're interested in, they'll usually message back :)

 

Thanks for this great response. Can you tell me a bit about what you do in leadership development consulting and potential compensation? I am very interested in consulting in general and doing research into different types of it. 

 

I work for a mid-sized consultant firm, well-known within the HR space. I started out as a Consultant - a couple steps above the undergrad/no work experience hires.  So still entry level but experienced - equivalent to an MBA hire. Without going in to detail, i help companies design and deliver leadership trainings, plus some other things. I made mid-80s in a major US city, which was the median MILR grad starting salary for my year.

There’s a difference between the big management consulting/Big 4 firms and “human capital” or HR consulting firms. Again google is your friend here to see what hr consulting companies are out there. Big 4 has a salary bump but also bigger expectations, also more competition for entry.

 

The above poster is correct. Cornell's MILR degree is really an HR degree, less so a consulting one. It is possible to get into human capital consulting BUT it will not be easy, those seats are limited and you would be at a disadvantage compared to the MBA competition. That being said, Cornell's MILR program is very strong for corporate HR and sports a strong supportive alumni base.

If you want to do the consulting route, consider a T10 MBA program or perhaps the MBA/MILR joint degree at Cornell. 

Best of luck! 

 

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