Cornell University Graduate School

What sets us apart?

Our setting
The Ithaca campus is set on a hill overlooking Cayuga Lake with waterfalls, lakes, botanical gardens, and historic buildings. Ithaca is small enough that it’s easy to find your way around and large enough that we have more restaurants per capita than New York City.

Our facilities
Cornell has outstanding research and teaching facilities, including new buildings for life sciences, physical sciences, engineering, and art, architecture, and planning. These facilities have numerous labs that foster research in nanotechnology, sustainability, energy, creativity, arts, social sciences, and human health.

Our values
Our philosophy of academic freedom with responsibility helps our students become flexible, collaborative, and innovative thinkers. Our field structure is cross-disciplinary by design and truly unique. We believe that diverse perspectives enhance our community, and the Cornell Graduate School actively recruits, welcomes, and supports students from historically underrepresented groups and students who may be of the first generation in their families to attend college.

Our fields
Many of our nearly 100 graduate fields of study rank in the top 10 nationally. Our programs create innovative pathways to knowledge and understanding in a broad range of research areas. All of our programs hone students’ intellectual and creative leadership skills.

Our research
Cornell is one of the top research institutions in the world, with more than $802 million devoted to research spending. In the most recent report, we ranked third in funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The Graduate School is committed to supporting graduate education and provides significant funding for the majority of our PhD students.