Combining essential classroom instruction with practical hands-on experience, our bachelor’s degree is designed to uniquely prepare you for career success. We combine a firm foundation of business knowledge with a focus on the global, diverse, and thriving hospitality industry — and add the flexibility to shape your learning around your interests and career goals.
An educational experience that encompasses all hospitality touchstones.
At the Nolan School, we help you develop hospitality leadership with a thorough business management foundation and an emphasis on the service industry. You gain crucial knowledge and skill sets through our focused core curriculum and specializations. Additionally, there’s flexibility to pursue your interests through electives from Cornell’s vast array of liberal arts courses.
Our bachelor’s program degree requirements include at least 120 classroom credits. These credits come from the Nolan School core, HADM electives, and other electives, plus 800 hours of work in the field. The practice credit field work is often completed during a student’s summer. During the semester, most students take four or five courses per semester — a schedule that typically allows time for clubs, sports, and other activities.
The core courses at the Nolan School immerse you in the business of hospitality, giving you essential exposure to organizational behavior, accounting, microeconomics, food service management, strategic management, human resources, technology, real estate, and business communications. Our 18 core courses (plus optional specializations or the real estate minor), are all centered around service excellence in hospitality, are designed to help you gain crucial knowledge and valuable skills.
Put Your Skills into Practice
Enhance your Nolan School experience even further with extended academic opportunities, which let you pursue your passions in even greater depth. These complementary experiences are an optional way to support your Nolan School degree.
Minors (open to all Cornell undergraduates) and specializations (available only to Nolan School students) are an opportunity to focus on your specific interests. Choose from the Nolan School minor in real estate, more than 70 Cornell minors, or Nolan School specializations.
At the Nolan School, we’re looking for bright, talented, hardworking candidates who have a passion for service to share with our beloved Hotelie community. If that describes you, start your application today.