- About
- Message from the Chair
- History
- Facilities
- News
- Events
- Info Sci Colloquium
- Advancing Responsible AI with Human-Centered Evaluation
- Bowers Distinguished Speaker Series - Julie E. Cohen, Georgetown University Law Center
- From Agents to Optimization: User Interface Understanding and Generation
- The Language of Creation: How Generative AI Challenges Intuitions—and Offers New Possibilities
- IS Engaged
- Graduation Info
- Info Sci Colloquium
- Contact Us
- Courses
- Research
- Computational Social Science
- Critical Data Studies
- Data Science
- Economics and Information
- Education Technology
- Ethics, Law and Policy
- Human-Computer Interaction
- Human-Robot Interaction
- Incentives and Computation
- Infrastructure Studies
- Interface Design and Ubiquitous Computing
- Natural Language Processing
- Network Science
- Social Computing and Computer-supported Cooperative Work
- Technology and Equity
- People
- Career
- Undergraduate
- Info Sci Majors
- BA - Information Science (College of Arts & Sciences)
- BS - Information Science (CALS)
- BS - Information Science, Systems, and Technology
- Studying Abroad
- MPS Early Credit Option
- Independent Research
- CPT Procedures
- Student Associations
- Undergraduate Minor in Info Sci
- Our Students and Alumni
- Graduation Info
- Contact Us
- Info Sci Majors
- Masters
- PHD
- Prospective PhD Students
- Admissions
- Degree Requirements and Curriculum
- Grad Student Orgs
- For Current PhDs
- Diversity and Inclusion
- Our Students and Alumni
- Graduation Info
- Program Contacts and Student Advising
What is the history of the Cornell Information Science undergraduate program?
The Information Science Program began offering undergraduate majors during the 2003-2004 school year. The first graduates were the Class of 2005. Please see our History page for more information.
How many majors are there in Information Science and Information Science, Systems, and Technology?
In the Fall of 2017, there were nearly 300 Info Sci and ISST majors across all three schools. For some context, there were 150 Info Sci majors in Fall 2014.
How can I be sure that this major is right for me?
Look over the information about our undergraduate majors.
Send a message to CornellUG@infosci.cornell.edu. Using this address you can schedule an appointment with the Undergraduate Coordinator in 110H Gates Hall to ask questions about our majors. She can also put you in touch with current students.
Check out the IS careers page to see what jobs and internships are currently being offered.
Review some of the Student Profiles to see what our students' experiences have been during their time as Information Science majors at Cornell.
Our Alumni network is growing and we hope to keep our Alumni pages updated with information about where graduates are working and what they are doing. This can give you a great idea of what InfoSci grads are doing in the real world.
What is the typical course load, and how many of the major courses are electives?
The average undergraduate course load is 15 - 18 credits. IS and ISST majors can mainly expect 5-course semesters, and a few 4-course semesters. For more specific information, please browse the requirements for our majors:
B.A. in Information Science, College of Arts & Sciences*
B.S. in Information Science, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences*
B.S. in Information Science, Systems and Technology, College of Engineering
*Students in the B.S. and B.A. Information Science majors have the same major requirements. The degree only differs in the requirements for each college. For more information on college requirements, follow these links: College of Arts & Sciences,College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, College of Engineering.
To what extent do the IS major courses offer hands on experience vs. traditional classroom curriculum?
There are many opportunities for both traditional classroom and project-based learning, depending on the student's interests. Courses for the major range from hands-on design of user interfaces to studying the effects of technology on society as a whole.
We encourage undergraduate research, which typically involves individual project work with a faculty member or research scientist.
What kind of materials and technologies are utilized in the IS major courses?
Mainly computer-based systems, including human-computer interaction, visual medias, text-based analysis, and all forms of data and knowledge based decision systems.
How many students are in a typical class?
It varies greatly. Large introductory courses (i.e. a programming class) may have several hundred students. Core courses in the major are smaller, ranging from slightly over 40 to under 10 students.
What do IS and ISST majors typically do after graduation?
The premise of the IS program is that many of the interesting problems and questions (and jobs) of the future will be concerned with the interactions between people and information systems. Thus, the undergraduate majors cover both technical issues and social science issues. Many Information Science and Information Science, Systems, and Technology graduates have gone on to careers that involve the design, development, and testing of interactive systems, from Web sites to mobile devices to software, and to leadership roles such as product management. The multi-disciplinary nature of the Information Science program can also prepare students for careers in other fields where expertise in interface design, data managment, and other digital solutions are needed, such as healthcare and law.
Our major is fairly new, so we don't know exactly what percentage of students will go on to graduate study, however we anticipate that approximately 25% of our graduates will go on to do graduate studies.