My DS is looking at both Ithaca and Clarkson for Business and would be playing a sport there. It looks like Clarkson is well known for Engineering and Ithaca for Media / Theater. Any thoughts on a Business degree from either school?
Clarkson went through a reorganization a couple of years ago (2023) to improve its financial solvency. For undergraduates, the most important result of this is that they closed a lot of their humanities departments and refocused on their core mission of engineering education. Already more than half of their degrees were awarded in engineering, so this emphasis will only increase.
The Schools of Business at the 2 different universities are very different. Ithaca offers a traditional set of business majors:
Accounting
Business Analytics
Finance
Marketing
Sport Management
Strategic Leadership (seems to be their name for Management)
With the exception of Business Analytics, Clarkson offers a very different set of majors:
Business Administration (website says general & customizable)
Business Analytics
Engineering & Management
Financial Information & Analysis
Global Supply Chain Management
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
If your son knows what aspect of business he’s interested in, he can simply look at the 2 lists and see which college offers the one he’s interested in. If he is unsure and would like to explore a little bit before deciding, Ithaca is the way to go because it offers pretty much all of the traditional business majors. In contrast, Clarkson’s business majors seem more niche and limited although offering some important specialties.
Clarkson’s elimination of humanities departments has created a second difference between the 2 colleges, which is that electives are now much more limited at Clarkson than at Ithaca. What are his interests? Look at the websites to see which college offers electives in his interest areas.
The final difference. Ithaca is a great college town with Cornell there as well as Ithaca College. It’s more like a small city than just a town. There’s lots to do, including a vibrant live music scene. There’s also access to the outdoors with water sports on the lake and other outdoor activities at nearby state parks. Lots of waterfalls. Potsdam, in contrast, is a small town. Another college in town (a small SUNY) but it’s not Cornell. As good as the outdoor activities are in Ithaca, Potsdam has access to the Adirondack Park, which offers great outdoor activities which are almost limitless. With 6 million acres, it’s the largest public park in the lower 48, twice the size of Yellowstone. Its very size almost dictates a car to take full advantage of it although the college sponsors some activities. A lover of the outdoors may very well prefer the Potsdam location to Ithaca. The other thing that it has going for it is its proximity to Canada. If you want to visit a foreign country, it’s right there. Less than 2 hours to Ottawa by car and 2.5 hours to Montreal.
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True. That said, however, Clarkson participates in the Associated Colleges of the St. Lawrence Valley which allows cross-registration at St. Lawrence, SUNY Canton, and SUNY Potsdam (source).
Distances/time to the different colleges from Clarkson, per Google Maps:
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SUNY Potsdam: 3m drive, 1.1 mile
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St. Lawrence: 12m drive, 9.6 miles
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SUNY Canton: 15m drive, 11.1 miles
Ithaca also participates in a cross-registration program. Students at Ithaca are allowed to take one class/semester at Cornell (with stipulations, source). Per Google Maps, they’re a 6m drive, 1.5 miles away from each other.
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Good point about the neighboring colleges. There is free access to county commuter bus service to all of them, which makes SUNY Potsdam particularly accessible - 20 minutes more or less by bus + walk time on either end.
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