At Cornell Graduate School, students can choose from a wide array of fields of study. These include engineering, the humanities, biology, computers, zoology and economics. A graduate student is supported by faculty from different parts of the college who are not necessarily specialists in the student's field of study. For example, an economics graduate student can learn from staff in departments such as engineering and management along with the economics faculty. The college has almost 100 graduate majors to choose from and 18 minors.
A prospective graduate student must complete an application form and submit a range of materials for consideration, including a personal statement, transcripts from previous schools and scores from the Graduate Record Examinations test (some fields of study require the student take more than one test).
Graduate degrees at Cornell are split into professional degrees and research degrees. The research degrees include doctorate of philosophy, master of arts and master of science. Professional degrees are those which help a student along a career path, such as a master of engineering and doctor of musical arts.
Each graduate degree at Cornell varies in tuition costs and other fees depending on the field of study and the research degrees have different tuition compared to other graduate degrees. As of May 2011, tuition ranged from $20,000 to $30,000 a year.
Cornell also offers assistantships and fellowships to some students undertaking research degrees. An assistantship requires a student to perform some duties for the college such as teaching. A fellowship does not require any work from the student.