Top Schools for Human Resources / Labor Relations?

[dfriedo]

Hello. I am trying to figure out what schools to apply to for a Masters degree in the HR field. I have only found some informal rankings of schools as no official ones seem to exist. I have done some research so far and found some schools that seem to be good but want to hear from others if they are aware of some of the top schools. I am more interested in non MBA programs, but hearing about those might be useful as well.

Thank you.

[UofIgirl2000]

It is probably too late for Fall 2013 application season if you are applying, but if you are deciding between programs, then I would consider the top programs to be Cornell, Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan State, Rutgers, Penn State, and South Carolina.  If you look at HR case competitions and Labor Education extensions, then these are the schools that are invited and the have the most active outreach programs.  You said you are not looking for an HR focused MBA program - if this means that you have ethical concerns about business education or are interested in social justice, then you probably do want some separation between the program and the B School. 

 

One question that I asked faculty while I was touring campuses was which Labor Relations classes had actually been taught over the past year.  A lot of programs have some great classes on the books, but have not been able to get enough students interested in them to teach them.  Pretty surprising to see that some top programs have not been able to get Labor Law classes taught, or sent students to the law school to take a simple employment law class.  If these are not being taught, then the likelihood of some quality electives being available is going to be slim.

[AStaneski19]

West Virginia also has a great program for Industrial Relations, however the deadline to apply just passed about a week ago.  Over the past two years their graduating classes have had 98% and 100% job placement respectively.