(FORTUNE Magazine) – Running Hotel Ezra Cornell is like nothing you ever did in college unless you happen to be a hotelie--a graduate of Cornell University's hotel-management school. For one weekend each year students take over the 150-room hotel on campus and put on a food- and drink-filled extravaganza for the school's alums and others in the hospitality industry. It's a little like being in the school band and having the country's top conductors come hear you play.

Some 320 industry bigwigs from across the country converged at April's affair--not only to indulge in 34 cases of champagne and 35 pounds of foie gras, but to schmooze, kibitz, and debate the fine points of the service trade. To the uninitiated, that fascination with napkin folding and garnish design can seem rather stultifying, but it is exactly this fanatical attention to detail that makes Cornell the creme de la creme of hotel-management schools.

Don't get me wrong. As someone who, to borrow a phrase from Cornell's president, has "been in more hotels than the Gideons," I'm thrilled these bright, eager souls have joined the front lines of the industry. But you've got to wonder: What inspires nearly 600 students with an average SAT score of 1,280 to polish silver and cut fruit until 4 A.M.? According to Don Bishop, associate dean of students, "most of these students believe they'll be running their own companies someday." HEC offers them a preview of real-world responsibility. Virginie Decker, who managed the front office more efficiently than most pros, relishes the fact that "this is ours for the weekend. If something doesn't work out, people will be angry. It's not like a class where you can say, 'Too bad, I'll just get a B.' "

What's more, errors can have long-lasting implications--potential employers are watching the students' every move. No less a lodging luminary than Richard Cotter, Cornell alum and manager of Beverly Hills' Bel-Air Hotel, was scouting the event to fill two assistant-manager slots. Also talent hunting were Ed Evans, vice president for human resources at Aramark, and John Sharpe, president of Four Seasons hotels.

Although travel and tourism--a category that includes hotels and restaurants--accounts for 11% of world GDP, many major Wall Street players didn't consider it a grown-up business. Now, thanks to record industry consolidation and the growing clout of hotel REITs, it is finally getting its due. "These are the best times the hotel industry has seen since World War II," says David Dittman, dean of the hotel school. Indeed, last year's graduating class received an average of 3.3 job offers each, and 99% were hired (nationally only 74% of college graduates found a job within a year of graduation).

For some, however, one HEC weekend is enough. Although Peter Karpinski, executive chef for the event, still plans to work in the hospitality industry, he has given up his dream of being a chef. "It's a hard business," he admits. "It takes a lot out of you." And will Peter be a part of HEC 1999? Says he: "I want to be in Guadalajara next year."

--Anne Faircloth