Admitted to Cornell Johnson: Class of 2016

package or email?
I received the email several days ago.
Did you receive a call?

My rationale will be based on scholarship availability.
And I am really interested when they are going to decide on this and distribute this information.
Does anybody have a clue when this could happen?

Can any R1 admit who attended scholarship weekend give a report on how it went? Very curious...

Very interesting experience.

Events: Dinner, Team Building Activities (low ropes course), and a Case.

For the case, which was last, we were split up into 7 or 8 teams of 4. Out of those 4 in each team, 2 people were chosen (not randomly) to present and answer questions for the group. The other two had no opportunity to present. I was one of those people that did not present, therefore I am assuming I was judged based on dinner (at which I talked mostly to second year Parks that were at my table) and team building activities (think moving a hula hoop as a group with just index fingers).

Apparently based on my hula hoop moving skills, I was not chosen as a finalist for the scholarship. In fact, even going to the effort to fly to Ithaca, rent a car, etc etc would not pay off as I was offered 20k, the same as people got without attending the weekend. They might have picked the people that they wanted in Ithaca next year, but they probably also just ticked off 12-14 of their best candidates. Not the way I would approach it if I was them.

I write this more as a help for people that go to scholarship weekend in round 2 just so they know what they are getting into. The people that got the Park offers I am sure thought the weekend was great though, so it all depends on perspective.

Very interesting, thanks for sharing your experience. Just curious, do you think this will have an impact on whether or not you decide to matriculate there? I think it's interesting that Cornell has this scholarship weekend, and that they have it fairly late. Would be curious to know how many candidates they lose as a result of the issue you reference as well as hassle of getting up there again.

I guess the question is if they would have given me the 20k offer at the time of my acceptance would have I matriculated? I cannot say for certain, but I would have given it very serious consideration and it would have been 50/50 with Ross (convenience factor for me going to Ross, 20k going to Johnson).

However at this point, seeing as all weekend participants have to turn in their deposits by tomorrow (they give you a whole 36 hrs to think after you find out your $ amount), and the fact that I felt that dragging me out to Ithaca for a predetermined outcome was a bit inconsiderate to say the least, I won't be able to overlook that and will be choosing Ross. I certainly cannot speak for the rest of the people attending.

Hello everyone,

If I understood the couple of latest posts correctly, scholarships are determined during the so-called Scholarship Weekend?
So the scholarship offer does not come in the formal packet via regular mail, right?
I was expecting it over mail - yesterday I received a notification from FedEx that my binder is being shipped to me.

Can somebody give an overall explanation how it works, especially, for international students?
Is it really being determined during some weekend and not based on merit as it is stated on Cornell web-page?

For example, from https://www.johnson.cornell.edu/Full-Time-MBA/Admissions/Financial-Planning/Financial-Aid-FAQs.aspx

If I get the above statement correctly, it should indeed come with the binder.
I hope somebody can clarify this situation
If it is something like what was described above with people coming to Ithaca for Scholarship Weekend and leaving without any scholarship , it is a huge surprise to me.

https://essaysnark.com/2013/09/they-are-not-going-to-pay-you-to-get-an-mba/

thank you for this article, but how does this answer the question when admitted students receive scholarship decision?
I see an interesting comment there although:

the main point is that other schools usually give their admission offer and in the binder they tell you whether they provide you a scholarship or not because this impacts your school choice. Is it the same for Cornell Johnson?

Hey,

Thanks for sharing your experience. Can you let us know when did you get notification of 20k? And what about those that were not invited to the weekend? Just wanted to understand the timelines here. Thanks! Both are good schools, so really can't hurt either ways. Congrats and good luck!

I also attended the scholarship weekend. The weekend is for certain students which are eligible to win the Park Leadership scholarship, and I think also serves as a way for Johnson to "sell" the school to its top applicants. I also got the feeling that it was pre-determined, but similar to SMA didn't get awarded the Park. My understanding of the timeline for non scholarship weekend is that they tell you approximately a week later via e-mail. For scholarship weekend, they invite you and they tell you the amount you won the followng Monday after the weekend. I also received 30k/year, so 60k total with an attached Forte Fellowship; however, I'm starting to explore other options. After leaving the weekend, I really loved the idea of being able to develop my leadership skills and adapt based on the things I had learned through lectures/activities - but after not being awarded the Park, it makes me concerned that Johnson chooses to only nurture and grow those students (10% of the class) which they feel deserve to be developed. That being said, Johnson does have other ways by which you can develop your leadership skills, but nothing quite so focused.

It is also important to give background to my career goals - I would like to do strategy consulting for a top firm (MBB) in NYC. Johnson does not have strength in placing consultants in these types of jobs, but Tuck does. We'll see what happens. I also encountered some current students that rubbed me the wrong way, and who also mentioned that I should explore other options (i.e. the other school I've been accepted to). That really upset me, and I can't really get that out of my head.

Hope this information helps.

If you are interested in strategy consulting for MBB, then Tuck is a much superior choice. It's not worth going to Cornell for 60k.

Also, I really loved Johnson and was seriously considering it due to its investment banking immersion, but was waitlisted. I reached out to two people to get advice on how to navigate the WL process, and instead of providing tips, both said that you should go to Yale or Duke and leave a spot for a more deserving person. I was ticked off too and withdrew my application.

I have also heard that most of the Park fellowships are pre-determined - with majority going to underrepresented minorities - and weekend is just for those candidates to lose.

...and I'm here to tell you you're wrong. Of the selectees of this past weekend, the only "minority" selected were two women.

Yeah, I also tend to disagree - the people that we attended the weekend with that were rewarded were actually majority white male (from what I've heard). I more meant that it felt like they had an idea of who they would give it to - which is probably true & not necessarily a bad thing.

SMA was notified after scholarship weekend. However, the amount awarded was the same as those who received scholarships 1-2 weeks after decision day. So there are 2 options for scholarships:

1. You are awarded 1-2 weeks after being admitted (I've seen ranges up to 20k or more).
2. You are invited as a finalist to Scholarship Weekend (Heard of ranges from 20k to Park fellow).

Therefore, SMA's frustration comes that he spent a weekend traveling to Scholarship Weekend, but received the same amount of money as someone who received a scholarship without having to make the same trip.

Hope this helps clarify your timing question.

R1 applicants, what did the email say? Did it specifically say that you didn't receive any scholarship?

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Note that Johnson does reimburse you for up to $200 of traveling expenses for the scholarship weekend & they will work with you to provide housing accomodations. Also, all meals are provided.