Calling all Cornell (Johnson) Fall 2009 applicants!

Me too! I sent it that night so she would have got it first thing the next morning. My guess is she saw it before she submitted feedback but I'm not sure. She never replied to my thank you note. What's your guys hit rate on response to thank yous? I'm 2-3 now, but the other 2 were students and I suspect they are more likely to take the time to respond to a thank you note.

The status changed on the website from "interview scheduled" to "complete application"

it's all a big annoying mysterious process that will thankfully be over soon. (at least for this year)

Eh, there are a million reasons that it could be taking longer... maybe it's just a slow admissions rep. Maybe you and raabenb have the same rep and that's why it's taking longer for you guys. Or maybe your interviewers want to submit a whole bunch after comparing you guys to others they interviewed... it's all a big annoying mysterious process that will thankfully be over soon. (at least for this year)

Cereal - I hope your right and its a stress test that I passed.

Boom (and if others would comment on this that would be awesome!) - intersting that you bring up back up plans because about halfway through the interview I said something (not sure what exactly) and she ran with that and said it could lead to a good back up option for me if I don't get into asset management. She said its a back up taken by many students that dont get AM jobs. So, I guess that's a positive right? that she thinks I have a viable option? Of course I showed interest/enthusiasim for the backup option.

A couple other things that really surprised me. She talked down Cornell a lot! She said that Harvard, Wharton, Columbia and Chicago are much better at placing on the buyside (obviously! that's why everyone at cornell was dinged by cbs!) and she said the asset management immersion, student run fund and virtual trading floor were not that helpful in recruiting! Later she more or less said, cornell makes worker bees not CEOs.

One last thing, my app is already complete. She submitted my writeup in 1 day I guess. Not sure how to interpret that.

When your application is complete, it goes to one of two or three groups. The first read is done by either one of my readers (I have two paid readers), one of my professional team at the associate level or higher, or one of my 50 JAG students. JAG stands for Johnson Admissions Group – a select group of second-year students committed to assisting in the recruiting and evaluation of applicants. Many of them will do a first read.

We look for about 22 different variables associated with your application. One of my readers makes a recommendation – either “yes, interview” or “no” or “can’t decide.” After the first read is done it goes on a separate shelf and one of my professional team takes a second read. If they agree and both people who’ve reviewed the application say yes, we send out an invitation to interview. If they can’t agree we take it to committee. Or we deny.

My committee meets twice a week, for anywhere from 30 minutes to eight hours. It’s a group of eight and we will come to a consensus – it is not a vote – as to whether or not to invite to interview or deny. Once there’s a decision the file goes back to the admissions staff, who will contact the student and invite them to interview. The prospective student gets to pick a slot that fits with their schedule. Once the student is interviewed, the interviewer – one of my team – makes a recommendation: don’t recommend, recommend with reservation, recommend, recommend with confidence, or highly recommend.

As a benchmark, highly recommend is maybe 1 in 50 or 60 applicants. That is literally saying to the committee, “This person is an absolute rock star we have to have them.” Recommend with confidence is a student saying, “Yes, I want this person in class with me next year.” Recommend with reservation is “There’s something that doesn’t click or doesn’t sound right to me.” And don’t recommend is “no way, no how, not a chance.”

We usually get a three- to four-page dossier of the interview with a recommendation. The interviewer picks one of the five designations and then it goes to committee and we talk about that student and decide whether or not to make that offer. I want to make it clear that there is no vote – this is not a voting system.

THE ROUND 2 TEAM (2)
Interview Invites: TBD
-----------------------------------
yellowjacket- submitted 11/17
belfi- submitted 11/17

This link was posted earlier, but I know there are others (just like me) who will find solace in reading this over and over again until December 17.

From Clear Admit, quoting Randall:



URL: https://blog.clearadmit.com/2008/10/admissions-director-qa-randall-sawyer-of-cornell-universitys-johnson-school-of-business/