Calling all Cornell (Johnson) Fall 2011 applicants!

Hi ppl, new 1st year student here... Preliminary data says that acceptance rate for the class of 2012 was 15% - one of the most competitive years ever. If I hear anything new will let you know!

Cornell is a great school and I am planning to apply round 1. Just out of curiosity, any thoughts on their unique question 3, table of contents..how are the fellow applicants planning to approach this? I was thinking of creating a list and sub-headings to highlight that event.

I'll try to address promptly any questions potential applicants might have, so post away

ariel, I will be the first one to ask I guess. I know you are pursuing 2 year program, but do you have any idea about the acceptance rate in AMBA program? I would like to visit the campus, but I can't schedule any date yet as Cornell has not opened its school visits for next year students. Any idea when do Cornell open school visits for prospective students.

Thanks for the info, ariel! I was under the impression that AMBA students do a 2 week internship in winter as part of management practicum. Thanks for the insight on Phd vs Masters students in the program.

Great questions, perseverance. Cornell is a core school at three bulge brackets and places on average 1-3 graduates at each of the rest of the bulge brackets every year (I think the exception being Credit Suisse, who hasn't taken people from Cornell for IB in a couple of years from what I've heard). The Old Ezra club on campus is currently working on enhancing relationships with smaller boutique-style firms as well, there's a fair number of Johnson grads at those (considerable untapped potential). Out of all the 1st years who were interested in Finance this year, 100% got internships in finance. It has been a good year employment-wise for Johnson and I'm sure that information will be made public sooner rather than later.

The downside here being (which I'm sure is a downside for some, but perhaps not most) is that if you are set for career in IB, you're most likely going to end up on Wall street. Clearly, most IB is in NY anyway, but I find that most finance people at Cornell end up on Wall Street on way or another. The only exception are managerial finance folks. If you wanted finance on the west coast or say the mid-west, you're going to have to do a fair amount of off campus search. As an aside however, there's been a tendency (at ALL schools, not just Cornell) to have more and more applicants every year who engage in off-campus career search. It's something like 50-50 right now or even 40-60 (on campus-off campus) these days, but it's a good thing to keep in mind.

Thanks for the prompt and helpful response ariel. Sorry if I'm beating a dead horse, but is there a specified time period during the year where most financial services firms come to campus? I know some schools have set up Super Weeks where first/second round inteviews are held on campus (I think in January?). Does Cornell have something similar?

Also, have you had any interaction with the Career Management Center? How much do they help current students land intership/full time offers?