Calling all Cornell (Johnson) Fall 2009 applicants!

yea, my Econ professor at Bing was from Cornell and he said Cornell undergrad was pretty cutthroat.

Hello all Cornell applicants,

Cornell Johnson admit here, about to head to ithaca in a couple weeks. Just want to give you guys some encouragement and wish you guys the best of luck in the application process. So far, I have been very impressed with Cornell, the school, the students, and alums, etc. I have already met a lot of alums and students, and seems like everybody has a good FT job or internship despite the economy (I don't keep track, but lots of bulge bracket banks, top 3 consulting firms, US and international placement, etc). The people seem very cool and friendly, definitely folks I would like to hang out with. Cornell is well known as a very collaborative school, not cutthroat at all!! Cornell is also probably among the friendliest of all bschools.

The alums are very passionate and keen on helping us students out. The leadership is also very aggressive in pushing Johnson back into the top 10 (Cornell was #7 as recent as 2004), through strategic planning, alumni relations, fund raising, and holding events throughout the world. This summer, Cornell has provided us incoming students with constant information and updates, and even organized several summer career-related events.

For those interested in HF/VC, Cornell has its own student-run hedge fund and venture capital fund, both of which are top notch in bschool circles.

I still haven't been to ithaca yet (i'm international), but have heard great things about the campus and facilities. Some people are not too psyched about the weather, but I think the weather is gonna suck at most east coast/chicago schools anyway so its the same all around.

For internationals out there, the Cornell brand is prestigious in most countries. I was trying to get a visa at the US consulate, and they didn't even look at the required documents and immediately approved my visa once they saw I was going to Cornell.

Anyway, good luck, if you guys have questions feel free to post or shoot me a PM.

are you in any of the Immersion programs?

Supposedly you choose your immersion 2nd semester of the first year, so I haven't decided yet

But yah, the immersions are another one of cornell's strengths.

Folks, went to an event today featuring a bunch of b-schools. there was practically a stampede at the Cornell table (which incidentally had a tablecloth this time) but I got in a few minutes with a rep from the admissions office. She said the application will go online September 1 and that most likely last year's essay questions will stay unchanged BUT there's also going to be a new additional essay this year. The Cornell table was far more popular than the Wharton or MIT tables, and I'm not sure if that means something.

*sigh*

Moth to flame = MBA applicants to tablecloth.

I wonder if a lot of top applicants will altogether forgo schools like H/S/W/Mit/Chi etc, in favor of schools like Yale, Cornell, Duke, Mich, UCLA because they think their chances will be better.

Nope, people swarmed the Cornell desk b/c it's a favorite of bschool applicants both as a backup and as a target school. People will not downgrade to elite level schools, if their credentials make them competitive for ultra elite schools.

Thanks for the clarification...I'm not a top applicant, so I wouldn't know haha

by the way, the tablecloth comment was in response to the below post from last year that generated a bit of discussion

https://gmatclub.com/forum/post372465.html#p372465

Hi Aceman,

I'm planning a trip to visit Cornell in Sept. Is that a good time?

How would you profile the type of candidates that Cornell strives to attract?

Also, I hear that Cornell will reject an application if one mentions either Columbia or NYU. Does this mean that for those applying to larger MBA programs, they should avoid answering the "What other schools are you applying to?" question?

Thanks,

-M

Hi, I would think Sept for visiting is fine since classes would've started, however you might want to check with admissions since I am not an expert in this, I haven't visited myself.

Cornell wants to attract smart and driven people but also collaborative and works well in teams. There is also an initiative within the program to increase diversity and % of females, something to think about.

It doesn't matter at all if you say you're applying to other competing schools, I myself told the interviewer some other schools I applied to (Wharton). If there's a good fit, they'll accept you. Keep in mind though that many schools are different (eg Cornell is very different from Columbia or NYU) so its best to have a good story why you're applying to whatever program, if it fits with your goals, the culture, bla bla.

Hope this helps.

I attented this info-session as well and got bumped up by the comments of the lady. She said this year the avg Gmat score is going to go up and its not the Bschools that are more concerned about the score but the recruiting companies. The finance and consulting companies are asking to send only the resumes with 700 and above. Does that mean cornell will screen out the applications with below 700 ?? I think so .......

I was there also and the comment regarding companies looking for only 700+ applicants is definitely something that stands out at the front of my mind as one of the most interesting facts I learned that day. The adcom rep also followed that comment with "If an applicant is admitted with a lower than 700 score, we will ask them to retake the GMAT. This is to help their career and not to help the school." This is the first time I have heard that from an adcom --- there was a thread on gmatclub a few months ago (please link if you guys know where it is) where someone reported on the rumor that certain schools will ask admitted students to retake the GMAT to raise their averages, and thus rankings. What do you guys think?

That is very interesting about the GMAT. Will Cornell be paying for these students to retake the GMAT as well?

I am a little surprised so much is made of the GMAT at recruiting, but even more surprised Cornell wants their students to retake.

I think it has already been well established than unless you have had solid, prior experience in banking/consulting, you are typically not going to make the closed lists for banking/consulting interviews with a GMAT score below 700. The bar is supposedly set as high as 730+ for McKinsey at certain schools.

And moreover, the average GMAT scores at the UE and E schools this year should all be in the 705-720 range (Tuck was 713 for last year's class), so a 680 already "marks" you as being below average to any recruiter who pays a lot of attention to the GMAT as a filtering criteria. It's unfortunate, but that's just how it seems to work.

Here's a link to a recent thread discussing more about this. I believe one of our peers on this board retook the GMAT, *after* getting admitted to Columbia, simply to cross the 700+ barrier because of its perceived advantage in recruiting.

https://gmatclub.com/forum/post425310.html#p425310