Calling all Cornell (Johnson) Fall 2010 applicants!

Pls. put me down for R2. Have any of the R2 applicants recd. an invite yet?

My app went under review Nov. 4th, and I received an interview invitation Nov. 16th.

Achitect, answer your question.

I am from China.
Last year, Cornell admitted 10 people from mainland. According to the average interview/admission rate(47%/22% in last year), 20 invitations were sent out.
However, in the R1 of this year, as I know, more than 20 interview invitations were sent out to Chinese.

In this case, I assume that they invited more people (at least in China) for interview but lower rate to admit or they will increase the percentage of Chinese in program.

I would argue that you cannot use the overall interview and admission rates to draw conclusions about how many interview invitations were sent specifically to Chinese applicants last year. Unless you have specific interview and admission rates on a country by country basis, it seems like applying the rates you mention to such a small sample is a flawed approach. Moreover, are you sure that they admitted 10 people from China's mainland? Or are there 10 people in the current first-year class? If the latter is the case, it seems likely that they actually admitted far more than 10 students, but for whatever reason many of the admitted students chose not to attend.

your argument is right.
That is why I said "I assume".

But my figure is right. 10 people are from mainland. I knew in first class students, more than 10 Chinese students. But many are from US and several were bornt in China but are holding other citizenships.

Again, I also hope that Cornell will admit far more than 10 Chinese:) which means I have much more possibility to be admitted

I am Chinese but I did not come from mainland China. Does this help my chance? lol

I submitted 11/12 for R2 and it is still under review

I'm attending the Information Session in NYC this Wednesday. Has anyone have any experience with one of these? Anything I should know? Thanks...

I got the same email but I don't plan on going (work, gmat, essays too much going on). I don't think it is any different from a regular information session for a school. You do meet with Randall and maybe you can get to make a positive impression that will help your application.

mbacheckmate, my application went under review on the 4th of November and I just got an invite today!

keep your fingers crossed and have faith. interviews are still flowing out..

good luck.

Thanks lulala and congrats on the invite.The waiting game is making me go "AAAAAAAAaaaaaaa" .

you have my support and company buddy

Yes, you should assume the ADCOM will remember you. In fact, I have heard from different sources that Randall Sawyer remembers EVERYONE. So dress and act appropriately. Many people will wear a suit but I think that is somewhat of an overkill especially if you don't wear a suit for your job. But definitely dress at least business casual.

Take the event as part of an admission process because it is.

A case in point of what not to do, I went to a Booth information session (Cornell didn't offer one at where I live so I never attended Johnson's), and this one applicant kept whining about recommendations to the Director of Admissions, who calmly answered her "I have a hard time getting a recommendation from my difficult manager and what should I do?" question multiple times. After a THIRD try of essentially the same question, I could tell the Director of Admissions was turned off with her immaturity. The bottom line was everyone had to turn in their recommendations and whining about it was not the best way to impress the Adcoms.

Lastly, if you have a strong GMAT score (700+) then I would let the ADCOMs know about it and they will make an effort to remember you (and probably will). The fact of the matter is over 80% of the people who attend these sessions do not have the kind of profile the high caliber programs such as Cornell Johnson are looking for. I have noticed that they looked at me and paid attention to my questions far more closely after they knew of my GMAT score.

okay now that makes me depressed

I think most of us have a "weakness" in our profile that makes us depressed. I look at the people with strong extracurriculars and get depressed. It's not all about the GMAT...

Two things

1)I went from 620 to 710 (and I think I still have another 30 points in me but I have no time for it during this app season). GMAT is a very, very,very hard freaken test. You are simply competing against some of the smartest people in the WORLD (not just US). People in China and India study for GMAT as if their life depends on it (it kinda does). So don't give up and definitely retake the GMAT.

2)Checkout admissions411.com. That site even makes ME depressed. The ADCOMS of top 20 programs are not kidding when they refer to their applicant pool as "amazing". At least 30-40% of Johnson applicants have 740 or above. Another 30-40% have 700-740. The rest 1/3 or so are sub 700. To be sure, MANY 740+ scorers are rejected in favor of lower GMAT applicants. But there is no getting around the fact that Johnson has a extremely strong applicant pool and having sub 700 GMAT is a serious drawback.

Thanks guys. So how do I let them know I have a 700+ GMAT without making it sound so obvious?

I have a 710 so I asked them "Would it help if an applicant with 710 GMAT raise the score to around 730?". It was a genuine question, but it definitely received the Director of Admission's attention. I think she even liked the way I phrased it. I am sure you can find other creative ways to mention your GMAT score without being boastful.

As far as GMAT, in my humble opinion, I wouldn't assume your 730 is an automatic ticket to Cornell Johnson. Check out admissions411.com. The ADCOMs are not kidding when they say they routinely reject 700+ GMAT scorers. Truly, 70% of the applicant pool have an amazing profile (including 700+ GMAT). I advise you to get every advantage and hire an admissions consultant.