Johnson with $$$

Question

I got into Cornell (The Johnson School) with a massive scholarship (100k). I am thinking of taking it but I also ended up getting interview invites at Penn, Dartmouth & MIT but was rejected. I am in 2 minds in that do I reapply next year & crush the interviews (assuming I get some) or should I take this? I want to end up at MBB and while a scholarship is impressive, I know school networks matter in terms of recruitment. I also made the mistake of not applying to Columbia, Chicago and Northwestern (I wish I had) since I think I would have at least scored interviews there. I am 27, went to an Ivy for grad school (3.9 gpa) & a seven sisters school (3.8 gpa in stem) for undergrad, had high test scores (so cumulatively, that helped me score interviews). I work in research so that combined with the advanced degrees makes me non-traditional.

injineer · Answer

Have you talked much with students at Johnson about their opinions of MBB opportunities? If you can get in contact with some second year students, that might make your decision much clearer; if they have classmates going to MBB and feel like there is a good path, then I'd take the money and run.

epsilon8 · Answer

Sometimes schools publish employment reports - try to find one for Johnson in order to learn about career options of the school's graduates.

jessepinkman · Answer

i'd wait a year and reapply to M7+Tuck schools. Try to figure out what got you dinged from mit, wharton, tuck (most likely wasn't the interview) and do what you can to improve that part of your application. I've heard some schools will give feedback and it'd also probably help to talk with an admissions consultant.

Mo2men · Answer

Hi,

I would accept this generous offer and move on. Cornell has reasonable amount in MBB, maybe not like M7. They have consulting route which will be helpful too. You do not know if you will get this offer next year or not. However, If you decide to apply next year, be sure to focus with Tuck as it provides full feedback to learn more. I do not know about other schools' feedback.

Good luck

thanghuu · Answer

If you drop the Cornell's scholarship then you'll be forgoing a sure financial benefit for something that's uncertain (getting into M7). I would consider the worst case scenario of you dropping the current Cornell offer, apply next year and don't get into M7: are you comfortable with that?

Getting interview to M7 this year is no guarantee of scoring a spot next year, if you were to be in a waitlisted then that's marginal, and applying R1 next year may help.

I was in a similar situation last year, forgoing a full ride scholarship from a lower ranked school and ended up not getting into my target school. Luckily I scored a spot in M7 in R1 this year, but I did have a lot of restless nights worrying about my applications.

I reckon what you should do now is to talk to an admission consultant, let them have a quick read of your profile, see what they say. If there's a clear red-flag that can be fixed quickly and results in M7 admission, then there's a good ground for dropping Cornell's offer.

P/S: also consider that if you do get into M7, most likely you'll pay full fee (since you're a reapplicant).

Johnson with $$$

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