APPLICANT RESOURCES

Admissions Director Q&A (New!) Below are links to Clear Admit's exclusive admissions director Q&A sessions.
Dawna Clarke (Tuck)
Rose Martinelli (Chicago)
Judith Hodara (Wharton)
Sarah Neher (Darden)
Soojin Kwon Koh (Michigan)
Randall Sawyer (Cornell)
Beth Flye (Kellogg)
David Simpson (LBS)
Liz Riley Hargrove (Duke)
Linda Meehan (Columbia)
Bruce DelMonico (Yale)
Peter Johnson (Berkeley)
Isser Gallogly (NYU)
Mae Jennifer Shores (UCLA)

Clear Admit School Guides
Eighteen titles available! Understand how the leading programs compare and learn more about the MBA experience in and beyond the classroom through Clear Admit School Guides. As featured in the Economist.

Clear Admit Interview Guides
Be as prepared as possible for your MBA interviews this season with the Clear Admit Interview Guides! School-specific sample questions and in-depth strategy, campus visit details and places to stay.

Essay Topic Analysis
Below are links to our comments on some of the top programs' essay topics.
The Career Goals Essay*
Berkeley / Haas*
Chicago GSB*
CMU / Tepper*
Columbia*
Cornell / Johnson*
Dartmouth / Tuck*
Duke / Fuqua*
Harvard*
IESE*
INSEAD*
London Business School*
MIT / Sloan*
Michigan / Ross*
Northwestern / Kellogg*
NYU / Stern*
Oxford / Said*
Penn / Wharton*
Stanford GSB*
UCLA / Anderson*
UNC / Kenan-Flagler*
USC / Marshall*
UT Austin / McCombs*
UVA / Darden*
Yale SOM*
* denotes '08-'09 commentary

• Admissions Director Q&A
• Admissions Tips
• Campus Chronicles
• Deadlines
• Essay Topic Analysis
• Essay Topics
• Events
• Fridays from the Frontline
• General
• GMAT News
• GMAT Tips
• Interview Guides
• Interview Tips
• MBA News
• Part-Time MBA
• Part-Time/Executive MBA
• Poll
• Pre-Matriculation Tips
• Rankings
• School Guides
• School: Berkeley / Haas
• School: Cambridge
• School: Chicago
• School: CMU / Tepper
• School: Columbia
• School: Cornell / Johnson
• School: Dartmouth / Tuck
• School: Duke / Fuqua
• School: Emory / Goizueta
• School: ESADE
• School: Georgetown
• School: Harvard
• School: IE
• School: IESE
• School: IMD
• School: Indiana / Kelley
• School: INSEAD
• School: ISB
• School: London Business School
• School: Michigan / Ross
• School: MIT / Sloan
• School: Northwestern / Kellogg
• School: NYU Stern
• School: Oxford
• School: Penn / Wharton
• School: Stanford
• School: UCLA / Anderson
• School: UNC / Kenan Flagler
• School: USC / Marshall
• School: UT Austin / McCombs
• School: Virginia / Darden
• School: Yale
• Strategy Series
• Trivia Tuesday
• Uncategorized
• Waitlist Advice
• Which School Wednesdays
• Wiki Wednesdays
• Workbook Wednesdays

School Rankings
Rankings are a good way to start your research on various MBA Programs. Keep in mind each uses a different methodology.
Business Week
Economist
Financial Times
Forbes
USNews
Wall Street Journal

• knowledge@wharton
• INSEAD Knowledge
• Harvard Working Knowledge
• Knowledge @ Emory
• Columbia Ideas @ Work
• knowledge@ W. P. Carey
• Stanford Knowledgebase

Blog Archive

• January 2009
• December 2008
• November 2008
• October 2008
• September 2008
• August 2008
• July 2008
• June 2008
• May 2008
• April 2008
• March 2008
• February 2008
• January 2008
• December 2007
• November 2007
• October 2007
• September 2007
• August 2007
• July 2007
• June 2007
• May 2007
• April 2007
• March 2007
• February 2007
• January 2007
• December 2006
• November 2006
• October 2006
• September 2006
• August 2006
• July 2006
• June 2006
• May 2006
• April 2006
• March 2006
• February 2006
• January 2006
• December 2005
• November 2005
• October 2005
• September 2005
• August 2005
• July 2005
• June 2005
• May 2005
• April 2005
• March 2005
• February 2005
• January 2005
• December 2004
• November 2004
• October 2004
• September 2004
• August 2004
• July 2004
• June 2004
• May 2004
• April 2004
• March 2004
• February 2004
• January 2004
• December 2003
• November 2003
• October 2003
• September 2003
• August 2003
• July 2003
• June 2003

CATEGORY - SCHOOL: CORNELL / JOHNSON

Monday, December 29, 2008

Hedge Fund Expert Teaches Students the Industry at Yale SOM

The Yale School of Management (SOM) is among a handful of other schools in the New York area that have begun to offer students a course in hedge fund operations and management taught by someone with real-world experience, according to a recent article in the New York Times.

At most business schools, students can study aspects of hedge funds in classes like investment management, financial engineering, endowment management and entrepreneurship, the Times reported. But at Yale SOM, students study under Leon Metzger, an 18-year industry veteran and founder of Paloma Partners, one of the “granddaddies” of the hedge fund industry, the Times continued.

In a syllabus modeled after an offering memorandum for a hedge fund, Metzger advises students interested in learning the secrets of moneymaking to register for a different class.

His is grounded in current events and practical application of theory. As an example, the Times reported that a class devoted to valuation involved a three-hour discussion of Merrill Lynch’s sale of $30 billion of collateralized debt obligations to the Lone Star Funds for 22 cents on the dollar and financing support.

“Talking about valuations is slightly more interesting than watching grass grow or paint dry, but talking about this sale brings the topic to life,” Metzger told the Times.

Other class exercises put students in front of real-life hedge fund insiders, who judge the students’ presentations of their mock hedge funds. Jacob Navon, an executive recruiter who served as one such judge, praised the Yale SOM class for teaching students presentation and other practical skills. “That’s an angle not uniformly taught,” he told the Times.

Yale SOM dean Sharon Oster told the Times that she views teachers like Metzger with real-life experience as providing a valuable complement to the academic curriculum.

Other New York-area schools, including New York University, Columbia and Cornell, are doing the same, according to the Times report. Still other schools recognize the need to include a focus on hedge funds as part of a complete business school education.

“Hedge funds have become such a big factor in financial markets that in order to make sure your students’ knowledge base is current, you really have to cover hedge funds somewhere in the curriculum,” Andrew W. Lo, professor at the M.I.T. Sloan School of Management and director of the M.I.T. Laboratory for Financial Engineering, told the Times.

In fact, at Yale SOM, few of the students in Metzger’s class plan to pursue careers in hedge funds. “I knew a long time ago what I was going to be doing, and it wasn’t hedge funds,” Yulee Newsome, a student in the class, told the Times. Newsome will join Dow Chemical when he graduates. “But it seemed to me that I would be pretty remiss if I left business school and didn’t know about one of the more important aspects of finance,” he continued.

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Trivia Tuesday: Leadership Development at Cornell’s Johnson School

In this week’s Trivia Tuesday column we turn our focus to the Johnson School at Cornell University and the program’s opportunities for leadership development.

The Johnson School’s leadership philosophy is founded on personal mastery through self-knowledge and self-development. As such, Johnson students begin their MBA experience with an intensive and interactive personal assessment and continue feedback and assessment sessions into the fall semester.

For students seeking to further develop their leadership abilities, Johnson offers a 10-credit Leadership Focus. The cornerstone of the Leadership Focus is the Goal Setting and Coaching for Leadership Success course, which is centered on the idea of “leader as coach.” The course trains students to effect personal behavior change, then to develop coaching strategies that enable them to help others. Throughout the semester-long course, students practice leadership by acting as a coach for a classmate. They also regularly update the personal learning plans they made during orientation so that the plans reflect their leadership progress.

Students may fulfill the remaining 8.5 credits of the Leadership Focus by choosing among thirteen 1.5- or 3-credit leadership course offerings. They can also contribute credit from day-long Leadership Skills workshops. These workshops are part of Johnson’s Leadership Skills Program, which supplements the traditional business school curriculum through one-day workshops exploring practical skills from etiquette to Excel. The workshops range from three to eight hours in duration and are worth 0.1 elective credits. While there is no limit to the number of workshops a student can participate in, only 1.5 workshop credits may be applied toward graduation. Topics range from “Building Rapport through Applied Listening” to “Wine Appreciation.”

For more information on the leadership development programs at Cornell or other leading business schools, be sure to check out the schools’ websites or the Academics and Special Programs sections of the Clear Admit School Guides!

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Johnson School MBA-Managed Hedge Fund Outpaces the Market

At Cornell’s Johnson School of Business, MBA students put theory into practice in a very real way – managing $14 million of other people’s money. And according to a recent article in the Cornell Chronicle, the student-managed Cayuga Fund consistently beats the market, returning 5.95 percent to investors in 2007.

The hedge fund counts between 40 and 50 investors, primarily Cornell alumni, who have entrusted their money to students to manage as part of a year-long course called Applied Portfolio Management. Sanjeev Bhojraj, Johnson associate professor of accounting, teaches the course.

With 32 students, this year’s class is the largest yet. And for the first time, first-year students are working as analysts to assist the second-year portfolio managers.

The Cayuga Fund is a market-neutral equity hedge fund, which means it is shielded from market volatility and the dramatic swings of an index-tracking fund.

“If the market goes up 30 percent, we might be up only 10 or 15 percent,” Bhojraj told the Chronicle. “But if it’s down 30 percent, we still want to be up, but maybe only 5 or 10 percent,” he continued. “We want to generate steady returns.”

From 1998 to 2002, the Cayuga Fund was an index-tracking fund, tracking closely with the S&P 500. But after the burst of the dotcom bubble and the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the school decided to go market neutral.

The fund’s 2007 returns were down from previous years – 14.2 percent in 2006 and 10.4 percent in 2005 – but its fourth-quarter recovery still placed is ahead of major market indices, according to the Chronicle article. Performance is measured against the Hedge Fund Research Equity Hedge and Equity Market Neutral indices.

So, just how does it work? Basically, students in the Applied Portfolio Management class are divided into teams, each of which is responsible for managing the stocks of an individual sector, such as energy, semiconductors or retail.

An initial 3,000 or so stocks are run through a computer program that screens them quantitatively to determine those that might be over- or under-valued, narrowing the list to about 500.

These 500 or so stocks are then divvyed up by sector. Each week, the student groups responsible for each sector must then propose a list of about four stocks they feel might be worth buying or selling.

“Essentially the idea is that you have stocks in the fund, and you buy them and sell them based on what you think is going to happen to the price,” Sasha Kaganas ‘09, co-portfolio manager of the healthcare group, told the Chronicle. Kaganas and her group handle about 15 healthcare stocks while keeping abreast of overall healthcares stock performances.

But the students’ work does not stop there. Class meets each Monday and Wednesday, at which point students pitch their chosen stocks to their classmates, who vote as a group on whether to buy or sell. A two-thirds majority must vote in favor of any given move the fund makes.

“Half the battle is communicating well,” Bhojraj noted about the students in his class. “They stand up and learn how to present, and how to hone down their idea to key details.”

Even if a particular action wins the class vote, the potential transaction must still survive a thorough risk management process led by a specialized student trader and supervised by Bhojraj.

With these appropriate safeguards and oversight in place, Johnson students get to enjoy a significant degree of decision-making responsibility while learning in the best way possible – by doing.

To learn more about the Cayuga Fund, click here. For more on Johnson’s Applied Portfolio Management course, click here.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Business@Cornell Live Webcast Series Debuts Today

The Johnson School of Business, in partnership with the School of Hotel Administration and the Applied Economics and Management Program at Cornell University, today will launch Business@Cornell, a new discussion series to be webcast live, drawing together faculty experts and Johnson alumni to discuss pressing issues impacting the business world.

The series debut, “Market Crisis Unraveled: From Wall Street to Main Street,” will feature three experts discussing the issues of real estate finance, the market’s reaction to the bailout and the effect on the economy. The discussion will take place at 3 p.m. (EST) on Thursday, October 23rd, and will be available through streaming video at the following link: http://tinyurl.com/BusinessAtCornell

Panelists will include Daniel Quan, professor of real estate at the School of Hotel Administration; Bob Andolina, visiting senior lecturer of finance at the Johnson School; and Ori Heffetz, associate professor of economics at the Johnson School.

Quan, an expert in real estate and real estate finance who specializes in securitization and structured finance, was chief mortgage economist at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve in Washington, DC, before joining the Cornell community. Andolina, a Johnson alumnus, recently retired from Lehman Brothers after 19 years in the equities business. And Heffetz examines the cultural aspects of economic behavior, such as conspicuous consumption, where consumers buy visible goods in an effort to advertise their wealth and climb the social ladder.

In addition to offering a unique set of perspectives on the unfolding financial crisis, the new Business@Cornell series also provides an opportunity for prospective applicants to get a feel for the Johnson School community and the kinds of events available to students. So tune in!

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Admissions Director Q&A: Randall Sawyer of Cornell University’s Johnson School of Business

Randall Sawyer has been serving as the director of admissions at the Johnson School of Business for the past two and a half years. Before his appointment to admissions director, Sawyer was the public relations officer for the Johnson School. Prior to joining the Johnson community a little over five years ago, he spent 15 years in and around state government, most recently on former New York Governor George Pataki’s communications staff.

In the interview that follows, Sawyer shares about Johnson’s new dean, impressive gains at the school in terms of female enrollment and the strength of Johnson’s brand management program. He also provides a glimpse inside the application process that prospective applicants will not want to miss. Read on!

Clear Admit: What’s the single most exciting development, change, or event happening at Johnson this coming year?

Randall Sawyer: Can I tell you about two? The first is that in May Joe Thomas was named dean of the Johnson School. That’s very, very exciting for us. Joe, who had been interim dean for a year, brings a very new direction to the Johnson School.

Joe’s a regular at coffee hour every day of the week. He’s also instituted Sage Socials, which is an every Thursday afternoon event. He’s bringing new change to the Johnson School that makes the dean more accessible to students and improves our networking opportunities. So that’s very exciting because Joe is really engaged with the faculty and the staff, which is wonderful.

The second thing that we are very excited about is the fact that we have 39 percent female students in the incoming class. That’s up from 28 percent. Last year we committed extra money to scholarships for females, and we were very involved with several organizations committed to increasing opportunities for women in business, such as the Forte Foundation and 85 Broads. We have a record number of Forte Fellows this year at the Johnson School.

We have a whole yield and retention strategy associated with women as never before. Traditionally, 25 percent of applicants to most MBA programs are women. We were in that space. But through our offering and our scholarships, we were able to create an incoming class that is 39 percent female. If we can get to 50 percent next year, I say let’s get to 50 percent. I don’t know if we can, but I do know that we have a lot more women in the class this year and they are bringing great diversity to the class. 

CA: What is the one area of your program that you wish applicants knew more about?

RS: That’s a hard question to answer because our big differentiator from other schools is our immersion program. During the second semester, every class, professor, speaker, and field trip has to do with what you choose to immerse yourself in, be it investment banking, capital markets or sustainable global enterprise. Many of our applicants know about the immersion program and that’s why they look at us. But we are also a great entrepreneurship school, a great brand management school.

Last year we had 28 or 29 of the top companies come to the Johnson School to look for brand students. And each student had not just one or two but four or five offers. We are a great brand school. And as the market contracts, I think we’ll see more money going to the staples so we’ll see an increased desire for brand. When you talk about brand in the marketplace most people think of Kellogg, and Kellogg is a great brand school, but we are, too, and people should be looking at us.

CA: Walk us through the life of an application in your office from an operational standpoint. What happens between the time an applicant clicks ‘submit’ and the time the committee offers a final decision (e.g. how many “reads” does it get, how long is each “read,” who reads it, does the committee convene to discuss it as a group, etc.). 

RS: I take this aspect very, very seriously. We look at everyone twice – regardless of TOEFL, GMAT, work experience, GPA. There is nothing in your file that indicates that you won’t get read twice, except for an incomplete file.

So basically, say you hit the submit button yesterday. We take your $200 and it gets deposited. When my team came in this morning, we printed out your application and put it on the shelf. We wait for your other materials – we go online and get an official copy of your GMAT score, put your recommendation letters in your file, etc.

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.  We are going to talk about you and decide whether you are a good fit for Johnson. I think it’s fairly callous to be voting on someone’s future.

I really want to be transparent in the application process. If a student is not a good match – if he or she needs a higher GPA or GMAT score – I will tell them on the road. We are going to be completely frank. I will not say to them, “Oh yeah, you should definitely apply.” We are up 57 percent in applications over two years, and we do not need that extra $200. There were 2,100 students last year that did not get an offer from us, and that’s no fun.

CA: How does your team approach the essay portion of the application specifically? What are you looking for as you read the essays? Are there common mistakes that applicants should try to avoid? One key thing they should keep in mind as they sit down to write them?

RS: I think that the Johnson school is really about knowing who you are and what you bring to the table. We are building a community of students who understand what it means to network together and work together in a team environment.

If there is a student out there who wants to go home and study alone and not engage with their fellow students, he or she may not be the right student for us and Johnson might not be the right school for him or her. If you are in the front space of a business, or in brand development, say – we need you to interact every day. These are aspects we want everyone to understand and be a part of.

Also, we are not looking to fill all the seats with investment bankers. When you bring an accountant, a brand manager, and an investment banker together to look at a case study, the answers you get are not all the same. In tests and in some presentations you will stand on your own, but on the whole we are very team centric.

When I ask students at Johnson how many people in your class do you know – as percentage – I have never had an answer of less than 90 percent. I would challenge other schools to match that. I think that provides a great understanding of networking. The MBA is a wonderfully analytical degree and if you go to a top 15 business school you will be well suited to go into business, but what will your network look like? How will you grow socially, personally, professionally? Other schools may not articulate that but we do because that’s what makes us different.

A big thing about us is that my team and I want to be as transparent as possible. I don’t want applying to business school to be a scary thing. This is what happens, and I don’t want to hide it from anyone. Ultimately I want 270 students at the Johnson School who really want to be here and are passionate about being here.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Citibank Cancels CitiAssist Student Loan Program at Several Business Schools

A piece in the Economix column of the New York Times earlier this week called attention to troubling news regarding the impact of the current credit crisis on the availablility of student loans to MBA students, particularly private loans administered through the CitiAssist program for international students.

The piece, entitled “Credit Crisis Is Bad News for M.B.A. Students” excerpted an email message sent to students Monday at MIT Sloan School of Management. According to that message, Citibank has exercised its 30-day option to cancel the CitiAssist custom student loan program with MIT Sloan, effective November 2, 2008.

The Economix column went on to explain that students who have already had their loans processed and approved by Citibank appear to be safe, but that those who still need to secure financing face greater problems. “The school is now helping students scramble to find alternate financing,” the Times reported.

The problem is not limited to MIT Sloan. The CitiAssist program is also ending at the Ross School at the University of Michigan, according to the school’s own website.

Information listed on the Ross site about the CitiAssist program indicates that of the 3,500 University of Michigan students who took out private loans in 2007, 68 percent did so through the CitiAssist program. But a bulleted point highlighted in red in the program description reads, “This loan program will end on 11/02/08. Priority date for applications is 10/15/08. Applications received after this date may not be processed.”

In a phone interview this morning, Randall Sawyer, dean of admissions for the Johnson School of Business at Cornell University, said that as he understands it, Citibank has removed its CitiAssist program from all of its schools for international students without a domestic cosigner. Harvard Business School and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania have also historically been part of the CitiAssist program.

“It’s affecting us, though not on a huge scale,” Sawyer said, indicating that schools with greater numbers of international students could be facing a larger-scale problem. “It’s certainly something that we are talking about though,” he continued.

According to Sawyer, even students who have secured funding for this year may still be unsure about whether they will find funding for next year. “At this point we don’t have any official release about the situation,” he said, but he indicated that Johnson would do its best to help students find alternate sources of funding.

Clear Admit plans to stay on top of this unfolding situation as it impacts prospective MBA applicants. Watch this space for more details as they become available.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Trivia Tuesday: Immersion Programs at Cornell’s Johnson School

Welcome to another addition of Trivia Tuesday, our weekly examination of the programs and policies that impact the student experience at the leading business schools. This week, we turn our attention to the Johnson School of Cornell University and their unusual first-year Immersion Program.

In the spring semester of their first year, students complement their final two core courses with Johnson’s signature Immersion Learning program. The Immersion programs consist of a coordinated set of electives focused on a particular career or industry; these courses invite students to engage with real world business problems across functions and disciplines, as they will later do in their careers. Many career switchers report that Immersions are an effective way to gain an in-depth understanding of their new target industry.

The Johnson School offers eight defined Immersion programs. In line with Johnson’s career orientation, these courses enable students to gain specialized industry exposure early in the MBA experience, making them well-prepared for their summer internships and full-time job searches. While the protocol for each Immersion differs, the cornerstone of the Immersion experience is a practicum in which students work on real projects with companies in the target industry. Despite Cornell’s relatively remote location, students report that executives from major cities and companies are routinely drawn to campus. Lectures and workshops with visiting experts, on-site visits and team presentations are regular components of each immersion.

Approximately 80% of the first-year class typically undertakes one of the eight defined Immersions. While students must bid for placement in their Immersion programs, they report that virtually everyone is enrolled in the Immersion program of their choice. For students whose career interests do not fit within the defined Immersions, Johnson offers a customized Immersion option. Through the customized Immersion, students can work with a faculty advisor to build their own specialized curriculum from the electives offered at Johnson or in the larger University.

For more on the Johnson School’s Immersion Programs or its other unique academic offerings, be sure to check out the school’s website or the Clear Admit School Guide to Johnson!

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Cornell/Johnson Essay Topics 2008-2009

Cornell/Johnson has released its 2009 application and with it the essay topics for this coming season. The topics are below:

Essay 1:Describe your greatest professional achievement and how you were able to add value to your organization. (400 word limit)

Essay 2: What career do you plan to pursue upon completion of an MBA degree and why? How will the Johnson School help you achieve this goal? (400 word limit)

Essay 3: You are the author for the book of Your Life Story. Please write the Table of Contents for the book. (400 word limit)

Essay 4: Complete this essay if there is other information you would like to add regarding your candidacy. For instance, if you believe one or more aspects of your application (e.g., undergraduate GPA or test scores) does not accurately reflect your potential for success at the Johnson School. (Optional; 400 word limit)

Essay 5: Describe the measures you have taken to strengthen your application since you last applied to the Johnson School. (Required for all re-applicants; 400 word limit) :

The complete Cornell/Johnson application can be accessed here.

Monday, August 04, 2008

Cornell/Johnson Deadlines 2008-2009

Cornell’s Johnson School has announced its deadlines for this upcoming admissions season.

Round 1
Application Deadline: October 6, 2008
Decision Notification: December 17, 2008

Round 2
Application Deadline: November 17, 2008
Decision Notification: February 4, 2009

Round 3
Application Deadline: January 12, 2009
Decision Notification: March 18, 2009

Round 4
Application Deadline: March 23, 2009
Decision Notification: April 29, 2009

Their 2009 application will be out on, or around, August 15th.

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Johnson School of Business Marketing Professor Honored for Research, Teaching

Young-Hoon Park, associate professor of marketing at Cornell’s Johnson School of Business, was selected this month as a finalist for the John D.C. Little Award, the highest research honor of the Society for Marketing Science.

Park and co-author Eric T. Bradlow were recognized for their research comparing bids in an internet auction to record-breaking events in sports or meteorology. Their paper outlining this research, “Bayesian Estimation of Bid Sequences in Internet Auctions using a Generalized Record Breaking Model,” was published in the March-April 2007 issue of Marketing Science.

Park and Bradlow created a modeling framework to analyze record-breaking events in online auctions by formulating a generalized record-breaking problem as a missing data problem. This approach allowed them to take into account the ways in which internet auction data differs from classic record-breaking data sets, specifically in that only the bid of the leading bidder is visible, not the participation of all of those people who are in the game.

Applying their model to data on notebook computer auctions from one of the largest Internet auction sites in Korea, the researchers found notable variation in the number of latent bidders across auctions. Of particular note, they discovered that latent bidders are significant in number relative to observed bidders, but that after a given bid, the latent number of remaining bidders is considerably smaller than that of new entrants to the auction. The bidding behavior of remaining bidders was also shown to be influenced significantly by larger bid and time increments.

Park and Bradlow’s model is significant in a marketing context because it allows them to apply brand maps to the auction data to measure brand equity in the online auction context. From bidding behavior, they are able to extrapolate the equity of the brands being sold.

Recognized Researcher Honored for His Teaching
Park’s award for research follows on the heels of his being named the school’s top teacher by graduates of this year’s two-year and accelerated one-year MBA programs.

In May 2008, Park won the annual Apple Award for Teaching Excellence, awarded by each year’s graduating class to the faculty member it believes most demonstrates outstanding leadership and enduring educational influence.

“He is the most passionate teacher I have ever had,” wrote one student as part of the nomination and voting process. “His sense of humor and energy in the classroom make every class very special, so it is not surprising that his students rarely miss a class.”

Park joined the Johnson faculty in 2001 as acting assistant professor in marketing. He was promoted to assistant professor upon completion of his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School in 2002 and to associate professor concurrent with receiving the Apple Award.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Trivia Tuesday: Earning a JD/MBA or MD/MBA

Welcome to another edition of Trivia Tuesday! Earlier in the year we looked at the options for students to earn Master’s degrees alongside their MBA studies through dual and joint degree arrangements. This week we’ll examine the opportunities for students interested in combining their business education with study in law or medicine. The growing demand for talented, knowledgeable managers in the health care industry makes the combination MD/MBA degree particularly valuable, and graduates who can analyze both the strategic and legal implications of a decision fill an important niche in the business world.

Wharton’s programs are typical of the JD/MBA and MD/MBA programs offered by leading business schools. As with most of the MBA/MA programs, candidates must apply to the two programs separately and admissions decisions are made independently. However, the longer length of JD and MD dual degree programs - typically four years for a JD/MBA and five years for an MD/MBA - mean that students have somewhat more leeway in deciding when to apply to the programs. For instance, students may apply to and begin both degree programs in the same year, or may choose to start the JD or MD first, applying to the MBA program in either their first or second year of study in the other program.

Kellogg’s MBA/JD program is differs slightly, in that the schools have managed to compact the three year law degree and two year MBA into just three years of on-campus study. The program also differs in that students apply through Kellogg only, though they spend their first year in full-time residency at the Law School.

Below is a summary of the JD and MD dual degree options offered by several of the leading MBA programs, along with links to sites offering more information about the dual degree or the law or medical school.

Chicago GSB:

JD with University of Chicago Law School
MD with Pritzker School of Medicine

Columbia Business School:

JD with Columbia Law School
MD with Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons
DDS with Columbia University College of Dental Medicine

Cornell/Johnson:

JD with Cornell University Law School
MD with Weill Cornell Medical College

Duke/Fuqua:

JD with the Duke University School of Law
MD with the Duke University School of Medicine

Harvard Business School:

JD with Harvard Law School
MD with Harvard Medical School

Kellogg:

JD with Northwestern’s School of Law
MD with the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern

Michigan/Ross:

JD at the University of Michigan’s Law School
MD at the University of Michigan’s Medical School

MIT Sloan:

No JD or MD dual degree programs

NYU/Stern:

JD at NYU School of Law

Stanford:

JD with the Stanford School of Law
No formal MD dual degree, though students may pursue a medical degree separately from the MBA

Tuck:

No JD program; offers a Master’s of Science in Environmental Law through Vermont Law School
MD with Dartmouth Medical School

UC-Berkeley/Haas:

JD with either UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law or UC Hastings College of the Law

UCLA/Anderson:

JD with UCLA School of Law
MD with David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

UVA/Darden:

JD with the University of Virginia School of Law

Wharton:

JD with Penn Law School
MD with Penn Medicine, DMD with Penn Dental Medicine, VMD with Penn Veterinary Medicine

Yale SOM:

JD at Yale Law School
MD at the Yale School of Medicine

For more information on dual and joint degree options and on graduates’ career paths, be sure to check out the individual schools’ websites, as well as the Dual Degrees and Career Statistics sections of the Clear Admit School Guides!

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Record Application Season for Cornell’s Johnson School of Business

The most recent numbers from the Johnson School’s Office of Admissions and Financial Aid reveal a notable increase in application volume for its two-year MBA program as well as increasing yield in terms of admitted students who accept.

Johnson received 2662 applications from prospective students vying for a spot in the 2010 class, up 22 percent from last year, according to Randall Sawyer, director of admissions and financial aid. As of early May, 286 admitted students made deposits to secure their spots in next year’s entering class, representing a 20 percent increase in yield over last year. The school’s Accelerated MBA program showed even more significant growth. With 60 deposits received from admitted students, the yield for that program this year is 68 percent.

“Build a Better Applicant Pool, Build a Better Class”
According to Sawyer, he and his staff have worked actively to increase the school’s applicant pool in an attempt to create a stronger admitted class. Expanded outreach has been central to this effort. “We will have held 100 events in 80 cities domestically and worldwide,” he said, up from about 50 events a few years ago.

The push seems to be working. Applications last year were up 27 percent, and this year they’re up 24 percent across the board. “We’re getting more exposure, and our message is resonating with more candidates,” Sawyer said.

Citing applicant feedback, Sawyer believes that Johnson has effectively differentiated itself from other schools by remaining focused on the value of its immersion program. This unique program features an intense, hands-on semester of integrated course and field work in a specific industry. “That sustainability continues to be an interest mentioned in applications,” he said. The school’s successful completion of its search for a new dean has also energized applicants, Sawyer said.

Record Number of Women Headed to Johnson Next Year
Of the students who have made deposits for next year, 38 percent are female. That figure represents a 28 percent jump over last year and is particularly significant given the women comprise onl7 25 percent of business school applicants.

“Women are a channel strategy,” said Sawyer. Several key women on the admissions staff work particularly hard to attract and retain more women, he continued. “Our students also play a crucial role in attracting and recruiting more female students; they regularly interact with prospective students,” he said.

Alumni, too, have lent their voice to the application drive, talking up Johnson among family and friends, according to Sawyer.

“We’ve had a great year, I’m very pleased,” Sawyer concluded.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Wiki Wednesdays: School Choices

Welcome to another edition of Wiki Wednesdays, where we highlight some particularly poignant posts from the Clear Admit Wiki, a repository of MBA applicants’ experiences with the admissions process. While spring is in full swing, some candidates are still undergoing interviews (as can be seen in the recent UCLA / Anderson and INSEAD reports added to the Wiki) while prospective applicants are giving the GMAT a go.

During the fall and winter, however, many applicants dread answering the question “why this school instead of that one?” in their essays and interviews. Now that admissions notifications are out, the question is resurfacing once again. Some admitted applicants are choosing between multiple offers, while others are considering attending a school that they researched only briefly in the fall. And of course, many applicants are now debating the pros and cons of relocating with their significant others.

One applicant, as shared on the School Choices page of the Clear Admit Wiki, approached this debate based on criteria such as geographic location, weather, class size and international opportunities, among several other points.

Another candidate broke down her choice among eight schools according to the individual programs, which can lead to a much more detailed and nuanced argument, not to mention a potentially dizzying list of preferences! This candidate, however, approached the debate head-on with a succinct list of perks and pitfalls. For example, when identifying the pros and cons of a few programs, she wrote:

1. “IESE: I was really excited about the possibility of studying in a dual language MBA program. The IESE program is a two year U.S. style MBA program top ranked globally but with a smaller class size compared with similar U.S. schools.
2. + : international experience, foothold into European job market, Barcelona, case study method, very American friendly program.
3. - : name recognition in US not very strong though increasing, exchange rate makes it a “very expensive language class” to quote one of my bosses.

1. UCLA: I applied to UCLA to give myself a west coast option and to throw in a wild card to see how my profile would be accepted at a slightly larger program with a less specialized program. I was attracted to the international focus and exchange opportunities afforded to students.
2. + : west coast school, international focus
3. - : state school, comparatively limited resources”

For this candidate’s observations on the six other programs, be sure to check out the School Choices page. No matter the approach to trimming one’s short or long list of choices, it can always help to organize one’s thoughts, priorities and data points in writing. The School Choices page can be a great forum for breaking down one’s decisions, so we encourage candidates to share their debates by creating an account or sending their thoughts to wiki@clearadmit.com.

As a final reminder for those still interviewing or interested in sharing interviews from this season, it’s the last day to win a $10 iTunes gift certificate for an interview report for the following schools: Berkeley / Haas, Cornell / Johnson, MIT / Sloan, Stanford GSB, Dartmouth / Tuck, UCLA / Anderson, Yale SOM, INSEAD and LBS (limit one gift card per applicant). To be eligible for the prize, simply e-mail your interview report to wiki@clearadmit.com.

We’d like to thank everyone who has contributed to the Clear Admit Wiki this season! We look forward to awarding some last minute iTunes gift cards as well as reading some dynamic debates about programs. Happy deliberating!

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Wiki Wednesdays: School Choices

Welcome back to Wiki Wednesdays, our weekly look at informative entries in the Clear Admit Wiki! We’ve received a number of great interview reports for Berkeley / Haas, Stanford GSB, UVA / Darden and MIT / Sloan, even though interview season is winding down. At this point, most applicants have received their long-awaited decision notifications, and those who have been accepted at more than one program will likely spend the next few weeks drafting (and redrafting) their lists of pros and cons before ultimately deciding on one school over another. In addition to individual blogs and the BusinessWeek discussion forums, the Clear Admit Wiki’s School Choices page provides a sound place to weigh one’s options.

As one candidate wrote in the Clear Admit Wiki about NYU / Stern vs. UCLA / Anderson,

1. “Both are reputable finance schools, but if you wanna work for IB/on wall street, go to NYU! NYU has the unshakable advantage regarding jobs on wall street, proved by [the fact] that 60% of the students go into financial services sector after graduation. On the other hand, [people] say UCLA has an advantage in PE/VC in Silicon Valley, but you need to compete with Stanford and Haas guys for this handful of job openings.”

It takes quite a bit of effort to make highly-nuanced distinctions like this applicant’s (for more points of her lengthy debate, check out the School Choices page). For this reason, it’s a great idea to take advantage of every resource available when making this difficult decision. Talking to alumni in your target industry and attending events for admitted students, whether a full weekend at the school itself or a dinner hosted in your own city, are great starting points for collecting valuable information.

In the meantime, we encourage our readers to share their thoughts - whether you’re looking for others’ opinions on individual schools or just searching for a good method of breaking down this complicated decision, the School Choices page can be a great help. Simply create an account or send your debates to wiki@clearadmit.com to contribute!

For those still interviewing or interested in sharing interviews from this season, we will be awarding a $10 iTunes gift certificate to each applicant who submits an interview report for the following schools: Berkeley / Haas, Cornell / Johnson, MIT / Sloan, Stanford GSB, Dartmouth / Tuck, UCLA / Anderson, Yale SOM, INSEAD and LBS between now and April 30th (limit one gift card per applicant). To be eligible for the prize, simply e-mail your interview report to wiki@clearadmit.com.

Thanks to all of those who have added their experiences to the Clear Admit Wiki and we look forward to reading more comparative cases on candidates’ school choices! In the meantime, here’s to due diligence and calm consideration!