Cornell or Yale

janechen

greenbox,

Cornell and Yale actually host the Admit Weekends around the same time, I believe. Talk about competing for students! Anyway, Cornell is not part of the equation any longer, unless they change their mind about the full scholarship I'll be at Yale's admit weekend. I figured Admit weekends are the one last chance to experience the programs, faculty, facilities & future classmates as I'm currently choosing between 3 schools.

I was told repeately that one can take classes outside SOM and I definitely plan to take advantage of it, if I end up at Yale. don't know how many classes you can take, though. Something to ask while you're there...

[此贴子已经被作者于2005-4-1 22:04:38编辑过]

dashasha

greenbox, take Metro North instead of Amtrak at Grand Central.

bluemunich

Greenbox, dashasha gives good advice, "take Metro North" to New Haven.

You'd better check "Metro North" website and buy the webtickets online.  The round trip costs around 30$.  

iamback

Hi, bluemunich,

I am a second year MBA from Johnson School. I saw this topic a few days ago but didn't pay too much attention to it. My thought is that if the applicant doesn't have real interest in Cornell, we won't even bother to persuade him to come to Ithaca.

But when I saw your message, I do appreciate your interest in Cornell and would be very happy to provide you more details about Johnson.

1. Career: I probably won't write this message if your career goal is others. But biotech/pharma is really what Johnson has been proud of. Almost of the major biotech/pharma firms recruit here, Amgen, Bausch & Lomb, Fisher Scientific, Genentech, Boston Scientific, Roche, J&J, Merck, Pfizer, P&G, Wyeth, to name a few. And this does not include those small firms or biotech/pharma consulting firms. Biotech/Pharma IS a big feeder for Johnson MBA here. In fact, the area is so strong that many students come here just because they want to do biotech/pharma. We are easily on par with some M7 schools in this area.

However, two things I want to make clear:
First, if you don't have green card, your chance in biotech/pharma is slim since most of them won't sponsor H1 visa.
Secondly, as I mentioned before, since many people come here just want to do biotech/pharma, the competition may be high.

2. Location: location does hurt Johnson, or it may be already a M7 school. However, by living nearer to NYC won't help the school too much in terms of recruiting. When the recruiting season comes, you will find that it is the alumi that really helps in recruiting. The alumi will come to Cornell no matter where it locates. That is the love for Cornell. If you don't have alumi in the firm, it is very hard to get the interview even your are living in downtown Mahattan. Furthermore, as you know, NYC is not really the center for biotech/pharma.

3. Ranking: Cornell puts GMAT/GPA at the bottom of their admission requirement since the admission committee insists that students' GMAT/GPA is not really related to a person's future success. That creates a lot of debates since that hurts our ranking. That is why we generally do well in Businessweek but not so good in US News where GMAT/GPA counts for 25% of the ranking. But I would say, if a school is not so confident with itself, it won't follow its own belief so strictly as many of our peer schools seriously consider GMAT in order to maintain their position on US News.

4. Campus & Weather: the campus is gorgous that we regret that we don't really have time to enjoy it. You will go on internship when the summer comes. And the weather is bad during the winter. If you can't stand the cold & long winter, this is not the place for you. But there is a lot of fun in a small town. Furthermore, other schools such as Hotel School offers courses in Wine and Cooking. Many students take the courses for fun.

I hope I do give you some information that you may feel helpful. No matter which school you will go, I wish you successful in your future career. Feel free to ask question here if you want to know more about Johnson.

greenbox

Jane & Dashasha,

Thanks for the info!  I just checked the admit weekend schedule and found out the15th is a friday! how come I was always under the impression that the admit weekend is sat and sun?  It's called "weekend".. If i do visit, it means a red eye flight to NYC and miss work for at least a day - well i took all my vacation and sick time for GMAT study and interviews.. Anyway, hope my boss can show me some mercy and I can meet u all in New Heaven

Jane, did you go to Blue Devil's weekend?  Is Duke out of the picture for you?  Let me know if you have any questions about Durham...I spent four years there so i know where to get the best food   

janechen

greenbox-

did you go to Duke for undergrad? Anyway, I won't attend the blue devil's weekend because of schedule conflict. but it's still under consideration. I'll be going to 2 admit weekends this month and perhaps go to Durham to talk to some Fuqua folks. Hopefully I can decide by the month end.

I, too, will be running out of vacation hours. Admit weekends usually start on Friday, some even on Thursday!

So I'll see you at the SOM weekend?

bluemunich

iamback, thanks a lot for your post.  It is very helpful. Just curious, how many chinese students are at Johnson and how many of them are CDers? The voice of cornell is much lower at CD compared to that of Yale. I understand you don't want to persuade people to do something.  Still,  CD is a great place to provide information for the prospective students.  Some marketing is important, right?.  

I like your sentence about the alumni. "that's the love for Cornell". The Johnson alumni I met are satisfied and loyal to the school.  During my visit at Cornell, students were proud to tell me about the Blue Red Venture Fund and the Blue Red Incubator, majorly for Bio/pharma.

The ranking of cornell at Business Week, US news and Finanical Times has a big difference ( No.7 at BW and No.15 at US news ).  No.7 at BW 2004 is a big success for Cornell and demonstrates its  very competitive position. But its ranking at FT and US news does hurt Cornell reputation. I hope it pays attention to the ranking at FT, which has a speical influence on international applicants.

I am impressed that Cornell has initiated some innovative approaches for the future, such as Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise. The culture of Cornell is confident and professional. Hopefully it is not too proud to make some marketing.

greenbox

Jane,

Yeah I did undergra there. Durham is not the best city on the planet but there are a lot going on on campus so you certainly won't get bored.  lus, there is chapel hill's franklin street that's only 15 min away by car.  I think i will go to SOM admit weekend, but only for Friday's event - definitely check out the housing options..  Then I am hoping to visit Cornell on Sat.  Guess there won't be too many international students coming so hopely it's easy to spot you there  

  

Good luck with your decision process!

dashasha

greenbox, you went to such a great college! Could you recommend some good restaurants in Durham? I had to drove 30 miles to Cary for a yummy Chinese dinner.

[此贴子已经被作者于2005-4-2 6:47:40编辑过]

prelude

Just got in to both last week.  I am in investment management and I am leaning towards Yale.   Yale's PEC and Investment management club is just IMPRESSIVE.  I don't know why some ppl consider Yale second tier, but its definitely selective in admissions.  I'll probably skip both admit weekends, since I can't take anymore days off.  Hopefully, fellow CDers can post some feedbacks of their trip.