A Cornell State of Mind

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Natalie Grinblatt, director of admissions and financial aid at Cornell University's Johnson School of Management, which is No. 8 in BusinessWeek's 2002 list of the top B-schools, offers some advice on the B-school application process. Before joining Johnson, Grinblatt worked in admissions and student services at the University of Michigan B-school, where she received her MBA in 1987. She also worked in retail management and buying for Federated Department Stores. BusinessWeek Online reporter Mica Schneider interviewed Grinblatt on Oct. 22. Here's an edited version of their conversation:  

Q: How has the admissions process changed recently at Cornell?
A: We're trying to smooth out the interview process, because doing interviews by invitation creates a bottleneck. We always got caught scrambling toward the end of a deadline and the beginning of a new deadline.

Q: What new strategies is your office testing in an effort to recruit future MBAs?
A: We're doing a military outreach initiative, which was started by our students in the Veterans Club and by one of my colleagues. We're promoting the program at some of the major forts in the U.S., talking to military personnel about the degree and Cornell. We're trying to put out the idea that an MBA education, after the military, is a great option. We find military officers to be very successful in our program and as alumni. I don't know of any other schools doing this kind of outreach.

Q: How many applications arrived for Cornell's first-ever priority, early decision round on Oct. 15?
A: A little more than 200. I was expecting fewer, since I wasn't sure if the word had gotten out [about the earlier deadline]. The quality is really terrific. What will be more telling will be when we get deeper into the application pool.

Q: Does applying so early imply more enthusiasm to attend Cornell?
A: The applicants are pretty eager: They have their act together. These people have been thinking about an MBA for a year or two. Not to say that everyone thinks about it so much. Ultimately, we don't want applicants to submit an application before they know they have a good application to submit.

Q: When do these early applicants find out if they've been admitted?
A: On Dec. 15. It spreads our process out. We read earlier, we interview earlier. I'm doing interviews on the road now as I travel. The first invitation [to interview] is to come to Ithaca -- and we still prefer people to come to Ithaca. You wouldn't buy a car without test driving it, and the cost of this program is a lot more than any car I'd ever buy. So we encourage applicants to come here, but we realize that many people can't get to Ithaca.

Q: How might you compare this admissions season -- however early -- to years past?
A: It seems that some of the fairs were better attended than last year. Our table was busier than it has been in years past. But there are other indicators telling me otherwise. We know that GMAT test taking is down, for instance. We're in the middle of the baby bust. The millennial babies graduate from college this year, and that's the beginning of the boomerang generation.

Last year, we were dealing with a war, SARS, and changes to visa applications. The year before, we were dealing with layoffs. The strategies of candidates were very different, vs. last year, and vs. the year before [when people applied in the first round]. Last year, applicants were more methodological, applied to their top schools in the first round, but had a backup.

Q: People with advanced degrees who apply to Cornell's MBA program can choose between the school's two-year program and its Twelve-Month Option (TMO). Do admissions standards between the two programs differ?
A: Our assessment of the candidates who apply to the TMO and the two-year program is similar because students go through the same program (although the TMOs have an accelerated core and are given 15 credits of advanced standing for their graduate degrees). We're still looking for particular qualities -- what we term "opportunity makers." They're passionate, driven, results-oriented, have a vision for success, and make their vision a reality. They're astute at working in teams, as well as leading those teams.

Last year, we had 114 applicants for 36 places. The TMO is an outstanding program for people who come from science and technology backgrounds, but want to work on the business side of those areas.

Q: What percentage of MBAs tend to be Cornell alums?
A: I don't measure the number of Cornell undergraduate alumni, but we do admit about 10% of each MBA class with people who hold Cornell degrees. You'll find that at most universities.

Q: Applicants have to write two required essays, and one optional one. You must see a real mix of great and atrocious essays. What's the one mistake you'd like to see candidates avoid in the future?
A: There's more than one. A couple of common errors that people make each year are failing to tell their story succinctly or never really telling their story. I want to be part of their world. The only way for an applicant to do that is to give examples that will help me do that and say, "Ah, I see what this person went through." They stay in a very general area and never bring it home. I see that error with a lot of people.

The second thing would be -- and this is very common -- cutting and pasting. Don't write one personal statement and cut and paste it into another application. It doesn't answer the question we ask, and it creates an opportunity for errors, for instance, having another school's name in there. When we see a line that reads, "I want to attend x school" and it's not your school, we say, "Goodbye."

Proofread. And have other people proofread for you.

Q: Cornell requires applicants to submit two letters of evaluation. Who should write these recommendations?
A: We prefer to see them from professionals who can objectively evaluate the candidate, preferably supervisors. We realize that isn't always possible [because of conflicts of interest], but in that case, let us know why you're having someone else write that letter. Don't leave the admissions counselor guessing. Make sure the recommender is objective: no family members or peer recommendations. A secondary recommendation could be from someone in the community or a former supervisor.

Ask the recommender if he or she would write a great recommendation for you. Candidates should give the evaluator their [application] essays, r閟um? and a cover letter that highlights some of the things that they didn't have a chance to highlight in their essays. Give that to the individual writing the recommendation a couple of weeks before you need it. Give them an earlier deadline than the actual deadline, because the evaluations and the [undergraduate] transcripts are the two things that hold applications up.

Finally, if they're doing more than two or three recommendations for you, send them a gift to say thank you.

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Q: You've mentioned in the past that having an alumnus write in on behalf of an applicant can help a marginal candidate land an interview. How might it help a Johnson hopeful in 2003?
A: A great candidate is going to get an interview anyway. A poor candidate probably won't get an interview. But we do love to hear from our alumni. They're passionate about the school, so we take the recommendations they make very seriously. They take this to heart. Then it's up to individuals to sell themselves.
Q: Everyone's favorite application beast: the GMAT. Will a low verbal score from a native English speaker upset your team?
A: It would bring up a red flag, and if everything else in the application was really strong, and if we got to an interview, we might ask the candidate about that. We're interested in verbal reasoning, so it's important. Even before people get an invitation to interview, we may contact them to have them explain parts of their application.

Q: What can an MBA hopeful with a GMAT score below 602 do to show your office that he/she can handle the work load? After all, not everyone is a good standardized test taker.
A: The GMAT only measures [an applicant's analytical reasoning], so there are a lot of other things that tell us that someone can succeed in this program. We have an academic record to look at, and that's important. We don't just look at the grade-point average but also the school [the applicant attended], the course load they carried, and other things they did outside of school.

The other thing would be how much drive that person has. Someone with straight As shows us that they'll succeed in other ways. People can try to compensate for their weaknesses by taking some classes. There's a first-year student in the program who made the argument that she doesn't take standardized tests well. It was a good argument, a plea on paper, where she had the proof. And she has done well in the first three classes [this year]. I took her word and went with it, because she had a really good argument.

Q: Which undergraduate degrees are considered the most rigorous by your admissions team?
A: While electrical engineering and physics are challenging degrees, the degree must be considered in light of the institution and the course loads one carries. An electrical engineer may struggle in a Russian studies class and vice versa. It must all be taken in context.

Q: When does an undergraduate transcript cause concern?
A: Again, it must be taken into context: school, degree, course loads, courses, trends. A series of Fs and Ws would be a concern. That would not be a trend I want to see.

Q: What questions can an applicant expect to hear in a Cornell interview?
A: To prepare, people should understand who they are and why they want this degree. Ask yourself the question, "What wouldn't have happened at my organization if I hadn't worked there?" Not just at work but also in your community. Why do you make a difference? You need to continue to answer, "So what?" People come across as passionate when they've figured that out.

The second thing is that you need to know why you want the MBA, what you're going to do with it in the short and long term, and why the particular school, Cornell, is going to help you to achieve that. Talk to people who have been in this program or who are in the program. You'll hear the passion coming from them.

We also explore current events. You definitely need to read BusinessWeek in order to prepare for your interview. We want to know that there's more to you than work and that you know the world around you.

Q: Is a global mindset and global experience something your office is looking for in MBA students?
A: Absolutely. Professor Stuart Hart is our new Samuel C. Johnson chair in Sustainable Global Enterprise, and earlier this year Jan Katz was named the Suter Staley Director of Global Business Education. The school has made a commitment to global business education, as all business is global.

While there are some people studying here who have never worked abroad, they are savvy about what is going on in the world around them in terms of culture, politics, and the economy.

Q: What should someone placed on your wait-list do to improve his/her chance of admission?
A: Patience is a virtue, so be patient. But staying in touch with us is also important. After the main admissions period ends -- in mid-May -- get in touch. Think about what your deficiencies might be, and work on those. For instance, take some classes, take the GMAT again if that was your issue. If it's work-related, and you didn't come across well during the interview, you have some chances to show your charm and show your desire to attend.

The students here now who came off the wait-list were patient and showed me some stuff over the summer. They called, they e-mailed, or they visited. They understood what their deficiencies were, and that's good enough for me. It also depends on a given year and how many people we'll take off.

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Q: What is the latest you'll take someone from Cornell's wait-list?
A: We have taken someone off the week before orientation, but we try to take people off earlier. Candidates who were taken off late had told us they wanted to stay on the wait-list until the last minute. Last year, the last candidate we took off was in early July.
Q: Last year, 53% of admitted candidates chose to attend the Johnson School. Where are the rest of your admitted students going for an MBA?
A: They're going to other top programs, or they're continuing to work. There were also a couple of people who had military obligations that they couldn't get out of. Some people had personal issues, such as family health. And some people decided that the MBA really isn't for them.

Q: Does Cornell encourage people who didn't make the cut to reapply in the future?
A: They're welcome to, and there are a good percentage of candidates that do improve their applications and get in the following year.

Q: Costs are ever-rising, and at Cornell the two-year MBA degree costs about $65,700 on tuition alone. Students in the TMO are told to set aside about $28,075 for their year of study. What financial aid options exist for Cornell MBAs?
A: The Park Leadership Fellows program offers full tuition to 25 MBAs in each incoming class of the two-year program. Two-year program applicants apply for the Park Leadership Fellows program by Jan. 15, and they have to write an additional essay. It's a great opportunity. The Twelve-Month Option MBAs have to apply for aid and merit-based scholarships by Dec. 15.

Q: Johnson also offers an executive MBA program, one that was recently ranked No. 14 in BusinessWeek's ranking of the top 25 EMBA programs in 2003. Where can executive MBA hopefuls get more admissions guidance from the B-school?
A: On our Web site. Tom Hambury is the executive MBA director, so contacting Tom would be key if you're interested. That program isn't in Ithaca. [Classes are taught] at the IBM Palisades Executive Conference Center near New York City. It's a weekend program for 22 months, meeting every other weekend.

Q: How will your office notify applicants if they're admitted? Will it be by phone, mail, or e-mail?
A: The first place to look is our online status check. We do call and e-mail accepted candidates. Everyone else is informed by mail.

Q: Any final words of wisdom for Cornell applicants?
A: The successful applicant understands that the business-school application process is designed to advance those who know themselves well, know what they want to do, and know how [the MBA programs] will help them achieve their goals. At Cornell, the student best suited for our program is bright, driven, accomplished, passionate, savvy, optimistic, and inspirational. These qualities must come through in the application.

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