Cornell Business School [Review]

Cornell Business school is a prestigious collaborative Ivy League school and an ideal choice for students pursuing an MBA degree.

In this Cornell business school review, you’ll get to know about Cornell business school rankings, Cornell MBA, Cornell business school tuition, Faculty, and a lot more.

About Cornell University Business School

The Cornell business school, also known as the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, or Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, is the graduate business school at Cornell University. It was founded in 1946 and renamed in honor of Samuel Curtis Johnson in 1984 after his family gave a $20 million endowment gift to Cornell.

The school has 58 full-time faculty members and is situated in Sage Hall. About 600 Master of Business Administration (MBA) students and 375 Executive MBA students are enrolled in full-time two-year (2Y) and Accelerated MBA (1Y) programs. The school alumni number more than 15,200 and the academic journal Administrative Science is published Quarterly.

Cornell SC Johnson College of Business offers you a wide range of degree paths including a Two-Year MBA and One-Year MBA in Ithaca, a One-Year MBA at Cornell NYC Tech, the Cornell Executive MBA Americas, and the Cornell Executive MBA in Metro NY., The school is unique for its state-of-the-art pedagogy, real-world business immersions, community commitment, small class sizes, global business practices, and highly selective recruitment. It is consistently ranked as one of the top business schools in the world. 

The school of business also offers students various opportunities to be a part of all that Cornell offers while studying for their MBA degrees. This includes broad interests in future business careers in subjects like real estate, engineering, hospitality, Chinese, and law. There’s also a network of 300,000 committed Cornell University graduates and alumni who have understood how the global, connected enterprise is changing and are able to utilize team effort to create extraordinary results. After graduation, you will be equipped with the knowledge and tools to start innovative businesses, collaborate, and even transform organizations.

The Executive MBA at Cornell equips you with the education and Ivy League network to lead during tough times, as well as navigate the dynamic global business.

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Cornell Business School Rankings

Cornell MBA is consistently ranked among the best programs in the U.S and worldwide. The 2019 national rankings of Cornell’s MBA program include #9 by Forbes, #14 by U.S. News and World Report, and #10 for 2018 by Bloomberg BusinessWeek. in 2011, the school of business was ranked #8 worldwide by the Aspen Institute, which until Spring 2012 ranked institutions based on how well they solve issues concerning environmental and social stewardship into the curriculum. Similarly, Cornell was ranked #2 by Bloomberg BusinessWeek for an MBA specialty in sustainability in 2013.  In 2017, Poets&Quants added Cornell business school to its list of 10 Business Schools to Watch out for.

Cornell Business School Undergraduate Programs

Departments and concentrations include accounting, economics, consulting, entrepreneurship, finance, ethics, general management, health care administration, human resources management, international business, hotel administration, leadership, manufacturing and technology management, marketing, management information systems, not-for-profit management, production/operations management, organizational behavior, portfolio management, real estate, supply chain management/logistics, quantitative analysis/statistics, and operations research, and technology. 

Cornell’s interdisciplinary centers include the Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise, the Center for Leadership, the Center for Manufacturing Enterprise, and the Parker Center for Investment Research.

The Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise advocates various sustainability issues and enables students to have a better understanding and knowledge in working for sustainability developments and causes.

The Emerging Markets Institute was founded in 2010 to educate current and future business leaders, as well as find out the role of the emerging markets in the global economy. The Institute invites reputable academics and practitioners from around the world to build the premier research center on the role of emerging markets in the global economy and to train the next generation of global business leaders.

Cornell MBA

Cornell business school offers one and two-year full-time MBA programs, Executive MBAs, and tech, as well as numerous other degree programs. The One-Year MBA is a full-time, domestic degree at the flagship campus in Ithaca, while the Two-Year program is a unique immersion learning approach achieved through a partnership with Cornell Tech in New York City.

The two-year full-time MBA program consists of one semester of core mandatory courses, and one semester in immersion, and you can choose to study a second-year concentration or not. The MBA program utilizes an enormous first-semester core model, in which students participate and specialize in an immersion (concentration) before interviewing for summer internships. Before matriculation, students with no business background may still attend a week-long MBA math boot camp to meet up, and the orientation is a two-week leadership course that builds up to the Johnson Outdoor Experience (JOE). JOE is a two-day adventure-based activity in the Finger Lakes foothills.

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The core curriculum is only one semester, which is divided into two halves or semesters. The first half mainly focuses on the internal aspects of a company and includes the courses like Managing and Leading in Organizations 1, Financial Accounting, Microeconomics for Management, and Marketing Management. The first half then leads to the Marketing Case Competition, which is sponsored by S.C. Johnson & Son. In the second semester, the focus will be on the external aspects and you will take courses on Managerial Finance, Statistics for Management, and Strategy. Each year, this half builds into the Integrative Case Competition, sponsored by Citi.

There are over 80 courses to choose from. In total, over 4,000 courses are offered across the Cornell campus. This includes courses such as Behavioral Finance, Applied Portfolio Management, Estate Planning, Corporate Social Responsibility, Power and Politics, Strategy & Tactics of Pricing, Six-Sigma Quality & Process Implementation,  Entrepreneurship & Private Equity, and International Mergers and Acquisitions. 

When admitted as a student, you will be allowed to matriculate in graduate-level courses at any Cornell college. This includes Cornell School of Hotel Administration, Cornell Law School, NYS School of Industrial & Labor Relations, and Cornell College of Engineering. Instead of class competitions, elective curriculum students can complete an independent student research project or a field study. A Field study is when students become a team and work closely with faculty members to research a real-world issue, launch a product, or develop new businesses. On the other hand, Independent student research projects are when a student works with a faculty member to gain a deep understanding of a particular topic of interest. With these two options, students can create a second-year curriculum that aligns with their personal and professional interests.

Basically, Cornell Business school is dedicated to providing resources to help students succeed” in “banking, consulting, tech, general management,  marketing, or various other career paths.” The Faculty still remains available beyond regular office hours, and this creates a huge support system from TAs to tutors from the second-year class. There are also small core teams with an appointed Johnson Leadership Fellow who coaches, advice, and provides the opportunity for team members to give constructive feedback.” At Cornell, you will be motivated to diligently pursue your best career path, while also exploring new industries and possibilities.”

A curve is used to grade MBA students. The set fixed grade point average for core courses is 3.3 while that of electives is 3.5. In most courses, the grade is roughly 40 percent exams, 40 percent team papers, 10% class participation, and 10 percent case assignments. Students must have grade point averages of 2.7 overall and 2.5 in core courses before they can graduate. If the point is below average, he or she will receive an academic warning and will receive help in the form of academic counseling from tutors to improve academic performance. 94 percent of the Class of 2016 had job offers at graduation, an average compensation amount of $121,000 annual salary, and a $30,000 signing bonus, on average.

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Immersion learning & Concentrations

Cornell MBA is unique because of the intense, hands-on semester experience of combined course and fieldwork in a specific field or career interest, before going for a mid-MBA summer internship. Immersion is made up of several site visits to regional companies, interrelated electives, and live cases.

The curriculum offers 8 immersions:

• Capital Markets and Asset Management (CMAM)
• Investment Banking (IBI)
• Managerial Finance (MFI)
• Digital Technology (DTI)
• Semester in Strategic Operations (SSO)
• Sustainable Global Enterprise (SGE)
• Strategic Marketing (SMI)
• Customized

During the second year of the program, there are also options for you to pursue up to two optional academic concentrations, in Depth or Breadth. Depth concentration includes entrepreneurship, consulting, leadership & ethics, global business management, and sustainable global enterprise. For Breadth, these are financial investing, marketing analytics, financial analysis, corporate finance, marketing management, private equity, and strategy.

Accelerated, exchange, and joint programs

• Accelerated MBA (AMBA)
• Joint program with Cornell College of Engineering (MBA/MEng)
• Joint program with Weill Cornell Medical College (MBA/MD)
• Joint program with Cornell School of Industrial & Labor Relations (MBA/MILR)
• Joint program with Cornell Law School (MBA/JD)
• Joint program with Cornell College of Architecture, Art, and Planning (MBA/MPS)
• Joint program with Cornell Institute for Public Affairs in the NYS College of Human Ecology (MBA/MPA)

If you have advanced science or technical degrees, you can go for the one-year Accelerated MBA (AMBA). It starts in May and ends in May of the following year. AMBAs students get to complete their core curriculum in the summer and then join second-year MBA students in the fall. Up to 12 percent of enrolled students choose to enter a dual degree program. There are  3- and 4-year tracks for the MBA/JD program, while the MBA/MPS program is for those who want to specialize in real estate. The MBA/MILR is a 2 1/2 years program and is regarded as the “crown jewel for aspiring human resources professionals. Additionally, Cornell business School has MBA exchange programs with 21 other universities in Europe, Latin America, and Asia.

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Doctoral program

A Doctor of Philosophy in the field of management is offered at Cornell, and the program primarily focuses on five areas:

• Accounting
• Finance
• Marketing
• Management and Organizations
• Production and Operations management

In addition to their primary field, Doctoral students can choose two minor areas of concentration. Cornell offers other Secondary fields and they include managerial economics, behavioral science, and quantitative analysis; however, students may choose a minor concentration from another business school if they want to. The Doctor of Philosophy program is small, with just about 40 students in residence at any given period. Students get a full tuition waiver, health insurance, and a stipend.

It takes at least four years to complete the doctoral program, while an average time of five years is spent. Towards the end of Students’ first examination, students take the admission to candidacy examination which determines competence in students’ chosen field. The exam is provided in written and oral components. After that comes the second examination, thesis defense, which is taken after the dissertation is complete.

In 2010, Cornell’s Ph.D. program was ranked #1 for experimental financial accounting, and according to a 2006 study, the Ph.D. program was ranked #6 for finance. 

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Executive MBA

There are three off-campus Executive MBA programs:

• Cornell Executive MBA in Metro NY
• Cornell Executive MBA Americas
• Cornell Executive MBA/MS in Healthcare Leadership

The Cornell Executive MBA is a traditional classroom setting program established in 1999,  in the Cornell Tech campus located on Roosevelt Island, Metro NY, New York, NY. There are four residential sessions and classes held every weekend, including Saturday and Sunday morning, on the Cornell University campus. The program lasts 22 months. Financial Times ranked the Executive MBA program #24 worldwide in 2010.

In 2005, the Cornell Executive MBA Americas program (originally called the Cornell-Queen’s Executive MBA program) was launched in partnership with Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. In this program. participants are grouped into teams of 6-8 people in cities across the US, Canada, and Latin America. For class sessions, these teams are linked via multi-point, interactive video conferencing. Students take lectures every three Saturdays per month, in addition to three residence sessions taken on Cornell and campuses. At the end of the program, Graduates are granted one MBA from Cornell and another MBA from Queen’s University. The Executive MBA Americas program lasts 17 months.

In September 2016, Cornell university business school and Weill Cornell Medicine announced a new dual-degree program that will provide a variety of skills for success in a fast-changing environment to the next generation of healthcare leaders. Students who take part in the two-year Healthcare Leadership program will receive an MBA from Cornell and a Master of Science degree from Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences.

The program’s focus is on health care in the United States, especially, health care systems experiencing vivid changes in structure, regulatory requirements, and payment. The program lasts for 20 months (with breaks), and has two semesters per year (fall and spring). There will be courses for ten weekends per semester at the Weill Cornell Medicine.

Cornell Business School Tuition

Its tuition is full-time: $74,026 per year; executive: $202,536 total program; and specialty master’s: $60,286 per year. At graduation, 84.90 percent of graduates of the full-time program are employed.

Faculty

Cornell business school professors include the author and The New York Times columnist Robert H. Frank; Maureen O’Hara, the first female president of the American Finance Association; former school dean Robert J. Swieringa, member of the Board of Directors for General Electric; and Robert Jarrow, co-author of the Heath–Jarrow–Morton (HJM) framework.

Alumni

Graduates from Cornell school of business have served in executive leadership positions for numerous companies and corporations. Alumni include Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini (MBA ’84), Kraft Foods CEO Irene Rosenfeld (Ph.D. ’80),  Silicon Valley venture capitalist Mary Meeker (MBA ’86), Ocean Spray CEO Randy Papadellis (MBA), [66] Strategy& Middle East Chairman Joe Saddi (MBA ’83), former Chevron CEO Ken Durr (MBA ’60), co-founder of PeopleSoft David Duffield (MBA ’62), former Cargill CEO Warren Staley (MBA ’67). 

Some Cornell graduates are also part of academia and government. This includes Robert S. Kaplan (Ph.D. ’68), co-creator of the balanced scorecard; Robert Sullivan (M.S. ’68), HBS professor, former Dean of the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon, Dean of the Rady School of Management at UC San Diego; 7th Dean of the Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University;  Ned C. Hill (Ph.D. ’76), former Assistant Secretary of State, and John Hillen (EMBA ’04).

Alumni who have written fictional books include Alicia Mendoza in Grand Hotel Christina Pagniacci, and portrayed by Cameron Diaz, in Any Given Sunday.

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Conclusion

Cornell business school review is a detailed guide on Cornell business school rankings, Cornell MBA, Cornell business school tuition, faculty, and Alumni.

The school is consistently ranked as one of the top business schools in the world, unique for its state-of-the-art pedagogy, real-world business immersions, community commitment, small class sizes, global business practices, and highly selective recruitment. 

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