Cornell University Johnson Graduate School of Management

Students can earn a traditional two-year MBA or a one-year accelerated MBA at Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management. Full-time MBA students complete a semester-long immersion program in a specific discipline of their choice. Options include strategic marketing, capital markets and asset management, and sustainable global enterprise, among others. Students can take courses at other highly ranked schools at Cornell University, including the Law School and College of Engineering, and can earn a dual degree, tacking on a J.D., master of engineering, an M.D. or other degrees to their MBA.

Cornell students learn leadership and stress competence, character, compassion and courage. The school runs interactive programs, including coffee hour and career workshop events. Students can also get involved in more than 80 organizations, as varied as the Private Equity Society to the Wine Club. For MBA students at the Cornell campus in Ithaca, N.Y., there is limited university-owned housing.

The Johnson Graduate School of Management also offers an executive MBA program, convenient for professionals working in New York City, since these classes are held every other weekend at a campus 15 miles from Manhattan. An executive MBA program with the Queens School of Business with classes held in more than 20 cities is also available. Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management has strong alumni network with more than 11,000 alumni globally.

For preparing below set of essay questions you may also refer someCornell Sample Essays.

Johnson Graduate School of Management Application Essays:

Cornell Johnson Essay 1:“Who you are” (300 word maximum): You are the author for the book of Your Life Story. In 300 words or less please write the table of contents for the book. Note: approach this essay with your unique style. We value creativity and authenticity.

Cornell Johnson Essay 2:Who you turn out to be: Please answer the following three questions in abbreviated format. (Keep each answer in 150 words or less)

• When did you decide that business school was the next step for you? (Was this an epiphany or an evolutionary process? What was the catalyst that caused you to consider this next step?)
• Johnson values people that make things happen for themselves. Give an example of how you have initiated this for yourself.
• Please describe your immediate post MBA career goals.

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

Cornell Johnson Re-applicant Essay:How did you strengthen your application since you last applied to the Johnson School? (400 words)

If you need help with Cornell Essay Writing or Interview Preparation, please fill upQuick Inquiry form (on right).

Cornell University MBAEssay Questions for year 2013-14

The questions are divided into three parts:

Part I: Career Choice Essay (300 word maximum)
Essay 1: How would you characterize your career since college?

This is not your job description or complete history of your work since graduating (Cornell already ask for that in the online portion and can see this on your resume). You need to choose the most important elements that show your initiative, contribution, leadership and results achieved.

Part II: Career Goal Essay (400 word maximum)
Essay 1: Tell us about your short and long term career goals.

Please show you have a clear direction for your goal post-MBA. Good essays will emphasize what an applicant wants to do while at Johnson and how you will use this experience to accomplish your goal.

Part III: Character Essay (400 word maximum for chosen question), please choose one of the following to write about:

a. You are the author for the book of Your Life Story. Please write the table of contents for the book. Note: Approach this essay with your unique style. We value creativity and authenticity.
b. Describe a situation taken from your personal or professional life where you failed and tell us what you learned.
c. What does diversity mean to you and how will you contribute to the diversity of our community at Johnson?

Cornell Essay Analysis 2012-13

Part I: Career Choice Essay (300 word maximum)

Essay : How would you characterize your career since college?

This is not your job description or complete history of your work since graduating (we already ask for that in the online portion and can see this on your resume). You need to choose the most important elements that show your initiative, contribution, leadership and results achieved.
- Since this is not about creating a laundry list of all your work experiences ( as mentioned in the description above), it is best that this essay be tackled thematically (leadership, management, social work, etc, etc)
- The greatest challenge in this essay is the word limit (300 words is very less when you are trying to write something that has no definite structure), thus it is very important to be very concise
- This essay is like the executive summary of your life history since college
- It is always best to include a few lines about your extra-curricular or personal work in this essay as it shows a different dimension about you
- Wherever possible, include results about whatever you are claiming to have done and mostly in directly measurable terms

Part II: Career Goal Essay (400 word maximum)

Essay : Tell us about your short and long term career goals.

Please show you have a clear direction for your goal post-MBA. Good essays will emphasize what an applicant wants to do while at Johnson and how you will use this experience to accomplish your goal.
- This essay has four parts 1) Pre-MBA career and the skills built up during that time 2) The proposed activities during the MBA that will enhance the existing work experience and get you ready for the future career 3) The short term post MBA career goals and how parts 1 and 2 will contribute to that, and 4) The long term career goals and how part 3 creates a foundation for it
- One has to be realistic about the career goals. You should not have a goal that is too fancy or too difficult ( almost impossible to achieve) and at the same time the goals should not be too ordinary of low level
- In the part 2 mentioned about, you have to talk about some specific aspects of the Johnson School MBA that will specifically contribute towards your goals. This should be well researched and be very specific to the school and not something generic

Part III:Character Essay (400 word maximum for chosen question), please choose one of the following to write about:

a. You are the author for the book of Your Life Story. Please write the table of contents for the book.
Note: Approach this essay with your unique style. We value creativity and authenticity.

- This is an out and out creativity essay , so the candidate has full flexibility to design this essay in whatever way he wants to
- This essay will show how you relate to your life, that is the way you think and perceive your life. So, it should be approached for that view point

b. Describe a situation taken from your personal or professional life where you failed and tell us what you learned.

- A failure question is always tricky as the choice of the story to be told is very critical here
- You have to focus on the learning part ( Ok, so you failed but what did you learn for this that will be critical in shaping the rest of your management career)
- It will be important to show how you have overcome the weakness that caused the failure ( some direct steps you took supported by measurable results will be great)

c. What does diversity mean to you and how will you contribute to the diversity of our community at Johnson?

- For this question you will have to know the Johnson School very well - what it stands for, the philosophy, statistics ( percentage of international students, minorities, etc), clubs /programs/ initiatives in the school that aid in creating and celebrating diversity, etc
- Just mentioning your commitment to contribute to diversity is not enough you have to show what have you done regarding the same in your career so far and how that relates to Johnson
- It is important to clearly bring out how your presence in the class in Johnson will aid in creating diversity in the class ( diversity is not only about your ethnicity. It is not enough that you are an Indian and thus you will be contributing to diversity. Rather, what it is about your experiences, education, extra-curricular activities, etc that will highly enrich the experience of your fellow students in the class)