MBA Admissions Process & Application Guide

Johnson’s Ask Admissions online series is a great way to ask questions about our Two-Year Residential MBA program. Our team is also on the road meeting with prospective candidates! Take a look at upcoming MBA fairs and multi-school events, both domestic and international, in a city near you.

Johnson admissions and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion also host various events throughout the United States and take part in affinity partner events for candidates with diverse backgrounds.

The Two-Year MBA program in Ithaca hosts several different types of on-campus events. You can connect with students, sit in on a class, and meet with the admissions team.

Prospective students interested in the Johnson Cornell Tech MBA program should check Cornell Tech’s website for up-to-date campus opportunities. Please send questions to admissions@tech.cornell.edu.

Johnson hosts weekend-long events for diverse candidates, women, and military veterans interested in the Two-Year MBA program based in Ithaca. During these premier admissions events and symposiums, prospective MBAs can connect with the admissions team, meet students, and listen to a series of panels and speakers discuss topics relevant to their MBA journeys.

• Johnson Means Business (registration required)
• Johnson Military Preview for U.S. military applicants (registration required)

Connect with Two-Year MBA student ambassadors in our Ithaca program. You can connect with a current student based on a variety of criteria, such as immersion of choice, career goals, or personal interests.

Financial planning is an important part of the MBA admissions process. Visit Johnson’s financial planning page to learn more about MBA loan programs and scholarships and grants. You can also find answers to common financial aid questions. Consider all of your options, plan carefully, and connect with us if you have questions.

Applications for dual-degree programs at Cornell must be filed separately with Johnson and the co-sponsoring school. Typically, the co-sponsoring school has different application deadlines and procedures than Johnson. Applicants to dual-degree programs should make sure to follow the individual school’s instructions carefully. More information can be found on our dual degree Applications Requirements page.

Reapplicants to the Two-Year MBA program are required to complete a second essay to explain how you have improved your candidacy. None of the previously submitted documentation will be moved over to the new application, so you will be required to submit all information again, including a new recommendation (though, it can be from the same person) and new test scores if your previous scores have expired.

Updates to your application status are officially communicated via our online application portal. Throughout the admissions cycle, you will receive emails encouraging you should login to the online portal to view an update to your application status. However, the Admissions Committee loves to communicate offers of admission by phone so we can share the good news directly—make sure to answer your phone!

Applications are reviewed and decisions are rendered regularly throughout the application cycle. We release decisions on a rolling basis and will post decision outcomes by the initial and final notification dates for each round of admission. Please review our application deadlines for specific dates.

An interview allows the Admissions Committee to get to know a candidate and provides an opportunity to assess whether our program and community are a good fit.

Interviews are available by invitation only and will be sent via email following a preliminary review of application materials.

Candidates must complete an admissions interview in order to be offered admission to the Two-Year MBA program.

Interview format

Interviews may be conducted in-person in Ithaca, NY, or via Zoom. While we encourage you to visit us in Ithaca, we understand that making a trip is not always possible, especially for international applicants. The Admissions Committee does not have a preference in terms of interview format and that interviewing via Zoom will not have a negative impact on your presentation as a candidate.

Interview scheduling and completion

We encourage you to schedule your interview within seven days of receiving an invitation. Interviews must be scheduled and completed by the interview completion deadline that corresponds to the round in which you have applied.

Please note: Admissions interviews are scheduled by invitation only. If invited to interview, you will be notified via email following a preliminary review of your application materials.

Interviewers

Interviews are conducted by the Admissions Team, MBA programs professional staff, and/or trained second-year MBA students known as members of our Johnson Admissions Group (JAG). All interviews are evaluated equally, regardless of the interviewer.

Following your interview, final decisions, including invitations to join the waitlist, are published to your Johnson Application Portal on a rolling basis and posted no later than the final notification date for the round in which you submitted your application. You will receive an email message indicating that your decision is available.

Scholarships are awarded based on merit, regardless of citizenship, and recipients are selected once an offer of admission is made. If you are awarded a scholarship, this information will be included in your official offer letter at the time of your admission decision. All admitted students are considered for merit-based funding/scholarships—no additional application is needed.

In addition to Johnson’s merit-based scholarships, we partner with other organizations to offer awards such as the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management Fellowship, Forté Fellowship and Reaching Out MBA (ROMBA) Fellowship. Permanent resident and domestic Two-Year MBA candidates are also eligible for the Roy H. Park Fellowship.

Two-Year MBA students who enroll without scholarship funding during their first year should not expect to receive scholarship support in their second year.

Deferral requests are considered on a case-by-case basis and typically granted for reasons of health and/or medical emergency, military service, or enrollment in a Cornell dual degree program with a defined (delayed MBA program start) degree sequence. Deferral requests are typically not granted for financial reasons (i.e., needing more time to secure funding), educational reasons (i.e., studying elsewhere), or work obligations and/or changes to employment status.

Due to the large volume of applications we receive, we are unable to provide feedback to candidates who are not admitted.

We reserve our admissions interviews for candidates invited to complete this step in the admissions process. Candidates may be invited to join Johnson’s waitlist without an interview or after their interview takes place. Due to the volume of requests that we receive throughout the admissions cycle, we are not able to provide individual feedback sessions for waitlisted candidates.

We encourage you to engage in self-assessment and review your application to determine where there may be possible areas for improvement. When reviewing your application, you may consider our Two-Year MBA class profile to gain a better understanding of the general profile of students who were successfully admitted to the program.

If you were waitlisted following your admissions interview, you may also want to reflect on your interview experience and determine whether you sufficiently addressed any potential areas for concern with the interviewer.

Candidates can attend one of our Waitlist Webinars hosted throughout the admissions cycle, which will provide feedback and tips. We also ask that you review your application, identify potential areas for improvement, and create an action plan. Once you have done this, please send your action plan to waitlist@johnson.cornell.edu. Your action plan will be reviewed, and we will be in touch should we identify any additional areas for you to consider or address.

If your GMAT/GRE score is a potential outlier within your application, we encourage you to consider a retake of the exam, especially if you have only taken the exam once. While not required, having two or more scores gives us a more informed understanding of your performance relative to this admissions requirement. Please also note—while your average score may be at or above the posted class average, the average score of this year’s applicant pool may be higher, and therefore, your application may not be as competitive.

If you have taken a standardized test multiple times and have received consistent scores that you believe do not reflect your capabilities, consider taking an alternate test (GMAT or GRE). Both exams are accepted for admission to our full-time MBA programs, and while one exam format is not easier than the other is, some candidates indicate that the change in format results in better test performance.

Consider taking courses to demonstrate your academic aptitude and capabilities in the classroom. MBA Math online, or an accounting or finance course can help the admissions committee better understand your capabilities as well as introducing or re-introducing you to business math skills and concepts.

Additional letters of recommendation are welcome if you believe a different recommender can provide an additional dimension to your application. Please send no more than two additional letters to the attention of our MBA admissions team at waitlist@johnson.cornell.edu.

While there is no specific format for additional letters of recommendation, make sure that your recommender can highlight the accomplishments and/or details that you would like to have conveyed on your behalf.

If your work experience has changed since your application submission, please email us a copy of your updated resume and note the areas that have changed.

Waitlisted candidates are reviewed on an ongoing basis throughout the admissions cycle. While it is possible to receive a final admissions decision during the admissions cycle, it is also possible to remain on the waitlist through, and following, our final deposit deadline in June and up until our entering class is finalized.

We understand and appreciate that you may have alternate offers to consider, and likewise, appreciate you letting us know of your considerations and decision timelines. As our review of waitlisted candidates is driven by our own entering class composition and priorities, please understand that sharing an update about your decision timeline is unlikely to result in an immediate decision or change of status.

If you choose to withdraw yourself from the waitlist you may do so at any time, though we do ask that you notify us of your decision to do so.

Candidates who accept an offer of admission must submit an enrollment agreement, as well as a non-refundable initial enrollment deposit, by 12:00 PM ET on the date that corresponds with the round in which you submitted your application. Enrollment deposits are non-refundable. If you feel that a refund is due, or you made a payment in error, please contact the Admissions Office to discuss the correction.

If you applied with unofficial documentation, please refer to our application requirements for official transcript and standardized test submission procedures. You must submit official copies of your materials with your enrollment agreement and deposit. As a policy, we do not offer deposit extensions.

Two-Year MBA program

The initial enrollment deposit for Two-Year MBAs is $1,500. A second and final deposit of $1,500 should be made by June 13 before matriculation.

The initial enrollment deposit for Park Fellowship Recipients (including Consortium candidates selected for Park Fellowships) is $3,000. A second and final deposit of $1,500 should be made by June 13 before matriculation.

As a final step in the enrollment process, all matriculating students are asked to complete a background check to confirm that the information provided in their application is accurate and reflective of their own experience and accomplishments. To assist us with this process, we have chosen Re Vera Services, a company specializing in academic verifications, to be the third-party provider of these services for our MBA program. As ethics are a critical component of our programs and in the business world, the completion of the background check helps to ensure that Johnson’s learning environment and community maintains its integrity.

Please note: your admission may be rescinded should you elect not to initiate and complete this required review or if the background check should produce an ethical violation.

How to complete your Re Vera background check

1. Once you have accepted your offer, you will receive a link directly from Re Vera Services to initiate the verification process.
2. Following submission, Re Vera Services will provide you with written confirmation of payment as well as your release.

On average, the Re Vera review process will take approximately two weeks, but can take up to 30 days, from the point you receive confirmation of payment and release, which must be submitted by your Deposit, Official Documentation, & Re Vera Initiation Deadline. We encourage you to initiate this process as soon as possible so that you do not run into any delays that could negatively affect your program start.

All programs begin with a pre-term orientation. The Johnson Cornell Tech MBA program begins in June. The Two-Year MBA program begins in August.

Register for admitted student events

Admitted and incoming Two-Year MBA students should register to attend Destination Johnson. This event will welcome you to the Johnson community and give you the opportunity to interact with current students and faculty and learn more about how you’ll fit into our full-time MBA programs.

Review the New Student Website and Guide

All students enrolled in Johnson’s full-time MBA programs should review the information on our New Student Website. You should also look for and read the New Student Guide, which will be sent to you in the weeks leading up to the start of the program.

Congratulations, and welcome to our community!