1. My views on the Cornell Tech MBA as one of the graduates in the 2023 class is that there's a list of pros and cons.
2. First of all, the MBA cost is about $120k without any subsidy or scholarship. I had a merit scholarship, so I had a 25% scholarship.
3. The first semester is in Ithaca during the summer months while the rest of the time it is in NYC on the Cornell Tech Campus.
4. Experience - I had a general positive experience; most classmates and teachers/professors are friendly. Ithaca is way more fun than NYC, in my opinion, because there’s literally nothing much to do there, so classmates hang out more, going outdoors, having dinner parties, etc. Once you move to NYC, classmates don’t hang out as much because they do all the fun things in the city. Ironically, in Ithaca, we live in our own places that we find, and in NYC, we live in 1 student dorm.
5. Academics - I have a background in Computer Science and Business Administration from NTU Singapore. So MBA level business classes aren’t too hard for me. To be honest, it wasn’t really applicable as well, but it is useful for interviews, etc., when you say you took this class, for example. Honestly, no one takes MBA for academic rigor; it is for the alcohol parties.
6. Job Hunting - This is important. I graduated from the worst time. In the first half of the year, large companies like consulting and big tech have structured student programs hiring, so they will recruit on campus, and a good 10-20% of students got offers. But the downside is you need to accept the offer and forget about just-in-time recruiting. However, this year the just-in-time recruiting is bad because tech was laying off people, so the recruitment numbers are just not good at all. I think a huge percentage of the class was still unemployed when they graduated. My advice is to prepare for mock interviews as early as you can and network with alumnus and industry people for a referral as much as you can. If you are international, you can leverage your network from your countryman - I am from Singapore, so I network with Singaporeans in the USA. You can also leverage your network from your undergrad; for example, I know a classmate got his job by DM-ing his undergrad alumni.
7. Classmates - It’s a mixed bag; you see all kinds of people. But overall, I had a lot of fun; the international students seem to bond together better, while the American students bond with themselves better. Apparently, this fault line exists. The tech MBA has classmates on the younger side as well, so we are more easy-going, but sometimes you wonder why they are in the MBA program.
8. Startups - Cornell Tech is trying to emphasize its startup programs, but for someone with a tech and startup background, what they teach in the studio classes is a little too low level. It is almost impractical for students to form their own groups and build a functional MVP in 4 months unless they have good hands-on experience before this. Overall, the program (1 year) is too short to try to make a big startup success.
9. Pros of the program: Fast fun experience both in Ithaca and NYC, good brand name.
10. Cons: In NYC, people are more transient, harder to make strong friendships in just 1 year, harder to learn hard skills as well.
