Hello! (and how I got to Cornell)

Hello everyone!! Apologies for starting a bit late -- it's proven to be a busy semester.

I'm guessing that you are in the process of thinking about if you should apply to business school or where to apply to business school. I did a lot of research and reflection that I thought might be helpful - so I'll start there.

When I was researching business schools, my first default approach was to look at rankings. I think that is inevitable for most people. I started there and then added where I wanted to live. City + Rankings = Perfect School.

This process did not really seem thorough enough for what I was going to be investing in the decision. I decided to dig a bit deeper and to visit a couple of very different schools to see if I could make some educated guesses about all the schools. The visits were huge for me. I started to see that there were some other really important factors for me.

One was class size. I felt that the people I was going to meet at business school were going to be my biggest take-away. I would know these people for a long time. I wanted to be in a school where I could really know them. For me, this meant that I wanted to be in a smaller school.

Two was academic focus. After spending time reflecting, I knew I wanted to learn more about marketing, sustainability, and entrepreneurship. I then spent a lot of time digging into the programs, the activities, the centers, and talking to people that worked in all of these.

Three was culture. It is interesting how much you can pick up by interacting with a couple of students and visiting the school. I wanted to go to a school that was cooperative, supportive, and fun. This is where I knew I would have the best experience over my two years.

My very small recommendation is that you spend some time thinking about where you are truly going to be happiest and be most successful. You can get whatever job you want at any of the top schools – so do not worry about that. And after your first job or two after business school, all they will look at is your experience.

Just my two cents. :)

Adam

Welcome, Adam Conderman

I grew up in Jacksonville, Florida and graduated from the University of Florida majoring in political science and international studies. I spent a couple of years in Washington, DC working for a political affairs and public relations firm before leaving for a Rotary Scholarship to Ecuador. I lived in Ecuador for 6 months and traveled for another 6 months around South and Central America. Coming back to the US, I jumped from the corporate side of political affairs into the campaign side. I moved to Miami where I worked as a political fundraiser for a series of campaigns including: Florida Governor, US Congress, Florida Attorney General, and a statewide ballot initiative. I also spent a year in Liberia working for the United Nations on their 2005 national election. I chose the Johnson School because I wanted to be in a place where I could build strong relationships with my classmates and have an incredible network of friends when I leave. Career-wise, I'm interested in marketing, entrepreneurship and sustainability.