| Full-time Business Undergraduate |
As the cliche goes, "What you put in is what you get out." I have
obtained a ton of value from my undergraduate business education by
taking classes both at the undergraduate level and also from the
Graduate Business School (Cornell students are welcome to take any class
in the graduate business school). It is a great learning experience to
be able to take class with MBA students as an undergrad. The classes
tend to be more practical and interactive. In addition, I feel that our
undergraduate business program is filled with students that are not
genuinely interested in business, a sign that admissions policy may have
been less stringent in the past.
Despite the occasional lack of interest on behalf of the students, the
professors, in my opinion due and overall great job of communicating the
material. Most, if not all, have industry experience which allows them
to make the material more interesting by relating their experiences and
making the material seem more relevant.
While some classes experience a higher demand than others, I have never
had trouble getting into the most popular classes because most students
three weeks into the semester complete an overhaul of their classes, and
spots eventuall open up even in the high-demand courses. Also, in some
cases I've approached the professor about "squeezing" me in. If you can
communicate your interest in the course material, most professors will
make exceptions and allow you to enroll. As far as workload, Cornell is
an Ivy League school, so the professors demand a lot. There does exist,
a range of difficulty, and some classes like the core finance class and
advanced finance classes are probably the most difficult in the major.
On the other hand, classes like marketing and management classes which
tend to be less quantitative, and thus easier for some people.
The secret to doing well, in my opinion, is to stay ahead of the
professor. It's important to have read the material before going to
class, because it will make studying A LOT easier. This, however, can
be hard to do given the average workload per class. The next best thing
is to make sure you go all, if not most classes, because in most classes
the professor will emphasize what will be on the exam.
The only bone I have to pick with the undergraduate business program is
that Cornell needs to add more finance driven classes. Currently, we
only have our core finance class, valuations, and investments. Our
derivatives class was cancelled because the professor changed jobs. We
tend to have an overload of "management" and "marketing" classes, but
not enough finance classes like in other undergradute programs.
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