Sage Hall – Johnson Graduate School of Management, Ithaca | Fees, Rankings, Address, Admission, Vacancies, Reviews & More

I have to admit that I was extremely skeptical about what people were saying about the “close-knit” nature of Johnson and if one could really feel the difference. But the reality is that although ~280 classmates and a total of ~600+ overall full-time MBA students is quite a large number of people, the fact that everything happens in one place and that the students are so actively involved in everything, makes it feel much more like a family. And the “close-knit” nature really does affect the MBA experience in that there isn’t much space to “hide” in the crowd and you really get to know your classmates well.

There has been a lot of criticism lately from both internal sources and external sources regarding the direction of the program and how the school is branding itself. Personally, I do believe the school realizes this gap and is doing a fairly good job at trying to listen to the constructive feedback and address these ongoing issues. And regardless of what the school ends up doing, no school is perfect and there will always be complaints.

With that all being said, I believe that if you remove all of the strengths that the school tries to promote (tech, entrepreneurship, IB, etc) its true core strength lies in the ethical leaders that the school produces. Strong ethics and leadership is something that I see consistently with all of my classmates and the alums. Because of the way the school is structured, I see those characteristics as the only truly salient factors that distinguish between those that succeed and those that fail. The school IS strong in all of these areas simply because it’s a place that tries to offer its students an overly abundant number of resources to cater to anyone’s potential desires. Really, everything you need to succeed is here and if it’s not, it’s very likely available in the greater Cornell University community where there are seemingly endless word-class resources at your fingertips. Therefore, in order to succeed at Johnson, one needs to be very proactive and decisive when determining how to spend their 2 short years here.

Sure, the school’s not perfect and they can improve in many areas, but that doesn’t happen without a proactive student body and a community that really has a large interest in it’s overall success. I think that Johnson currently has all of the right pieces to produce a top 10 business school experience (great diverse student body and excellent faculty) and that it’s on the verge of doing so. The reason that it’s not quite there yet, is that the students and the administration need to work more effectively together to execute a coordinated effort to improve the school as a whole. Once they can accomplish that, the sky’s the limit!

Johnson provides an absolutely fantastic collaborative and supportive community located in beautiful Ithaca, New York. Rigorous academics, a strong alumni network, and supportive and talented faculty and staff provide countless opportunities to explore yourself and your career in a wide variety of industries and functions.