At the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, your second semester in the two-year MBA program is dedicated to intensive, integrated learning centered on a specific industry or career path. We call this collective experience an immersion, and it’s one of the key distinctions of the Johnson School MBA.
Led by outstanding faculty and guided by expert business practitioners, each immersion is ripe with real-world learning experiences that prepare you for success in your chosen field.
What Is an Immersion?
The Johnson School MBA immersion program began in the 1990s with the Strategic Semester in Operations, which combined classroom learning with practical experiences. This model expanded into an array of functional areas of business.
While specific requirements are unique to each immersion, these semester-long experiences are rooted in three main areas:
Core Courses
Immersions are designed to give you foundational knowledge and develop key skills in your area of interest. You’ll take a few theory-based classes to set the stage for the entire semester-long experience.
Elective Classes
You canenhance your experience by choosing electives that align with your career goals or pique your interest. With hundreds of options across Cornell University, you can truly make this immersion your own.
Hands-on Experience
Seeing concepts in action is a major component of immersions. From field trips and competitions to client consulting projects and global travel, you’ll find ways to apply what you’re learning.
“One of the primary factors that drew me to the program was the experience of the seasoned faculty in charge of the immersion program. These professors possess industry experience and maintain connections with professionals in the field, thus infusing the classroom with cutting-edge industry insights.”
—Nnamdi Iwuji MBA ’21
Immersion Opportunities: Choose Your Path
Whether you know exactly what you want to do with your MBA or are still exploring the possibilities in today’s changing business landscape, there’s an immersion for you at Cornell.
Rooted in the principles of shareholder value creation, this immersion prepares you to become a sophisticated decision-maker and strategic thinker capable of integrating operational and financial insights into your work.
Digital tech is embedded in today’s business landscape from big data to blockchain. In this immersion, you will develop skills to lead in the tech sector and anywhere digital products and services are delivered to customers.
This immersion will boost your banking acumen as you learn from leading faculty members, analyze landmark transactions, receive coaching from top investment bankers, and visit Wall Street.
You’ll gain critical financial modeling knowledge and hone your analytical skills through experiences like a stock-pitch boot camp and an alumni-mentored pitch weekend.
In this immersion, students build the mindset, behaviors, and skills to succeed as a consultant, whether for a large consultancy, in a specialized boutique, or within a Fortune 500 company.
Operations is the heart of any organization. If you’re a driven problem solver and want to use your business knowledge to impact organizational change, this immersion might be ideal for you.
Whether you want to work in consumer packaged goods or digital products and services, this immersion will grow your understanding of consumer behavior and economic trends.
Sustainability literacy has become a critical skill from the C-suite to the factory floor. This immersion dives into social and environmental issues impacting businesses of all kinds.
If you have niche interests rather than a broad focus, a custom immersion allows you to build your path based on your own career pursuits and leverage your training in other fields and disciplines.
“The immersion program featured an impressive array of speakers, including industry experts, alumni, and senior leaders from various fields. These speakers not only shared their insights, but also provided inspiration and real-world context for the concepts we were learning.”
—Chukwujindu Awele Juwah MBA ’24
Immersive Learning Continues at Cornell
After your immersion semester, you can continue deeper into the topics and issues that matter most to you through additional coursework and hands-on experiences.
Summer Internship
The summer internship is a hallmark experience of the Cornell MBA. Many students pursue a placement closely related to their immersion area.
You can deepen your subject matter expertise by completing one of our career-supporting areas of focus, aligning your remaining electives with your goals.
If the innovative curriculum and immersive learning experiences at the Johnson School sound like the right fit for you, we encourage you to apply to our two-year MBA program.
