Cornell College partners with ISU Ivy College of Business to guarantee student acceptance into 3 master’s programs

Cornell College and Iowa State University Ivy College of Business are teaming up in a new partnership that streamlines the acceptance process for Cornell students interested in enrolling in one of three master’s programs in business.

“This partnership is wonderful for Cornell,” said Cornell College Professor of Economics and Business Santhi Hejeebu, the co-chair of Cornell’s Department of Economics and Business. “We have many promising students who have had a rich on-campus experience, and we want to create those next steps for those students and make them easy to climb. This partnership does that. We have an opportunity to open new doors for our students.” 

Students who meet certain criteria, agreed upon by both schools, will not have to pay an application fee and will be automatically accepted into the following ISU master’s programs:

• Master of Finance 
• Master of Information Systems 
• Master of Accounting

Students must earn a Cornell College bachelor’s degree related to economics and business and maintain a certain grade point average (3.25 for the Master of Finance and Master of Accounting programs and 3.0 for the Master of Information Systems). According to ISU enrollment leaders, this is the first partnership of its kind for the school of business. 

“We are looking for talented students,” said Valentina Salotti, associate dean for academic affairs and diversity at the Ivy College of Business. “We look at Cornell as a place where we can find the type of student that is really engaged and that is already used to critical thinking.” 

Students who would like to be considered for financial aid are encouraged to apply by the priority deadline of May 1 of their final year at Cornell and no later than June 1. Five spots will be reserved in each program for Cornell students. The finance and information systems programs are estimated to take three semesters, while the accounting program takes two semesters.

Sam Sivaskandan, director of recruiting for professional master’s programs at the Ivy College of Business, said this agreement will help keep talented students in Iowa and will build the skills of those who want to pursue international business opportunities. A variety of career opportunities await those who pursue a master’s degree in these fields.

“Graduate education is really going to make a steep change in one’s life in terms of their earnings and their career path. Not just the money part–which you earn more–but you have more jobs that you are qualified for over your entire lifetime,” Sivaskandan said. 

The partnership went into effect on March 1 and Hejeebu is already excited to start talking with current and future students about this opportunity.

“This program is a great vote of confidence in our curriculum and in what Cornell offers to our students,” Hejeebu said. “Faculty who are experts in their field came and evaluated our program and said ‘yeah we want to be a part of that. We like what you are doing a lot, and your students are welcome at our institution and have guaranteed admission.’” 

Cornell Students who are interested in enrolling in any of ISU’s three master’s programs can reach out to Hejeebu via email at shejeebu@cornellcollege.edu.

Cornell also partnered with the Raymond A. Mason School of Business at the College of William and Mary for its Master of Accounting degree program and the Iowa Tippie College of Business for its Master of Science in Finance.