Whether you are an accepted MBA student or one who is contemplating an MBA, the following resources and tips will be helpful to prepare you for your first semester in the MBA program:

Read the Wall Street Journal (www.wsj.com) everyday. First year Cornell MBA students receive a free daily copy of the WSJ courtesy of one of our recruiters, M&T Bank. Pay close attention to the "Money & Investing Section". Watch the "CNBC Squawk Box" in the morning for a few minutes and the "CNBC Fast Money" show at 8 p.m. on weekdays. That show is full of trade ideas for stock pitches you will need to prepare for your internship interviews. Every successful investor or trader must have a good pulse of the market.

If you are interested in Investment Banking, sign up for the NY Times "DealBook" (http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/) free of charge. You will receive a daily email listing all M&A and investment banking activity in the global markets. A very helpful book is "Structuring Mergers & Acquisitions" by Peter Hunt. This is considered a bible for I-Bankers. The first seven chapters well get you well started on your path to becoming a successful (and may we add rich) investment banker!

If you are interested in a management or corporate finance career, you can visit our Career Management Center website (http://www.johnson.cornell.edu/career/mission.html) to view the several companies that recruit Cornell MBA students every year.

If you are interested in Research or Asset Management, at Cornell you will be able to participate in the Caygua Fund, a student and faculty run hedge fund. The Cornell business school runs the largest student-managed hedge fund in terms of size (currently USD$13 Million in assets). MBA students pitch stocks and are graded on how well their stock picks perform over the course of the year. In other words, the market determines your grade in this course. The Cayuga Fund is also a tremendous resume enhancer. You will also have the opportunity to participate in the Annual Stock Pitch Competition hosted by Cornell in which 10-15 premiere MBA schools compete each year. The winner of the 2006 MBA Stock Pitch competition was Kellogg. The competition is judged by neutral third party investment professionals from some of the leading firms in asset management such as Fidelity, Blackrock, UBS, and others. Additional information on the Cayuga Fund and the Cornell Stock Pitch competition can be found by clicking on the links below: