Ce Wang

Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, Cornell University

“A trilingual guy who commits to empowering people and enterprises worldwide to grow better with digital technologies.”

Hometown: Shandong, China

Fun Fact About Yourself: I am a dog person. I wake up before 7 a.m. every day to take my 4-year-old husky for a walk, weather conditions be darned.

Undergraduate School and Major: Chongqing University, civil engineering

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Schneider Electric, global supply chain talent management coordinator

Aside from your classmates, what was the key part of Cornell’s MBA programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? Its unique hands-on immersion program. My best way to learn something is to do it. In college, I better understood thermodynamic formulas when using them to design cooling systems relative to attending lectures. Johnson’s unique hands-on immersion program speaks directly to this, especially the dual approach I plan to choose — consulting and digital technology. By tackling real-world business challenges, I’ll sharpen my structured, problem-solving mindset and develop knowledge of digital management to prepare better for my summer internship.

What course, club or activity excites you the most at Cornell? The Johnson Board Fellowship, which gives students experience serving on nonprofit boards of directors. I gradually understood the meaning of “business for the greater good” after initiating a significant number of social innovation projects in college. Therefore, I would like to leverage business knowledge and insights gained from my previous social entrepreneurship experience to advise nonprofit organizations on how to build sustainable business models.

What excites you the most about living in Ithaca and the Finger Lakes region? Ithaca is a wonderful place for my baby (my husky) to live and play. She loves the weather, the waterfalls and out-of-doors. I’m already looking forward to seeing how excited she will be when she sees snow for the first time.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: I’m proudest of leading a project to build the first virtual platform for cross-functional cooperation at Schneider Electric. It helps people further develop skills by creating chances to apply acquired knowledge into practice in agile projects.

What is one thing you have recently read, watched, or listened to that you enjoyed and would highly recommend to prospective MBAs? Why? Born A Crime, by Trevor Noah. He shares challenges he faced during his childhood growing up in South Africa and I think it’s quite similar to navigating challenges during the span of a career. There are some things you cannot change, such as your education and past work experience. Seize the opportunity to improve what you can, learn from your mistakes and missteps and celebrate your wins.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point and what do you hope to do after graduation? In my career, I have long been exploring the possibility of marrying digital technologies with talent development. After graduation, I’m hoping to join the digital practice of a leading management consulting firm to further strengthen my skills of harnessing digital technology from planning to execution and extend my exposure to best digital practices across multiple industries.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? Kellogg; Michigan Ross; and Yale

What advice would you give to help potential applicants gain admission into Cornell’s MBA program? An MBA application is a two-way process. Being familiarized with schools is as important as communicating your selling points. You can always personally get a sense about a school’s character through networking with students and then figure out whether it matches your style and interests. Start to talk with Johnson’s students; I’m sure that most of them will be willing to share; they are very down-to-earth. Be well-prepared for the interview; having a plan b seems not a bad idea.

DON’T MISS: MEET CORNELL JOHNSON’S MBA CLASS OF 2024