Cornell Business Review: Ethan Wu

Ethan Wu is a freshman studying economics from sunny Sacramento, California. He writes for Cornell Business Review (CBR) and appreciates the unique opportunity to contribute to the national conversation through long-form pieces about vital matters of politics and economics. In addition to CBR, Ethan is also a political writer for the Cornell Daily Sun. Although New York is very different from California, he has enjoyed his time at Cornell and finds the academic culture here stimulating and fascinating. He finds the people generally thoughtful, empathetic, and bright here. During our interview, we sat down to talk to Ethan about his thoughts on the Cornell Hotel Society, Collegiate Chapter and the hotel school. The goal of the interview is to hear CBR writers’ opinions on the hospitality industry and trends through a non-traditional and non-operational perspective.

As an economics major, what are your thoughts and impression about the hotel school?

As an economics major in the College of Arts and Sciences and a math minor, I think the hotel school is very different from other schools. It is very focused on not just hotel administration obviously, but also pre-MBA and pre-professional development. Essentially, the hotel administration major is very targeted and focused. Hotelies are very goal-oriented and work hard to pursue goals, whether that is working for a finance/IB firm or doing hotel/foodservice operations. They are often viewed as a completely different category by themselves and their interest to pursue a pHD or non-MBA degree is very low. For my major, we have more options and flexibility to explore about our career paths and passion. There is also a general contempt on that hotelies are not the best at math and there is a gender imbalance at the hotel school. This mentality is very common at Cornell as the competitive, over-achieving students always want to impose that implicit hierarchy over the school and its colleges.

Can you describe a typical hotelie?

I would say a hotelie is not that much different from other students. They attend classes in the morning, grab lunch with friends at Mac’s or Terrace, and study in the Statler library or lounge. It is common to spot a group of them socializing in the hallway or lobby. People refer to Statler Hall more of “Statler High” since everything is physically constraint to a single building. Although they may have similar schedules with other students, most hotelies spend their entire day in there taking classes, eating lunch, studying, and hanging out.

What is a classic hotelie look like?

When I think of a classic hotelie, I think of someone who is extroverted, outgoing, and very involved in extra-curricular activities. A student in A&S spends more time on achieving high GPAs in intensive classes. To be fair, the skill sets and priorities of students in different schools are different.

What collaboration opportunities do you think the hotel school can have with your school?

Besides collaborating with CBR, I think the hotel school can host a job fair with other schools to bridge the gap between schools.

Do you think the business industry and hospitality industry are different or the same? Can you share your insights into recent business events that are related to the hospitality industry?

I think the hospitality industry and business industry are clearly different. Hospitality industry is a subset of business industry and it is intersecting the niches in the business world. For the hospitality industry, there is always going to be demand despite its highly volatile nature to current events. One industry that went really well is the hotel industry, it is still expanding and hiring due to global demand. There was a recent news article published this year about how China blocked Marriott for listing Tibet and Taiwan as countries. As a result, Marriott suffered the consequences of having the website temporarily shut down and ongoing boycott. As we emerge into a global industry, businesses need to be mindful of the local practices and regulations in every country, especially China.

Cornell Business Review:

Cornell Business Review is the premier business publication at Cornell University. A student-run magazine that discusses business issues, trends, and debates among college students and alumni, CBR provides insight into recent events and passes along advice from student entrepreneurs and industry leaders and pioneers. In addition to our print publication, we also produce CBR Now, a new online source for business news with regular updates each week.

To learn more about Ethan Wu, contact him at: eyw24@cornell.edu

To learn more about Cornell Business Review, visit the website: http://www.cornellbusinessreview.com/