What this does
When you update an Admissions Application record — for example, changing the Status field to "Offer," "Denied," "Waitlist," etc. — the system automatically figures out which decision letter template applies and stamps that onto the record. It then hands off to our document-generation tool (Drawloop/Nintex), which merges the applicant's information into that letter and produces the actual document.
You will see the result of this on the application record in a field called Targeted Decision Letter. That's the plain-language name of the letter the system picked. If it's blank, the system didn't find a matching letter for the current combination of Status and other fields (see "When nothing matches" below).
You don't have to do anything special to trigger this — it runs automatically in the background whenever you save certain changes. But knowing why a particular letter got picked (or didn't) helps you catch mistakes before a letter goes out wrong.
When this runs
The system checks for a letter whenever you save an Admissions Application and:
- You change the Status to one of: Denied, Denied from Waitlist, Contingent Offer, Offer, Offer from Waitlist, WaitList, Deferred, or Waiting on Contingency, or
- The Status is already one of those, and you change one of: Scholarship, Scholarship Status, Contingency, Future Leaders, Boardroom Preference, Military, or Military Yellow Ribbon.
If the Status is something else (e.g., "Under Review," "Submitted"), nothing happens — this logic simply doesn't apply yet.
Which program an application belongs to
The system reads the application's Program field to know which set of rules to use:
| Program on the application |
Rule set used |
| Cornell MBA |
MBA |
| Cornell Executive MBA Americas |
Americas (EMBA) |
| Cornell Executive MBA NYC |
NYC (EMBA) |
| Executive MBA/MS in Healthcare Leadership |
Healthcare (EMBA) |
| Cornell-Tsinghua MBA/FMBA |
Tsinghua |
| Cornell-Peking MMH/MBA |
Peking |
Any other program value isn't recognized by this logic — no letter will be targeted.
MBA (Cornell MBA)
Checked in this order — the first row that matches wins:
| Criteria |
Letter targeted |
| Internal Status = Denied |
2YR Denied |
| Internal Status = Denied from Waitlist |
2YR Denied Waitlist |
| Internal Status = Deferred |
2YR Deferred |
| Internal Status = WaitList |
2YR Waitlist |
| Internal Status = Contingent Offer |
2YR Offer Contingent |
| Internal Status = Offer, Cornell MBA Future Leaders Program = Yes |
2YR Future Leaders |
| Internal Status = Offer, Military = Yes |
2YR Yellow Ribbon Offer |
| Internal Status = Offer or Offer from Waitlist, Scholarship Status = Waitlist (and Primary Scholarship Award isn't Park Fellowship or Forte and Park Fellowships) |
2YR Offer WL Schol |
| Internal Status = Offer or Offer from Waitlist, Primary Scholarship Award is not blank and Scholarship Status = Awarded |
Routed to a scholarship-specific letter — see table below |
| Internal Status = Offer or Offer from Waitlist, Primary Scholarship Award is blank or Scholarship Status = Denied, and Current Citizenship Status = U.S. Citizen or Permanent Resident |
2YR Offer Domestic |
| Internal Status = Offer or Offer from Waitlist, Primary Scholarship Award is blank or Scholarship Status = Denied, and Current Citizenship Status = Non-U.S. Citizen or Permanent Resident |
2YR Offer International |
| (anything else) |
No letter targeted |
Scholarship-specific letters (used when an Offer/Offer from Waitlist has an awarded scholarship):
| Scholarship on the application |
Letter targeted |
| Forte Fellowship |
2YR Offer Forte |
| Forte and Consortium Fellowships |
2YR Offer Forte/Consortium |
| Forte and Nolan Fellowships |
2YR Offer Forte/Nolan |
| Forte and ROMBA Fellowships |
2YR Offer Forte/ROMBA |
| General Merit Scholarship |
2YR Offer Merit |
| Nolan Scholarship |
2YR Offer Nolan |
| Park Fellowship |
2YR Offer Park |
| Forte and Park Fellowships |
2YR Offer Park/Forte |
| Reaching Out MBA (ROMBA) Fellowship |
2YR Offer ROMBA |
| Sage Scholar |
2YR Offer Sage Scholar |
| Sage Scholar and Consortium |
2YR Offer Sage Scholar/Consortium |
| Sage Scholar and Forte |
2YR Offer Sage Scholar/Forte |
| Sage Scholar and Nolan |
2YR Offer Sage Scholar/Nolan |
| Sage Scholar and ROMBA |
2YR Offer Sage Scholar/ROMBA |
| Consortium for Graduate Study in Management Fellowship |
2YR Offer Consortium |
| (any other scholarship value) |
No letter targeted |
⚠️ Good to know: "Offer from Waitlist" is treated the same as "Offer" for scholarship/domestic/international letters — except it does not qualify for the Future Leaders letter or the Yellow Ribbon letter. Only applicants whose Status is exactly "Offer" (not "Offer from Waitlist") get those two.
Cornell Executive MBA Americas
Checked in this order:
| Criteria |
Letter targeted |
| Internal Status = Denied |
Americas Denied |
| Internal Status = WaitList |
Americas Waitlist |
| Internal Status = Waiting on Contingency |
Americas Offer Contingent |
| Internal Status = Deferred, Contingency Reason includes "Deferral" or is blank, and (Primary Scholarship Award = General Merit Scholarship with Scholarship Status = Awarded, or Primary Scholarship Award is blank) |
Americas Deferred Letter 2 |
| Internal Status = Contingent Offer, Contingency Reason = "Deferral", and (Primary Scholarship Award = General Merit Scholarship with Scholarship Status = Awarded, or Primary Scholarship Award is blank) |
Americas Deferred Letter 1 |
| Internal Status = Offer, Military Yellow Ribbon = Yes |
Americas Yellow Ribbon Offer |
| Internal Status = Offer, Primary Scholarship Award = General Merit Scholarship with Scholarship Status = Awarded |
Americas Offer Scholarship |
| Internal Status = Offer, Primary Scholarship Award is blank |
Americas Offer |
| (anything else) |
No letter targeted |
Executive MBA/MS in Healthcare Leadership
Checked in this order:
| Criteria |
Letter targeted |
| Internal Status = Denied |
Weill Denied |
| Internal Status = WaitList |
Weill Waitlist |
| Internal Status = Deferred, Contingency Reason = "Deferral," and (Primary Scholarship Award = General Merit Scholarship with Scholarship Status = Awarded, or Primary Scholarship Award is blank) |
Weill Deferred Letter 2 |
| Internal Status = Contingent Offer, Contingency Reason = "Deferral," and (Primary Scholarship Award = General Merit Scholarship with Scholarship Status = Awarded, or Primary Scholarship Award is blank) |
Weill Deferred Letter 1 |
| Internal Status = Contingent Offer, Contingency Reason includes Statistics or Statistics and Algebra, and Primary Scholarship Award is blank |
Weill Contingent Math |
| Internal Status = Contingent Offer, Contingency Reason is some other reason (not Deferral, not Statistics/Algebra), and (Primary Scholarship Award = General Merit Scholarship with Scholarship Status = Awarded, or Primary Scholarship Award is blank) |
Weill Global Offer |
| Internal Status = Offer, Military Yellow Ribbon = Yes |
Weill Yellow Ribbon Offer |
| Internal Status = Offer, Primary Scholarship Award = General Merit Scholarship with Scholarship Status = Awarded, or Primary Scholarship Award is blank |
Weill Global Offer |
| (anything else) |
No letter targeted |
⚠️ Good to know: A Contingent Offer with a non-math contingency reason and a plain Offer both produce the same letter — "Weill Global Offer." That's expected, not a data error.
Cornell Executive MBA NYC
Checked in this order — same structure as Healthcare:
| Criteria |
Letter targeted |
| Internal Status = Denied |
Metro Denied |
| Internal Status = WaitList |
Metro Waitlist |
| Internal Status = Deferred, Contingency Reason = "Deferral," and (Primary Scholarship Award = General Merit Scholarship with Scholarship Status = Awarded, or Primary Scholarship Award is blank) |
Metro Deferred Letter 2 |
| Internal Status = Contingent Offer, Contingency Reason = "Deferral," and (Primary Scholarship Award = General Merit Scholarship with Scholarship Status = Awarded, or Primary Scholarship Award is blank) |
Metro Deferred Letter 1 |
| Internal Status = Contingent Offer, Contingency Reason includes Statistics or Statistics and Algebra, and (Primary Scholarship Award = General Merit Scholarship with Scholarship Status = Awarded, or Primary Scholarship Award is blank) |
Metro Contingent Math |
| Internal Status = Contingent Offer, Contingency Reason is some other reason, and (Primary Scholarship Award = General Merit Scholarship with Scholarship Status = Awarded, or Primary Scholarship Award is blank) |
Metro Global Offer |
| Internal Status = Offer, Military Yellow Ribbon = Yes |
Metro Yellow Ribbon Offer |
| Internal Status = Offer, Primary Scholarship Award = General Merit Scholarship with Scholarship Status = Awarded, or Primary Scholarship Award is blank |
Metro Global Offer |
| (anything else) |
No letter targeted |
⚠️ Good to know: As with Healthcare, a Contingent Offer (non-math reason) and a plain Offer both produce "Metro Global Offer." The letter names still say "Metro" even though the program is now called Cornell Executive MBA NYC — that's the letter template naming in Salesforce, not a typo in this guide.
Cornell-Peking MMH/MBA
This program currently has only one recognized letter:
| Criteria |
Letter targeted |
| Internal Status = Offer |
Cornell-Peking Offer |
| (anything else) |
No letter targeted |
Cornell-Tsinghua MBA/FMBA
Also currently has only one recognized letter:
| Criteria |
Letter targeted |
| Internal Status = Offer |
CTFMBA Offer |
| (anything else) |
No letter targeted |
When nothing matches
If none of the rows above apply to an application, the system doesn't leave an old or stale value sitting on the record — it clears the Targeted Decision Letter field so it's obviously blank rather than out of date. No letter is generated, and no error appears. If you expect a letter and the field is blank, check the Status and related fields (Scholarship, Contingency, Military Yellow Ribbon) against the tables above — most often it's a status/criteria combination this logic doesn't cover yet, or a program value that isn't one of the six listed.
If a letter seems wrong or missing
- Double-check Status, Scholarship, Scholarship Status, Contingency, and Military/Military Yellow Ribbon match what you intended — small differences (like an extra scholarship type not listed above) can send the record down the "no letter targeted" path.
- If the Targeted Decision Letter field shows a value but the actual document never generated, that's a document-generation issue downstream of this logic — flag it to the Salesforce admin team rather than re-saving the record repeatedly.
- If you believe a status/criteria combination should produce a letter but currently falls into "no letter targeted" (for example, a new scholarship type, or a status this program hasn't been built out for yet, like anything other than Offer for Peking/Tsinghua), submit that as an enhancement request rather than assuming it's broken — several of these gaps are by design pending future work.