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Schools Cancel GMAT Scores

If you saw this on Saturday
Night Live, you'd think it was clever
exaggeration, no?


The business-school council
recently announced that it would require those
taking the GMAT to undergo a "palm vein" scan,
which takes an infrared picture of the blood
coursing through their hands.



And then there's the assertion, based on
research, that students in business school
cheat more than those in other
disciplines.

By John Hechinger

Top U.S. business schools canceled the
admissions-test scores of 84 applicants and
students -- including two enrolled at the
University of Chicago and one who has graduated
from Stanford University -- who allegedly
supplied or accessed live exam questions posted
on a Web site.

In June, the Graduate Management Admission
Council, which represents the business schools
and oversees the GMAT admissions test, obtained
a federal court order that shut down the Web
site Scoretop.com and won a $2.3 million
judgment against its operator. The site had
been selling questions from recent exams to
subscribers who paid a $30-a-month
subscription. The operator of the Web site,
believed to be in China, didn't defend itself
in court, and it wasn't known where any
representatives could be reached.

The latest episode has rattled the schools, and
it comes as they have been trying to increase
security.

The business-school council recently announced
that it would require those taking the GMAT to
undergo a "palm vein" scan, which takes an
infrared picture of the blood coursing through
their hands. Officials said it was designed to
wipe out "proxy" test taking, in which
applicants hire high-scoring imposters to take
the exam for them. Previously, the
administrator had used digital fingerprinting.
Five years ago, federal authorities broke up a
ring of six fraudsters who took more than 590
exams, including GMATs, for customers who paid
at least $3,000.

Donald L. McCabe, a Rutgers University
professor of management, has surveyed 200,000
students over 19 years and concluded that those
in business school cheat more than those in
other disciplines.

Prof. McCabe said schools will have to evaluate
the evidence against each student they had
admitted with canceled test scores. But he said
business schools have "got to do something" to
protect their programs' integrity, though he
suspects "some may tend to whitewash it and do
something mild.'

Judy Phair, a spokeswoman for the admissions
council, said a computer hard drive seized
through court proceedings found 5,000 to 6,000
subscribers to the Scoretop Web site. But the
group decided to cancel scores only of those
"against whom we felt we have airtight cases,"
Ms. Phair said. In many cases, she said, it
wasn't clear the students had used the service
or knew that they were improperly gaining
access to current questions.

Ms. Phair said her group had evidence that 12
students whose scores were canceled actually
posted questions themselves. In those cases,
which she said the organization considered a
theft of intellectual property, the students
won't be eligible to retake the test for at
least three years, effectively keeping them out
of business school for that period.

The other 72 students wrote a message on
Scoretop confirming that they had seen items on
their GMAT exams. Those students will be
allowed to take the exam again. The admissions
council also recently notified schools about
their determination that these students had
prepared improperly for the exam.

The business-school group didn't identify the
students or the schools where they applied or
enrolled. Representatives at several business
schools said their administrators would
consider penalties, including expulsion, in
such cases.

Two of the students who acknowledged viewing
live questions -- but not the more serious
category of posting the questions themselves --
are currently enrolled at the University of
Chicago's business school, said Rosemaria
Martinelli, the school's associate dean for
student recruitment and admissions. Ms.
Martinelli said Chicago is considering action
against the students, but "we haven't decided
anything."

Stanford's business school said scores of 11
applicants had been canceled. Ten of them were
denied admission, and one had already
graduated. The school said it will meet with
the student "to discuss this situation,"
Derrick Bolton, Stanford's MBA admissions
director, said in a statement. If any applicant
reapplies, he or she, "at minimum," will have
to supply an explanation. He urged that those
whose scores were canceled "might learn from
the experience by reflecting on their actions
and taking ownership for their errors, then
sharing those explanations and insights with
us."

Representatives at the business schools of
Columbia, Dartmouth, Harvard, the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology and Yale said they had
no students enroll with the tainted test
scores. In an email, Peter Winicov, a spokesman
for the Wharton School at the University of
Pennsylvania, said officials were still
"analyzing the situation are not yet prepared
to discuss next steps."

Showing how much the scandal has shaken some in
business school, Dartmouth's Tuck School of
Business plans to hold an "ethics fireside
chat" this month on campus to discuss the
Scoretop cheating scandal, including officials
from the business-school council.

About 4,000 business programs at 1,800
universities, including most top-ranked
institutions, require the GMAT for admission.
The business school council gives 230,000 tests
annually and charges $250 for each exam.

Write to John Hechinger at
john.hechinger@wsj.com1


— John Hechinger
Wall Street Journal
2008-09-11


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