Friday, October 3, 2008

Schools Cancel GMAT Scores

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.

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