Background Checks Are Front and Center

Few B-school applicants lie on their entry materials. But that doesn't mean someone isn't taking a close look

by Francesca Di Meglio

Potential B-school students are advised to learn from the real world of business. That includes the bad episodes as well, such as the incident last year in which RadioShack (RSH) Chief Executive David Edmonson was forced to resign over résumé inaccuracies. And while most B-school applicants are honest in the application process, the prevailing attitude at many admissions offices is a variation of the Reagan-era mantra, "Trust, but verify."

For many students, that means opening up to a background check, something that's becoming more common throughout the business world. And while few applicants out-and-out lie on their entry forms, the occasional misstep does get caught. And often, the one who has overseen the catching is Brian Lapidus, vice-president for strategic development at the background screening division of risk-consulting firm Kroll (MMC) in Nashville.

Outsourcing Fact-Checking

Lapidus was a still-wet-behind-the-ears MBA student at Vanderbilt's Owen Graduate School of Management when he interned for Kroll in the early part of this decade. After reading a BusinessWeek.com article about B-school candidates lying on their applications, he proposed that Kroll use one of its core competencies, background checks, to win over MBA admissions committees as new clients (see BusinessWeek.com, 3/12/2003, "Doctored Résumés, Poisoned Applicants").

In that first year, Kroll attracted five schools to the new market (see BusinessWeek.com, 4/7/03 "Why Kroll Is on a Roll"). Today, the sector is growing, and the company works with business, medical, nursing, dental, and pharmaceutical schools to verify that applicants are telling the truth. Prices vary, depending on the needs of the school.

"There's a need for these services because applicants aren't always honest about their capabilities, to increase their chance of getting admitted," says Lapidus. For instance, he says, there was the time that an applicant referred to himself as the director of human resources for a particular company, when he was actually the executive assistant to the director. He didn't get admitted to the school in question.

Kroll is the most-mentioned company doing background checks for B-schools, though not every school identifies who's conducting background checks and how they're doing it. One way or the other—either outsourced or in-house—most B-schools these days conduct some sort of background check on potential applicants. Students—who discuss the issue in online forums—seem to take the checks as a routine part of the application process (see BusinessWeek.com Forums, "Background Verifications by B-Schools").

Internal Policies

At Rochester's Simon Graduate School of Business the admissions committee internally conducts fact-checking on about 20% to 25% of the nearly 700 applications it receives annually. A small number, about 1% to 2%, show inconsistencies that require further investigation, says Rebekah Lewin, director of admissions at Simon.

Cases that seem to be a real problem are turned over to the school's human-resources department, which has experience conducting background checks. The only time any part of the fact-checking is outsourced is when international candidates have to prove their degree is equivalent to an American Bachelor's degree. In those instances, the applicant must pay for help from World Education Services, a credential evaluation organization.

For the eight years that Lewin has worked at Simon, there has always been some sort of protocol for confirming the validity of applications.