Business Schools Mull Scandal Options

As top MBA programs await details of a "cheat sheet" probe, penalties, including expulsion, are on the table

by Phil Mintz

As the nation's top business schools wait for word on whether any of their students used a test prep site to get a sneak peak at the main business school admissions exam, school officials aren't shying away from using the "E" word—expulsion—if serious cheating is found.

A BusinessWeek survey of the top-ranked full-time MBA programs found that while admissions officials recognize there may be various levels of possible cheating arising from use of the now-shuttered Scoretop.com Web site, many are not ruling out harsh sanctions for current students, applicants, and even graduates. At the same time, the officials generally endorsed the overall validity of the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) and indicated they have no immediate plans to change admissions procedures because of the incident.

The scandal erupted June 23, when the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) disclosed it had won a legal judgment against the Scoretop site (BusinessWeek.com, 6/23/08) in federal district court in Virginia. GMAC had accused Scoretop of copyright infringement, saying the site had published "live" GMAT questions and other copyrighted material. The court awarded GMAC $2.3 million, plus legal costs. GMAC was subsequently able to seize Scoretop's domain name, as well as a computer hard drive containing payment and other data with about 6,000 names of users who had paid at least $30 for a subscription.

Judy Phair, a spokeswoman for GMAC, says e-mails notifying those 6,000 people of the ongoing investigation have all gone out, but she could not provide a time frame for when its investigation would be completed, which leaves open the possibility that students involved in the investigation could begin classes in the fall. Although the situation has caused a great deal of uncertainty and concern (BusinessWeek.com, 7/1/08) among applicants, Phair reiterates that users who had merely visited the site and didn't subscribe "have nothing to worry about."

"Our focus is people who actively traded questions, shared questions, verified questions, and said 'I just took the exam,'" she says.

Scope of Scoretop Activities

GMAC had previously said it could cancel scores if there is "compelling evidence" the test taker knowingly violated GMAC rules, and it will keep schools and students informed during its investigation. GMAC says it has already canceled one score of an individual who bragged in a Scoretop chat room about using the site to gain an advantage on the test.

Rod Garcia, admissions director at MIT's Sloan School of Management, says the school hadn't received any information from GMAC about any specific students. But he says conclusions regarding any student depend on the scope of his or her activities on the Scoretop site.

"There needs to be a distinction between whether he or she posted a question or just visited the Web site," Garcia says. As for penalties, he says: "We would consider kicking current students out, or rescinding admission offers. For alumni, we would definitely consider revoking degrees. In our business, it's something that we are prepared to do, because there could be similar situations in the future."