digital thoughts

Do you know a site called Scoretop.com? It published cheat sheets for MBA aspirants to score high in GMAT. Those cheat sheets were literally “cheat sheets”. Scoretop.com published “live” questions from GMAT.

Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) that conducts GMAT sued Scoretop.com. Lei Shi, the founder of the site, left United States and returned to his native China where he reportedly taken refuge. Now GMAC is planning to cancel scores of all students that used Scoretop.com; How would GMAC find out who used Scoretop? Because the court allowed GMAT to seize Scoretop’s domain name as well as a computer hard drive containing payment and registration data in Scoretop.

There you go. Now, GMAC has information about every user that paid Scoretop. GMAC plans to cancel the scores of all students that used Scoretop. “Used” is a loose term here. Someone might have registered in Scoretop and just checked that out. He might have not benefited from the site’s questions. Is it fair to cancel that student’s GMAT score and ruin his MBA studies? It’s a tricky question.

But, the reality is that GMAC can cancel the score. To enter the GMAT test center, the test-takers must sign an agreement that gives GMAC the authority to cancel test scores if the test-taker discloses a question “in any form or by any means”. It is estimated that there were 6000 students that used Scoretop.com. It will be a real mess for the institutes that admitted these students if their GMAT score is canceled.

If you are going to interview for MBA admission in Columbia University, this post might help you.

My friend recently has gone thru the interview process. Here are some tips from him.

In Columbia the Admission committee does not conduct interviews. This is done only by alumni at various locations. The interview is blind to a certain extent as the person who is interviewing you has not seen any part of your application except your resume, which you are required to upload when you schedule your interview.

The questions went like this:

Why Finance?
Describe your current role and responsibilities.
Why MBA, and why now?
Why Columbia, and why New York in particular?
What other schools have you applied to?
Describe your leadership style.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
Give an example of a situation in which you’ve worked effectively in a team.
Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?
What do you have to offer to Columbia?
Do you have any questions for me?

If you are going for an interview do your homework on Columbia and be prepared.

Recently I got a chance to visit Graduate School of Business (GSB) in Chicago. I am very impressed with the school. If you are planning to do MBA in Finance, GSB is the ideal choice. I noticed a couple of things that were not common in other business schools.

1. Grades Nondisclosure Policy (GND) – Chicago GSB is one of the few schools to follow a Non-Disclosure policy for Grades. Recruiters do not have access to your grades and can’t request for them. Critics of GND claim that it might be responsible for students taking a less than serious approach towards their academics, since they are not held accountable for their grades. On the other hand, others claim that it encourages an environment with lesser cut-throat competition and fosters team work. There is also the flexibility to choose the courses you really want to do, rather than the temptation to take only those courses that you feel you will get good grades in. I love GND! No need to worry about silly things in the life

2. Study groups ““ Unlike most other B-Schools, the study groups in Chicago GSB are student driven, and not pre-selected by the school. You are given the independence to choose your study group members.

3. Flexibility ““ Chicago GSB has one of the most flexible curriculums among the top schools. When it comes to choosing your classes and electives, you have a lot of options, based on interest, ability and career experience.