This post shouldn’t have to be written. It’s soooo obvious that this is not the way to go – “obvious” to the ‘Snark, obviously. But not obvious necessarily to everyone else, apparently.
Particularly when we have stuff like this on the Internet:
We like to diss on those Columbia Follies videos. Some of them are just flat-out embarrassments. Watching this one, we actually weren’t sure what to think. Are they saying that this is how you get into bschool?!?? AAAAAaaargh! Talk about sending the wrong message. Oh wait – are they saying that this is how THEY got into COLUMBIA????
It just puts EssaySnark’s board shorts in a twist to think about it.
The reason we’re posting this is a) it’s actually pretty well done – no typos in the subtitles for once; the lip synching is better than usual; and b) at the very end it redeems itself, sort of.
The Mr Smith guys in the suits who come into the bar at the end? From Kroll? That’s a reference to the verification service that Columbia and many schools use (Duke and others use ReVera).
A bschool acceptance is conditional; there’s plenty of ways it can go sideways before it’s official. The school can rescind its offer at any time up until you matriculate (and after that, they can kick you out).
Case in point: Those Harvard undergrads who got put on major academic probation last year, many of whom even being suspended, after it was discovered that they “collaborated” on a take-home exam.
If you’re not familiar with what went down there, we’ll let Jon Stewart explain it (note: this video doesn’t really have anything to do with the subject of this post but he’s a funny guy):
| The Daily Show with Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Crimson Lied | ||||
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On the admissions front, if there’s any discrepancy in the GMAT score that you self-reported in the app and the official scores from GMAC, that’s reason to toss you. Similarly, if your official transcripts don’t line up with what you uploaded, boom, you’re outta there.
And they go further than that. They hire these companies to do background checks. The Kroll verification process is what many companies use for pre-employment. The Kroll people (in suits?) will call up the HR department of the companies you said you worked at and make sure that what you presented in your resume and the application checks out.
We really hate the fact that these verifications are what force people to be honest. But we’re glad the schools are doing it. It’s a relatively recent evolution in the process – maybe four years ago is when it first started, and it’s becoming ever more common now. Some schools check every admitted student; others do a random sample.
And this is all post-admit. There’s other checks and balanced in the place before you even get to that stage.
We were pleased to see what this Harvard Prof Deepak Malhotra said in a lecture on how to negotiate a job offer:
(That whole video is worth watching. But it’s over an hour long. And don’t you need to be writing essays right about now?)
Bottom line: If you’re tempted to embellish… Don’t.
(And a plea: If you’re admitted to Columbia, please… PLEASE… do a better job with their Follies!)
You may also be interested in:
- “I know people who lied and got in.” (November 2012)
- Writing your own letters of recommendation is unethical (December 2012)
- Plagiarism. (February 2012)
Oh one more thing: We have it written into our terms of service that if we determine a client is lying, that we reserve the right to fire the client and inform the school.
Tell us what you think.