{"id":14717,"date":"2012-10-08T19:59:44","date_gmt":"2012-10-09T02:59:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/?p=14717"},"modified":"2012-10-08T20:02:40","modified_gmt":"2012-10-09T03:02:40","slug":"b-schools-give-a-big-thumbs-down-to-purchasing-mba-essays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/b-schools-give-a-big-thumbs-down-to-purchasing-mba-essays\/","title":{"rendered":"B-Schools Give a Big Thumbs Down to Purchasing MBA Essays"},"content":{"rendered":"

Have you seen this recent story on MBA essays for sale<\/a> in Bloomberg Businessweek<\/em>? Two MBA graduates, a husband-and-wife team from UC Berkeley Haas School of Business<\/strong> and Stanford Graduate School of Business<\/strong>, respectively,\u00a0 have a website called Wordprom.com that has b-school admissions officials steaming.<\/p>\n

Launched in August, the website offers potential applicants a crack at buying b-school essays from more than 400 current students or recent graduates. But judging by the response in Businessweek<\/em> given by representatives from Harvard Business to School<\/strong>, London Business School<\/strong> and UCLA Anderson School of Management<\/strong>, the general consensus is that purchasing essays--even if supposedly used for inspiration only--is unhelpful at best and unethical at worst.<\/p>\n

In my view, what Wordprom.com is doing is a complete rip off.\u00a0 Let's face facts: MBA essays have always been available.\u00a0 You can ask your friend who applied last year, you can buy a book, or you can search the web.\u00a0 Therefore, paying $50 for an essay is ridiculously expensive.<\/p>\n

They are not giving any personal consulting - they are just giving a sample of what an essay looks like - again, this is available for a lot less elsewhere, and it is nothing new.\u00a0 Selling them this way gives the impression that perhaps Wordprom.com is offering something special, but they are not.<\/p>\n

Applicants may choose to use the essays for inspiration, but anything other than that is a mistake.\u00a0 I always warn clients against getting too hooked on sample essays as they can harm the creative process and also be misleading.\u00a0 Applicants may be admitted in spite of an essay, not because of it. <\/strong>What works for one applicant in the context of a full application may not work at all for someone else.<\/p>\n

I don't love clients using samples but understand why they want to.\u00a0 However, given the recent spate of plagiarism<\/a> detected by UCLA Anderson, and the uptick in business schools using Turnitin for Admissions<\/a> to suss out the copy cats, MBA applicants must be extremely judicious about how they use sample essays. For some, the temptation to crib may be too hard to resist.<\/p>\n

***<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

If you are looking for guidance on your <\/em>MBA application, Stacy Blackman Consulting can help with hourly<\/a> and comprehensive<\/a> consulting services. Contact us<\/a> to learn more. Visit the website for Stacy Blackman Reviews<\/a>, and check out the company\u2019s e-publications for more in depth school-by-school guidance.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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