Thanks you everyone who responded. I guess I am going to tow the line hereon. ( And then we accuse MBAs of herd mentality)
Mufflebrown, I wanted to clarify that schools do not get to see other schools that you sent your score to. I know this because I have clarified with GMAC (the GMAT testing agency). They only get the first page of the candidate score report copy which has the profile info you chose to disclose at the test center, the scores percentiles etc etc.
I have no objections to a background check
once I get in. And and I agree that it is fair. Thanks for warning me about Tepper. I am considering starting and application and knowing what to expect prepares you. Like you, I have been out of undergrad for very long too.
muffeebrown wrote:
My understanding was that they see which schools you've sent the score report to-doesn't that kind of tip them off about which schools you either applied to or were thinking about applying to?
I applied to 7 schools in R1 and because I was staffed on a project that had me out of town/busy when 4 of them were due-I had all my score reports ordered for every school I was applying to in R1 & R2 by Wharton's deadline. Because I was under the impression that the schools with the later deadlines were definitely going to see that I had scores sent to multiple institutions, I just declared every school I had applied to.
As far as the phone numbers/addresses go-Carnegie Mellon sent me a "You will be subject to a background check conducted by a private company" notice once I got in. Perhaps they gather the information ahead of time so they don't have to ask you later. And in terms of listing all your employers-my assumpton was that they are checking to see career progression and whether you can demonstrate job growth and promotion (I think it's also somewhat reflective of a pattern of decision-making). I definitely wrote up all my previous employers, mainly because I had a unique work history that tied directly into my goals essay. It's a very tedious process, so I recommend keeping the information catalogued on a seperate word file so you don't have to do the address/telephone no./where did I work again dance every single time. Also, it was important to me to show that I was working because my job history is longer than the average candidate (I've been out of undergrad for 10 years). So only putting 1 or 2 jobs leaves out years and years of work history for me.
The only school for which I raised an eyebrow was Tepper and that's because they wanted a seperate word file uploaded showing al my salary history and job promotions back to high school. And considering my age, that's a lot of stuff to fill out, half of which I don't remember. But I tried my best and I guess they were fine with what I submitted because I ended up being accepted and offered a scholarship.