Bluffing your way to a scholarship

Question

Hi guys,

Did someone tried to bluff one school which he was admitted to, into granting him with a scholarship? I mean, if he was admitted only to one school and didn't get any financial aid, did he tried to tell the adcoms that he holds a much better offer from a same/higher ranked school?

Please leave the ethical point of view out of the equation to the sake of this thread.

cheetarah1980 · Answer

No.

tfincham86 · Answer

Couldn't have said it better myself.

ebonn101 · Answer

Fail.

smkwei · Answer

Please consider your own ethics and morality higher than anything else. "Good ethics can potentially replace lack of intelligence and ability, but there is not enough intelligence or ability to fill the hole of immorality."

mooze · Answer

Don't go down that road. Even if it works this time you'll just be reinforcing behavior that will get you in much deeper trouble at some point later, possibly fired or even in jail.

FatRiverPuff · Answer

1). lol? 
2). Do b-schools actually care whether or not you get $$ from other schools? 
3). lol again

slumdog1000000 · Answer

Don't do that, if you want to have a good night's sleep. 
You will get discovered at some point.

Honesty is the best policy!

Consulting2Finance · Answer

While Cheetarh's response likely is sufficient to clos this thread, the OP seems like someone that needs this clearly laid out for him since he deemed it necessary to ask the question in the first place:

1) You can't leave ethics out of any decision. The fact that you request this is poff you realize this is wrong.
2) You aren't bluffing but flat out lying. Bluffing would be actually having an offer at school B, but you prefer school A, and you go to school A and tell them you are leaning towards school B because of the money and asking what school A can do. No other offer in hand isn't close to a bluff but a flat out lie.
3) Even if you are completely amoral and don't care about ethics, unfortunately for you the rest of the business world does care about ethics and tends to react poorly to unethical people. This is especially the case in business schools and in a post financial crisis business world, where there is more regulation and emphasis on corporate governance. Asking whether you can get away with something without pausing to ask SHOULD you try to get away with something is the reason we've had the Enrons, Tycos, and Worldcoms of the world. It's a great way to ruin your career or end up in jail.
4) The AdCom community is a small group. There are probably on average of 10 people per school if not less. At the top 50 schools that's 500 people. These people network, they change schools, they attend conferences. It's not hard for them to pick up the phone and call someone at another school to see if you are lying or not, and they likely would do due diligence if they were contemplating offering you money. If they then find out you are lying this could jeopardize your offer at the school to which you were admitted, would prevent you from applying to the school you used as fake leverage, and could hurt you at other schools.
5) The other four points aside, this likely won't work. If the school you are attending really really wanted you they would have offered you money. As an admitted student they want you no doubt, but chances are there is someone just as qualified on the wait list ready to fill your spot. Hell, there likely is someone just as qualified on the ding pile. Their likely reaction would be to wish you luck at the higher ranked school that offered you more money.

gty893 · Answer

Impossible to leave ethics aside in this situation.

As C2F mentioned, I can't imagine the adcom handing over a scholarship worth thousands of dollars on your word alone. Whether they call around, request a copy of your scholarship offer letter, or both, you are putting yourself in a pretty vulnerable spot. Maybe it's me, but it seems pretty intuitive.

woggy987 · Answer

troll alert

GMATLA · Answer

I am going to lock this topic, but before I do, here are my 2 cents:

1) You are the exact reason why MBA's ethics are called into question
2) If you lie you will be caught
3) If you lie and you get money out of it, it's called fraud, you could go to jail
4) Schools have safeguards to catch liars
5) If you are asking this question you probably aren't smart enough or special enough to earn a scholarship even if you did lie
6) Ethics, morality, and your repuation are some of the only things you have control over in life. Don't give that up
7) If you are honestly considering any of this, you will fail regardless of what you do in life. You lack sufficient ethics, morality, and brains to ever accomplish anything. Your question makes me sick to think that people like this even exist.
8) School's don't care if you have $$ from another school, if they wanted you that much, they would have offered it to you in the first place. There is big difference between "Bluffing" and "Lying". This isn't poker, and it would be a straight up lie. They might even confirm a scholarship from another school, and pull your admit based on your lie.

You've been warned, topics regarding lying, cheating, or fraud will not be tolerated on GMAT Club. This is your first and only warning

Bluffing your way to a scholarship

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