Screwed!

Question

No really, I am.

I am on a bschool's waitlist (prefer not to mention the name), and today, I called in for a feedback session. The adcom asked me if I have done anything in the past few months to strengthen my app. I told her what I have accomplished. Then she asked if I have considered taking additional quant. courses. This is when the devil took over and I said things I don't know why I said.

I told her I took an accounting course at a local community college, which is true. She asked me what grade I got. I replied: "A". NOT TRUE. I actually ended up with a B. The minute that slipped out of my mouth, I wanted to crawl in a hole. My plan was actually never to tell the adcom I took this course because of the less than desirable grade.

I was hitting myself for lying afterwards. But too late. I have NO CLUE why I did that. I guess I was so desperate to please her so I said whatever she wanted to hear. Of course she asked to me to send in my grade for that course.

I guess everyone makes dumb decisions once in awhile. This surely ranks on the top of my list.

iamjoesargent · Answer

Wow...well good luck with that. I might have said something like:

Her: 'What did you get?'
Me:'A...a B'

lol, not to downplay your situation, but honestly if you say you got an A and you send in a B you won't get in I don't think. I'd call back to own up and pray you speak to someone else.

Are you gonna send in the score?

helg · Answer

D'oh!

Any chance to retake the exam?

CerealsMBA · Answer

You have only two solutions :

- You own it, admit lying, and probably never get in.
- You send the score, and hope she did not take notes while talking to you. Hopefully it will go through unnoticed...

What you did was wrong, but at the same time everyone makes mistakes, and I don't think it is bad enough that you deserve being kicked out of the admission process... Just make sure not to do it again in the future...

Good Luck,

riverripper · Answer

How long ago did you take the class? If it was a long time ago, call up and say you thought you got an A but it was so long ago you didnt remember correctly and in fact got a B. If you just finished the course a few months ago then you arent gonna have anything close to a valid reason for saying the wrong score.

buffdaddy · Answer

I think owe of to your white lie. Since thats all it was. People tell white lies all the time. This one is a more serious white lie, so admit it in a formal letter and tell them that was against what your normally high ethical/moral standards.

Else retake the exam (if u can) and make the lie a truth

Else retake the exam (if u can) and make the lie a truth

pandeyrav · Answer

fortunately for you it is so unbelievable that someone would lie about grade which is a verifiable thing that you should be okay. just send in your grade and at most the adcom would wonder if he/she heard incorrectly when he/she noted an "A". I am certain that you will be given the benefit of doubt. so don't worry and just send the grade in and vow to never do that again. you don't want to test your luck too much

lmshaw · Answer

Hey, thanks for the support and suggestions guys.

I took this course exactly 1 year ago, so no, I can't retake the final exam or anything. But I suppose I can call and just say I remembered the grade incorrectly as riverripper suggested. Damn.

Here's another plan: During the convo, she also suggested that I retake the GMAT. I have already decided to give the exam another shot, and let's say I do score higher. Since the GMAT is a more important factor than supplementary courses, I'm thinking that the adcom won't care about that "A" from accounting at this point anymore. But if I score the same or lower (god forbid), then I most likely will not get in the school anyway... does this make sense?

Argh. I'm starting to sound crazy. Should I just stick with the first option and just admit that I told her the wrong grade?

kryzak · Answer

I'd also vote for "I remembered the score incorrectly" method that river suggested.

Good luck with the GMAT re-take and the score situation!

lumone · Answer

My opininon:

Say nothing about it unless they question you. If they do, then you can say you remember wrongly or that you don't know what they're talking about: you don't remember saying you had an A. Even if that was a just a year ago, that's the kind of thing that can happen. Also, they have no trace of that lie, have they?

It's much more acceptable to have a deficient memory than saying to a school that you're liar. They'll have no mercy for that. Especially given the problems that they have had with cheating and lying on applications.

Question: You're on WL. Did you mention this course when applying? You took it 1 year ago.

lmshaw · Answer

The person I spoke with was the associate director of admissions. In lumone's scenario, if she does question me later about the grade, I don't want to make it seem like I'm doubting her either (cause I believe she took notes, and in my experience, adcoms have the memory of an elephant).

No, I didn't mention this course on my application. Never wanted to, because of that B. It just came up when she asked me during my waitlist feedback session.

Should I still send in my transcript/grade report? Would they even want to see it now?

Sigh...this is going to make them even more suspicious of my quant abilities...unless I score a 50Q on the GMAT. Ha! Yea right.

dextrous · Answer

just practice saying "What are you talking about...an A?" so you can deliver it with perfection when the time comes!

uphillclimb · Answer

Well. You've kind of backed yourself into a bit of a corner, haven't you? My advice would be to retake the GMAT and try to bump your quant score. That way the whole "deficient memory" thing will be forgiven. Incidentally, what is your current raw quant score? Are we talking in the 30s, or have you broken 40 yet?

Praetorian · Answer

I hope the " I forgot my grade" line works with an admissions member - they have heard it all , I would assume.

This will haunt you if you do not own up upfront - do not say a lie to protect a lie. Academia is a small, very small community.

Even if you get away with this one, you will always wonder what if someone finds out - always.

kryzak · Answer

I would suggest you call them and let them know that you dug out your transcripts and realized that you got a B instead of an A in the class, and that you will be sending in the transcript soon. That's probably your best bet right now, owning up to it, but also blaming it on bad memory.

togafoot · Answer

If you have another class in which you got an `A`, you can say you got them mixed round.

lumone · Answer

lmshaw -> Any news with that story?

westsider · Answer

You made a mistake. I gotta say I am a bit troubled by the responses to it. Because, as you said, YOU made the mistake. Doing anything other than ADMITTING you lied - is just telling more lies. I have to say I find it hard to believe that 95% of the responses were just to make up some other lie.. the only real debate seems to be which lie is more believable.

I would say you should fess up. THey won't believe a made-up story anyhow. At least you will have your dignity. Who knows, they might even let you in.

"I was tempted to say that I just forgot the grade...." etc. Send it in writing - like one of those essays about " a difficult decision" or "something I have overcome" that you no doubt had to write for admissions.

rajpdsouza · Answer

If it was a case where he was constantly lying, I might understand what you are saying. However, it seems that his lie had no malicious intent behind it and was more of a spur-of-the-moment verbal diaherrea than a lie.

lmshaw · Answer

I decided to ignore it. I figured, if make an excuse like "I forgot my grade" or I come clean and admit that I lied, the adcom won't like it either way. I can see it only hurting me.

During the conversation, she recommended that I retake the GMAT, which I am currently studying for. I figured that a higher GMAT score will override any "A/A+++" from a community college course. In the end, it just boils down to a higher GMAT score. So I'm hoping (praying) that if I do score higher, the adcom will overlook my accounting grade bc it will be of little significance at that point. But if I score the same or lower, then chances are I won't be admitted anyway.

Of course she could STILL ask to see my transcript even if I get a higher GMAT. In that case, I'll know it wasn't meant to be. :cry:

Screwed!

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