Nickname: RQL

Review: I agree with the previous poster, there are indeed "clans" where ppl hand down tests, notes, case study key points, and homework to generation after generation of "friends." To go to a H/S/W and not have a friend from last year give you materials and the scoop is unheard of in some circles. and these can be broad circles not just the native Indians, Chinese, UAE, etc.

Date reviewed: Oct 4, 2006 2:26 PM

Nickname: gator

Review: I went to a top 3 B-school in the US and what I noticed was that foreigners (most often from China) had such organized rings that it was kind of freaky. They had scanned all books, references and exams into electronic searchable databases, only to the avail of their own clan. Also these people did not tend to interact with the rest of the class in terms of study groups and other more socially-oriented events (but to drink, there were no boundaries)! I think that, in general, these people lacked confidence and had too many pressures from their society. However, I must say that for the most part, 85% or more of those who were raised in a Westernized culture paid their dues, learned their stuff, and are now the group leading the pack from our school. I should also say that two students from that same country (China) were dismissed from the class after finding out that their GMAT exams had been taken by impostors who specialized in taking MBA entrance exams for students.

Date reviewed: Sep 30, 2006 7:13 PM

Nickname: Aluminum bender

Review: Cheat ? - Many think it is a cost of doing business - IE It's a risk factored into the overall plan - you think it is bad in B-school - law school is worse - I know people on the deans list who are in law school who just cheat like hell - and this is after a professional responsibility course - its all ---- .. what else would you expect from law school ? its a great distillation process to concentrate all the worst people in society into one place .. political correctness will not change the result .. it just makes you feel better that they are throwing in feigned reparations to protected classes with the "worst society has to offer" - its all a big laugh ..

Date reviewed: Sep 27, 2006 5:18 PM

Nickname: MBAer

Review: Check out the blog of Tuck and Instituto de Empresa http://www.deanstalk.net/deanstalk/2006/09/cheating_and_pe.html and http://www.deanstalk.net/deanstalk/2006/09/cheating_1.html

Date reviewed: Sep 27, 2006 3:42 PM

Nickname: Skeptic

Review: The tradition of integrity section makes me laugh. You can preach the policy and rules all you want, students will continue to cheat. The fact that Darden hasn't charged a student for cheating leads me to believe they are soft, not that the policy is working.

Date reviewed: Sep 27, 2006 2:06 PM

Nickname: alcatraz

Review: I too have recently passed out from one of the premier B-schools in India. Our school does have a very stringent honour code presided over by a committee of faculty and students and there were quite a few instances where punishments were given out. However, with the comparative scoring system and the high weightage on assignments and multiple submissions having the same deadline, many students took the expedient way out by concentrating on a few while their friends or group mates concentrated on others. In a way, B-school was also an accelerated course in networking and "teamwork". There were of course students who stuck to their morals and well, they would probably prefer not to discuss their grades with a recruitment officer. So who is the winner - the person who topped the class and bagged that dream consulting job and made a lot of working partnerships in the process as well, or the person who slogged it out on his or her own and did not have grades to show for it either?

Date reviewed: Sep 27, 2006 10:12 AM

Nickname: Colin

Review: Perhaps BusinessWeek could do a report on white-collar criminals, especially the high-profile ones, and their educational background. You might unearth surprising findings.

Date reviewed: Sep 27, 2006 8:13 AM

Nickname: christine

Review: This doesn't surprise me at all! I just finished a masters (not an mba) in business in a very well reputed school in Italy. Cheating was considered fair play by both students and the administration that said nothing during tests as students blatantly cheated and held conversations with other students as to the answer. I guess this says more about Italy then about B-schools, but cheating or not cheating was in fact THE test. I.E. if you were too stupid or honest not to cheat, well then you didn't pass, or you graduated in the bottom 25% of your class...and the same holds true at all universities and schools in Italy, but the cheating isn't done as overtly.

Date reviewed: Sep 25, 2006 11:00 PM

Nickname: juanleehooker

Review: I think cheating at Business schools has a lot to do with the admissions process, specially at H/W/Kellogg. There are hundreds of companies that help applicants write their essays and in the end those applicants are admitted, while the honest ones that don't pay for this help are rejected. The business schools know about this, but they still prefer to admit those who write almost perfect essays, knowing that many of them weren't written by the applicants alone. Business schools are to blame about this, but not all, there are some top schools with very strong values, not only written in paper but actually applied from the admissions process and so on.

Date reviewed: Sep 25, 2006 5:05 PM