I'm woefully behind on my blogging, but had to comment on a story I read earlier this week...
Many business schools outsource (ignore the irony) their applications processing to a company called ApplyYourself. If you've ever applied to graduate schools, this makes since since most ask for the same stuff over and over and over and over again. Someone figured out how to read the application status. In the article , one might infer there was some vast shadow conspiracy of applicants now possessing superhacker skills. It wasn't. A student, already logged into their own account, merely had to change the URL to peek at their own application status.
The actual procedure is in the footnote, but for my non-geek readers, it's technically equivalent to changing this link:
Hands up, who among you would be interested in finding out if you got admitted? (I put my own hand up) If I saw something as simple as this, I'd be all over it. So now you know why I didn't go to Harvard, MIT, or Dartmouth. (ha ha) Actually, it's because I was 33 when I was applying to B-schools. They are suspicious of old farts. (Possibly because we can see both sides in situations like this.)
There's been a lot of discussion that all the students need is a good spanking and a couple of courses in ethics from the second-tier business school of their choice. What's been missing is what this is really about:
Many business schools outsource (ignore the irony) their applications processing to a company called ApplyYourself. If you've ever applied to graduate schools, this makes since since most ask for the same stuff over and over and over and over again. Someone figured out how to read the application status. In the article , one might infer there was some vast shadow conspiracy of applicants now possessing superhacker skills. It wasn't. A student, already logged into their own account, merely had to change the URL to peek at their own application status.
The actual procedure is in the footnote, but for my non-geek readers, it's technically equivalent to changing this link:
http://www.jimcarson.com/a/2005/03/bat_houses.shtmland chopping off the last piece to see all my posts this month:
http://www.jimcarson.com/a/2005/03/The b-schools were not amused. It labeled the applicants scofflaw "hackers" -- an insult to hackerdom -- and, as retribution, applicants who tried this are being denied. Some schools have backed off slightly, offering an interview for a candidate to fess up and admit culpability.
Hands up, who among you would be interested in finding out if you got admitted? (I put my own hand up) If I saw something as simple as this, I'd be all over it. So now you know why I didn't go to Harvard, MIT, or Dartmouth. (ha ha) Actually, it's because I was 33 when I was applying to B-schools. They are suspicious of old farts. (Possibly because we can see both sides in situations like this.)
There's been a lot of discussion that all the students need is a good spanking and a couple of courses in ethics from the second-tier business school of their choice. What's been missing is what this is really about:
- Business schools wield a lot of power in the application process and do not relish ceding any. As tenure is unnatural in the real business world, so is the irony that the customer, the MBA student, is one step above guano in the b-school admission process. I've been lurking on Sarah's blog, reliving the frustration of waiting. A b-school student is about to invest 2 years and $80,000. (A PhD student is 4-9 years and more, when the NPV is considered.)
- B-schools still don't get technology. A simple link hack showing admission status casts doubt on the ability to protect privacy. B-school applications have a hell of a lot of personal information on them: birthday, address, social security, employer history, salary, grades, family data. Harvard, MIT, and the others should be concerned that the vendor is protecting their customer..
- B-school is, unfortunately, so ultra-competitive that people are swept up in over-valuing its importance.
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1. Login to your application. Click on the application for admission.
2. The URL you see in your browser will have a string named "AYID," unique for you: AYID=11AAA1A-111A-1111-A1A1-1AA11111A11
3. View source by going. Look for a seven digit number prefaced by "id=". For example, PackageAnswerID=1111111.
4. With the AYID and id numbers, paste the following URL in the browser window:
https://app.applyyourself.com/AyApplicantMain/ApplicantDecision.asp?AYID=11AAA1A-111A-1111-A1A1-1AA11111A11&mode=decision&id=1111111
.