Your English Teacher Was Right: The Perils of Plagiarism on Your MBA Application

February 21, 2013 by



GMAT BlogWhen I was a college English teacher, I regularly warned my students about the dangers of plagiarizing their assignments.  In addition to pointing out that plagiarism is simply unethical, I made it clear that plagiarists would be punished, through a failing grade on an assignment, expulsion from class, or even academic probation.  Nevertheless, every semester I would catch at least a few students who either missed my warnings or chose to ignore them.

Today, some business school applicants take the same risks, ignoring schools’ warnings about plagiarism and submitting plagiarized essays, despite the steep penalties should they be caught.  A recent article in U.S. News and World Report reports that both Penn State’s Smeal College of Business and UCLA’s Anderson School of Management recently rejected over 60 applicants due to plagiarized material.  Additionally, Northeastern University’s D’Amore-McKim School of Business has identified 50 cases of potential plagiarism, which are currently being investigated.

In today’s digital world, plagiarism is easier than ever–students can easily buy or copy essays from the comfort of their own bedrooms–but plagiarism is also more easily detected.  Penn State, UCLA, and Northeastern are among the more than 100 colleges and universities that use Turnitin, software that checks for original work and flags potential plagiarism.  Turnitin compares papers to other student papers within its database, public web pages, and commercial pages from books, newspapers, and journals, making the task of identifying plagiarized essays much simpler for admissions officials.

In short, plagiarism might be easy, but it’s not worth the risk.  So, now that you’ve reaffirmed your aversion to plagiarism, what can you do to put together a solid MBA application essay?  Here are few tips:

  • Start thinking about your essays sooner rather than later.  The earlier you start brainstorming and writing your essays, the more time you’ll have for revision and improvement.
  • Be specific about who you are, why you want to go to business school, and what your goals are.  The best way to stand out is to demonstrate your passion for your career interests and goals.  Check out last week’s blog “Add Depth to MBA Application Essays by Owning Your Goals” for suggestions for making your essays more specific.
  • Get feedback.  Have a variety of people read your essays.  Get feedback from friends, family members, AND co-workers so you can revise your essays from several different perspectives.  You don’t need to go overboard–commentary from too many people can become overwhelming–but the insights of several different people will help you perfect your essay.
  • Most importantly, be true to yourself.  Business school is a big investment, and as much as you want schools to accept you, you also want to select a program that is right for you.  Putting your true self forward in your essays will help to ensure that the programs you are accepted to will be good fits for you and your goals.

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Jenny LynchAbout Jenny Lynch
This Southern California native has been teaching for nearly 20 years, including seven as a college English instructor. A true lifelong learner, Jenny has several advanced degrees, including an MPIA (Master's of Pacific and International Affairs) with a focus in nonprofit management and international development from UC San Diego's School of International Relations and Pacific Studies. In her six years at Kaplan, Jenny has taught hundreds of GMAT students, and she counts her students' GMAT and MBA admissions successes as some of her greatest moments as a teacher. Currently residing in sunny San Diego, Jenny stays active outside the classroom swimming, cycling, and walking with her trusty canine sidekick, Dagny. You can reach out to her by email (jenny.lynch@kaplan.com) or through the comments thread after her blog posts.

  • Lucas Weingarten

    Great post, Jenny! Reminds me of one I did last spring. (http://blog.kaplangmat.com/2012/03/08/52-get-the-boot-plagiarism-on-mba-application-essays/)

    Hard to believe there is anyone out there with the gall to attempt something like this, let alone hundreds of them every year. One thing to note, however, is that a lot of people plagiarize without intentionally doing so simply because they are unaware of the rules. An aptly named website, http://plagiarism.org/, is a good resource and there are many, many more out there.

    Don’t let your writing hurt you when all it is designed to do is help you. Ignorantia juris non excusat.

    Cheers,
    L.