转贴Wharton S2S文章

jessicaf

Hi all,

I am a re-applicant for Wharton this year and also from China. To be frank, I am very shocked and even indignant to see this post and I think I cannot keep silent but should speak out not only from a friend’s perspective but also from an integrity standpoint. During the past year, I fortunately got some opportunities to contact or even work with some Wharton Chinese alumni. I can say that REAPPLYCHINA (or Dylan Chao) didn’t speak out the truth but has deliberately twisted some facts.

Because of the cooperation in a venture capital project, I became to know Ms. Luo Hong and Mr. Michael Song (Song Shao Huan) quite well. Like most Wharton alumni I met, they are honest, modest, intelligent and very successful businesspeople, the exemplary standards I want to place myself upon. Although my application partner and I haven’t searched in this market because we didn’t use any services for our applications, I don’t believe that these Wharton alumni will do filthy deals, such as fabricating recommendation letters and buying pre-selecting interviewers.

Ok, let’s first suppose what REAPPLYCHINA claimed is truth. But from a business operation view, how much of the whole US$ 4500 should be spent on securing alumni’s references and buying the interviewers, if we further consider the fee paid for other services, such as essay editing? It’s ridiculous that such a small amount of money could bribe these Wharton alumni, proven successful businesspeople, who cherish the reputation of themselves and their alma mater rather than any amount of money.

Then my doubt comes to how to secure reference letters from Alumni of Wharton or other top B-schools. Although these years more and more Chinese students go to US to obtain MBA degrees from top-10 B-schools, the total number cannot be large and not distributed averagely in many industries, especially in China. So it’s almost impossible to find an “appropriate” recommender (who graduated from a top-10 B-school and has the reasonable chance to know the customer well) for every customer even if customer pays the US$ 4500 service fee. Additionally, every applicant knows that his/her background will be verified if admitted. I believe even if the applicant is desperate to trump up the recommendation letters, these alumni must refuse to risk destroying their reputation. As is said in FF’s post, adcom hope to receive recommendation letters from people who know you best, not the ones just with top-10 B-school MBA degree. Even though I have close working relationship with Ms. Luo Hong and Mr. Michael Song, I don’t think they are the persons who know me best. Therefore, I didn’t ask them to be my recommenders.

Finally, what made me really rage is that REAPPLYCHINA talked irresponsibly that the alumni in charge of interviewing in China often rejected some candidates simply because they did not buy the service! I can take my own experience for an example. During last year’s application, I also didn’t buy any kind of service, but from the feedback session, I knew that my interviewer, a Wharton Chinese alumnus (just the kind can be “bought” as REAPPLYCHINA mentioned), gave me very high evaluation for my performance!

This article written by REAPPLYCHINA has been originally posted on BW Forum, then transferred to S2S, and currently widely spread on Chinese MBA forums. I have to mention here that the author’s irresponsible and despicable behavior has not only slandered those mentioned alumni, but greatly harmed the high reputation of Wharton that is always respected as an extremely just and responsible B-school!

Shuzhen

内中故事，只有过来人才会心中雪亮。
你争我吵，大多局外人如坠云中雾里。
沃顿校友，自然不会往自己脸上抹黑。
申请辛苦，不可能凭空捏造自寻烦恼。
二者相比，沃顿学子加校友自是强人。
申诉鸣冤，古往今来永远是弱势群体。
强弱分明，弱肉强食，此案其实并不难判，
只管请来《红楼梦》中的葫芦僧，马上就可以再演一场葫芦案。

wangp_cn

以下是引用Shuzhen在2003-11-8 11:31:00的发言：
内中故事，只有过来人才会心中雪亮。
你争我吵，大多局外人如坠云中雾里。
沃顿校友，自然不会往自己脸上抹黑。
申请辛苦，不可能凭空捏造自寻烦恼。
二者相比，沃顿学子加校友自是强人。
申诉鸣冤，古往今来永远是弱势群体。
强弱分明，弱肉强食，此案其实并不难判，
只管请来《红楼梦》中的葫芦僧，马上就可以再演一场葫芦案。

顶顶顶顶顶顶顶顶顶顶顶顶顶

joyoni

did I miss sth?

Shuzhen

以下是引用joyoni在2003-11-11 5:56:00的发言：
did I miss sth?

简单的说，下面的这个人义愤填膺，写了这么一封信，并且说自己有证据。
上面这个人没有什么证据，但是也义愤填膺，写了上面的信，向沃顿示好。

反正偶们是局外人，不好妄加评论。

http://forum.chasedream.com/dispbbs.asp?boardID=13&ID=22599
[转帖]An e-mail to Alex Brown (Wharton)
Dear Alex,

I am a MBA reapplicant from China.  

You might know that corruption is the China’s biggest problem. But you might not know that corruption happens in MBA admissions in China in a stunning degree.

Many top MBA applicants in China and myself are bothered by an expensive MBA Admission Coaching Service offered by a company in China. The company, founded by a few Wharton Alumni including Seth Kaplan, Luo Hong and Song shao huan, offers a US$ 4500 coaching service for any Chinese willing to apply to Top business school, especially Wharton and Chicago.  Once a client pay the money, the company offers very SPECIAL service such as securing reference letters from Alumni of Wharton or other Top business schools whom their client have never met, buying the Alumni who's in charge of pre-selecting applicants for in China, and etc.  As a result, the company claim that 50% of Top Business School admits in China in 2003 are their clients.

However, for any one who is not buying the service, it is extremely difficult to get in. The reason is because this company is buying the alumni from Top School who are in charge of pre-selecting. They also buy the references letters from alumni of many Top Business School in order to make their clients’ application more convincing. In many occasions, the alumni in charge of pre-selecting reject some candidates simply because they are not buying the service.

The company’s goal is to make sure 70% of Top Business School admits in China in 2004 are their clients. This is very feasible considering they are buying this alumni and that alumni. Many Chinese, eager to get in the top business school, have no choices but to pay US$ 4500 to improve their possibilities.

In summery, I would appreciate you could be aware of the seriousness of this problem. In addition, many Chinese applicants and myself sincerely hope that you are not using any Chinese alumni to do the pre-select interview in case they are corrupt. The most fair admission process is to do the admission interview on your own.

If you want more evidence, please write to Dylanchao_cn(A) hotmail.com.

Thanks and regards

Dylan Chao

atongmu

晕！
想问一下：中介机构到底有多大作用？像我这样的申请游击队难道就没有出路吗？

[此贴子已经被作者于2003-11-12 14:48:59编辑过]

bettyofarim

记得以前XDF的美加奖学金申请指南里的中国教育服务中心介绍说是申请前10名的学校奖学金成功率是95%以上，GMAT要700以上，说是不成功不收任何服务费的。不知道是不是真的 ，也许谁感兴趣的可以去看一看。具体的我也不清楚。电话是010-86612223

atongmu

以下是引用bettyofarim在2003-11-12 16:57:00的发言：
记得以前XDF的美加奖学金申请指南里的中国教育服务中心介绍说是申请前10名的学校奖学金成功率是95%以上，GMAT要700以上，说是不成功不收任何服务费的。

“不成功不收任何服务费”是行业的规矩。
剩下的随它吹吧！

wwwzzz

bettyofarim不是在做广告吧。不过TOP MBA的服务到底如何恐怕是个谜啦。

bettyofarim

呵呵，没有了，我也是今天翻到新东方的资料时看到有一附送的奖学金申请指南拉。呵呵，贴出来，看看也许对有些XDJM有帮助