Initially I thought GWU’s MSF China Program was a golden opportunity for Chinese students. Now I have changed my opinion due to the questionable rankings posted in your announcement (see [1]). It is my understanding that a good program never needs to be advertised through exaggeration, especially in such a manner that fabricates figures and distorts the fact.
Take a look at the rankings you provided. You claimed that GWU's MSF ranked No.1 among all pure MSF programs in the world. Unfortunately, your claim directly contradicts the fact in two aspects. First of all, GWU’s MSF is actually a combined program with MFE (see [2]), and therefore doesn’t fall into the "pure MSF" category. Secondly, even if we assume it as a pure MSF, would you mind disclosing which credible source placed GWU’s MSF on top of those offered by Vanderbilt University, Boston College, University of Rochester, etc., making it the world’s No.1 pure MSF program? I have completely no idea where you got such rankings. From usnews? I guess not, as usnews doesn’t rank MSF programs; it only provides rankings for MBA in finance, and it is Duke University’s program that ranks 12th. Yours is not even in the list.
There’s another problem with this China Program. Since the Program starts in September, is it not a conflict that you urged candidates to apply as early as possible, and then postponed the application deadline again and again? Do you see a problem? Is it because so few people showed interest that you weren’t able to enroll as many as 40 students to initiate the program? Today there are updates again on your admission web page (see [3]). The enrollment has been reduced from 40 to 30, which substantiates the conjecture that this program is losing applicants. Moreover this is the forth time that you have postponed the deadline. Now the deadline is Sep 5, making it more difficult for the program to start on time in September.
Is anyone out there who is responsible for the announcement? Can you account for the fabricated rankings, the repeated deferments of the deadline and the reduction in enrollment? I am serious about this matter, and await a reasonable explanation.
P.S. I’ve captured a screenshot of your announcement, so please refrain from editing the web page and denying what you did.
Again, I would repeat that GWU MSF is not a pure MSF program. As you can see from the GWU’s website (see [1]), “The GWU MSF Program is a unique program that combines the best of a financial engineering program with a master's of science in finance.” Therefore it is a MSF program with a concentration in financial engineering, which made it eligible to join the rankings and compete with other MFE programs. Despite the inevitable competition with those top MFE programs, it still received 12th ranking from Global Derivatives, a high ranking, but just the MFE ranking. As for the MSF ranking, it is highly illogical to conclude that GWU MSF earned the top ranking among all pure MSF programs, as the ranking website, Global Derivatives, explicitly stated that “Finance programs without a focus on quantitative analysis have not been considered” (see [2]), which means those pure MSF program didn’t get involved in the competition with GWU’s. Certainly you wouldn’t earn 1st ranking without competing with those pure MSF programs.
Your excuse for not explaining the ranking is that the advertisement would have been too long had you included such background information behind the ranking. But since you had vested interest in this advertisement, you willfully employed a simple advertising gimmick by revealing what was seductive while concealing what was vital. Even the GWU officials would not publicize the program the way you did.
Implicit false analogy also appears in your reply. You know, just because GWU possesses an army of outstanding American alumni doesn’t mean that the Chinese students enrolled in this cohort program can be as successful as they are.
In addition, your reply contains one major factual error. The admission started in mid July, not at the end of July, and that’s not the excuse for you to extend the deadline over and over again. If there had been a good many qualified students interested in the program, the number of spots would have filled rather quickly. Unfortunately this is not the case. Should there be too few meritorious candidates applying to the program, the quality of the cohort is bound to decline. It doesn’t matter how strictly the committee screens the applications, as admissions are always offered on a competitive basis. And if you insist on maintaining the quality, the deadline will be put off indefinitely, turning the whole program into a bust.
At the end of your reply, there is an inconsistency problem. The place of the second road show is obviously inconsistent with that on your website.
The announcements and threads you posted are always full of logic fallacies and inconsistencies. Therefore, I strongly recommend that you take the GMAT exam to improve your critical reasoning skills, thus making your advertisement look more logical.
Here we meet again, icmaster. Please don’t think I was playing right into your hands, drawing people’s attention so that you could advertise the program. I was just doing what Fangzhouzi normally does – removing misleading information from the advertisements, and ensuring that the working personnel like you provide accurate information for students to evaluate the program.
You don’t need to question me. I clearly understand the differences between MSF and MFE. You’re so funny, icmaster. I said twice this ranking was for MFE, and that GWU MSF has a concentration in financial engineering. These are the incontrovertible facts cited from the official websites. I don’t wish to repeat these facts over and over, and I’m sure those readers have already understood. So stop arguing repeatedly against these facts. It’s futile!
The expressions and words I used were a little bit colloquial. Don’t fuss over them, because I was not penning my comments in standard written English. As for the GMAT score you mentioned, I regret to tell you that your test result has long expired. You know that test scores older than 5 years are no longer valid. Therefore it is fundamentally pointless comparing current scores with those of 10 years ago. Moreover, your test-taking skills diminish over time. Since your skills have gotten rusty, I doubt whether you are able to score as high as you once did.
The plausible explanations you made have dispelled some of my doubts, helping many others know more about the program. I do appreciate that. Even if I know you could have taken advantage of the information asymmetry, I shall trust you this time.
You thought I was reviewing the program from a critical perspective. Actually you’re wrong. I remain confident that GWU MSF is a reputable program and need not be advertised by means of exaggeration. The problem has nothing to do with the program itself, but has to do with the way it is publicized. Is that understood, icmaster?
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发表于 2011-8-22 22:30:09
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