On Friday, GMAC announced that it had obtained a default judgment in its lawsuit against the operator of Scoretop.com, a website that obtained and distributed copyrighted material, including GMAT questions, related to the GMAT test. In its release, GMAC announced that it possessed Scoretop.com’s hard-drives and would nullify the tests of any test-takers who were members of Scoretop.com. Further, GMAC stated that it was “committed to reporting to schools any unethical behavior that we uncover regarding our testing policy and lack of compliance with that policy by candidates for admission who are sending their scores to schools.”
This is not the first time that applicants have needed to face the music for “harmless” internet activity. In 2005, more than one hundred and fifty applicants, mostly to HBS, but also to MIT, Carnegie Mellon and Stanford, followed the directions of a hacker and viewed their admissions decisions ahead of their release. Almost of these candidates were rejected immediately, with Stanford pausing to give consideration and then rejecting them over the course of time.
The internet can be an impersonal place, but there are ramifications for “surfing.” Candidates are reminded to tread carefully and consider their actions.