Fuqua applicants get mediocre scores on test, but PR does it best to obfuscate

Chronicle article discusses Fuqua admissions but misses key points too.

✔ Fact Checker here. Loyal Readers, I am calling upon Fuqua to provide information beyond that in this article:

✔With respect to the highly touted Cross-Continent MBA program which costs $120,100 for 16 months, embracing only 61 days in person, the rest of the time being spent on homework. Last year -- the first year -- Fuqua's dean had projected 180 students, but got only 120. And got 120 only by bending the goalposts and admitting more students from the USA than planned, robbing the program of its international flavor.

The Dean PROMISED -- his word -- 280 students this year. Fact Checker wants to know. This is a critical measure of our international efforts.

✔Fuqua boasts that the average score of applicants -- applicants -- on the standardized tests edged up to 697. That's equal to the 88th percentile. That's not so hot.

Moreover, Fuqua tells us nothing about the scores of the people who actually showed up for class. Did we land the best?

✔Fuqua boasts of a record number of applicants.

-- tell me what you count as an application. We've seen some fudging on the undergraduate level where incomplete applications are counted. Tell me instead, the number that your admissions officers actually ruled on, yes or no.

-- why is Fuqua giving a 75 percent discount on its applications fee? That does not sound like a strategy that someone winning the game would adopt.

-- while I do not know why some business schools have a drop off in applications, I do know that the number of people taking the standardized test is soaring.

The number of people taking the test has grown rapidly. Five years ago, barely 200,000 took the test world-wide. The latest statistics are more than 265,000. Moreover, the number of GMAT test takers under 24 years of age grew to 79,577 in 2009, a 132 percent increase from 2005, most likely people who wanted to postpone their entry into the miserable job market.

You would expect Fuqua to have more applications.

http://gmac.mediaroom.com/file.php/134/TestsTakenYearGender_10yr.jpg

Fact Checker's email is Duke.Fact.Checker@gmail.com, and Fuqua's PR people can mail me the information before I request it

Thanks for reading!