A Businessweek article reports that Fuqua Business School at Duke University will begin to use a plagiarism detection program in checking MBA applicants’ essays. In the last application season, the school conducted a pilot use of the program, and even rejected a candidate caught for stealing content.

Liz Riley, Admissions Director at Duke, stated that the school used a large number of applications as samples in order to learn how to use the program ahead of its full employment the following season. The need for such a program arose after the school was notified that a number of candidates submitted essays written by others. While it is obviously impossible to catch every single one, the schools hopes it is at least a step in the right direction.

The Anderson School at UCLA has been using a plagiarism detection program since the 2011-12 season and has since rejected 115 candidates based on its findings. Other schools do not make public whether they use the program, but among those that do are Penn State’s Smeal College of Business, Wake Forest University, and Northeastern University.

 

Put Me in Business (applying in less than a year)
Put Me in Business (applying in more than a year)