Want to get into Wharton? Pay off an admissions officer and call it “counseling.”
Infected by the unbridled ambition rampant at Penn's Wharton School of Business, senior admissions officer Judith Hodara found a clever way to parlay her dayjob into a sidejob: Admissions counseling! The conflict of interest is so blatant as to boggle the mind. So, one more time: Hodara was simultaneously advising people on how to get into Penn, and choosing who would get into Penn. We assume her counseling consisted of instructing 17-year-olds to mark their applications "Hi Judy! The secret password is MAD MONEY," and then admitting them all.
To be fair, Hodara worked in business school admissions, and her company, IvyStone Admissions Consultants, advised high schoolers. But wait, it gets better! Inside Higher Ed reports that the only reason Judith got caught is because her relationship with another admissions consulting company -- advising Japanese B-school hopefules -- fell under ethical scrutiny.
Though IvyStone's website has since been removed, archival records show that Hodara touted her job in admissions as a selling point. Hodara, who holds three degrees from Penn, claims she did not know there was a conflict. Regarding the Japanese company, Inside Higher Ed writes,
The arrangement was vetted by Penn lawyers and her supervisor, Hodara said. ... "I am an incredibly ethical individual and I made sure none of this would be a conflict," she said.
According to Wharton press releases, Hodara will stay on at Penn and quit consulting. Luckily, she still has her third side job as host and founder of B-School Talk, "the business school admissions podcast" and video series. Girl knows a cashcow when she sees it.
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February 2nd, 2008 at 2:15 pm
1) She’s an MBA admissions officer, not an undergrad admissions officer. Less of a conflict of interest.
2) It’s the Wharton Scohol. No “Business”
February 2nd, 2008 at 6:03 pm
3) You’re a tool, “stud”.
February 2nd, 2008 at 8:15 pm
4) but its okay, at least ur a tool thats useful
February 3rd, 2008 at 3:14 am
Three adcoms were involved with Agos, the Japanese company. Hodara is gone, but the adcom at Columbia University is still working for the Japanese Company. Martin said in Inside Higher Ed: “One of the three university officials agreed that it raised conflict of interest issues, except not in his case. Martin, of Teachers College, said that he was recruited for the position because of his past work with Chicago’s business school, and that he was assured by AGOS officials that they worked only with business school applicants and would not seek his advice on admissions to Teachers College. Martin said he couldn’t answer questions about pay.” http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/01/30/agos
However this is total lie because on the Agos website he says: Here is a portion of what Don said when asked to serve on the Advisory Board of AGOS: “I am both honored and humbled to be asked to serve on the AGOS Advisory Board. Working with prospective graduate students has been a real privilege for me. In addition, having visited Japan many, many times since 1993, and mostly in conjunction with my work at Chicago GSB, it will be very exciting to meet and work with Japanese students interested in pursuing their MBA and Graduate School opportunities. Thank you for this tremendous privilege.”
http://www.agos.co.jp/about/index.html
He has trapped himself in his lies because Agos helps people get into graduate school and into Columbia graduate school specifically. Martin is a lying and should not be in the Ivy Leagues.
February 3rd, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Any chance we use this as an excuse to eliminate the Wharton undergraduate program entirely? It totally warps the undergraduate experience at Penn. Take Donald Trump, for example.
February 3rd, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Ah, lets here another big ah for the impersonators. I don’t delve into cock but my little bitch to be eric prince is gonna find himself taped to a light post on Polk St. in San Francisco, CA and he might worry about the locals taking a new york cop like attitude and depositing something up his flank, ala Albert Louima. It’s gonna be so much fun. The regression of the ivy league students is divine as I watch your kindegardner like attempts to whine back. Did you used to write the same things on the bathroom stalls ?
How is satan america today ?
February 3rd, 2008 at 9:33 pm
her bschooltalk podcast is actually pretty good!
February 4th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
Oh please. This is a non issue. These people are applying to business school after all. This is how the game is played kids. What’s funny is that what’s considered a “conflict of interest” in admissions are considered best practices in industry.
February 5th, 2008 at 6:37 am
do people still go to wharton?
February 5th, 2008 at 6:38 am
this woman looks like my calculus teacher/