As competition heats up and people seek all sorts of help on their business school admission essays, everyone—from helicopter parents turned editors to top-dollar consulting services—are adding their two cents to MBA applications. But now at least some contributions may be going well beyond two cents. Two professional essay writers have told Bloomberg Businessweek that their companies have written application essays for MBA candidates who may have passed them off as their own. One of those essay writers says his clients have gotten into top programs.
Blake Reynolds, owner of Perfect Words, which is in New York, and David Burton, general manager of Essaywriter in Leeds, England, defend their businesses, saying some applicants need help expressing themselves. "My clients are not lazy or trying to be unethical," says Reynolds. "They work in industries where the hours are really long and writing skills are not emphasized … I think I'm helping people. People who go to these lengths will get the most out of business school."
Bloomberg Businessweek could not determine if any clients of the two firms turned in the ghost-written essays as their own. Neither Reynolds nor Burton would release the names of clients, and efforts to find clients of essay-writing services through online forums were unsuccessful. Burton says that using the essays as part of an application would be fraudulent and that he discourages it, but both men concede it's a possibility.
It's one that worries admission officials at some business schools, who have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to plagiarism or fraudulent work. "Every competitive admissions process involves an element of trust," said Megan Washburn, a spokesperson for Northwestern University's Kellogg School of a Management (Kellogg Full-Time MBA Profile), in a prepared statement. " We recognize sometimes that trust is breached and [we] will pursue any such case to the fullest extent."
Clearly, essay writing for hire is a booming business. With 2,500 writers working for the company and a website easily found in a Google search, Essaywriter writes both admission essays and school assignments for people in a variety of subject areas. Burton says his mostly international candidates have language challenges, while others are more mature applicants or students who have not written in a long time.
Having started out as a tutor, Burton says he is helping his clients learn in a different way by providing them with further research and sample essays. He added that the company hires professional writers and academics to write for clients and that it uses technology to make sure all writers are turning in original work and not plagiarizing anyone. Once the essays are in the hands of clients, they use them as they see fit, Burton said.
"I can't tell you that every student who uses our services does not use the work as his own … It would be fraudulent to pass the work of someone else off as your own," he says. "It's not fraudulent to give an example of your work to someone, who you think is honest."
Reynolds recently distributed fliers around Wall Street and posted ads for his business on the Businessweek.com B-school forums (which have since been removed for violating the terms of service).The pitch: His essays will help applicants get into top business schools.In an interview, he said he has been writing MBA admissions essays for clients for eight years and has helped them get into some of the most elite U.S.programs including Kellogg, Harvard Business School (Harvard Full-Time MBA Profile), and Columbia Business School (Columbia Full-Time MBA Profile).
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