Imitation is Not Always Flattery

The LA Times today carries a story about the UCLA Anderson's School's use of the Turnitin.com system for catching plagiarism in essays of applicants for the MBA program.  The system is more commonly used for checking reports written for class assignments by already-enrolled students.  Excerpt:

..."The more we can nip unethical behavior in the bud, the better," said Andrew Ainslie, a senior associate dean at UCLA Anderson. "It seems to us nobody ought to be able to buy their way into a business school."  In the school's first review of essays from potential MBA candidates this year, Turnitin found significant plagiarism — beyond borrowing a phrase here and there — in a dozen of the 870 applications, Ainslie said. All 12 were rejected...


Full article at http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-plagiarism-20120129,0,2954802.story

Faithful readers of this blog will note that Turnitin itself has a questionable practice of its own:
http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2011/09/turnitin-or-turncoat.html




UPDATE: Anderson rejected 52 applicants for plagiarism.  See:
http://poetsandquants.com/2012/02/01/ucla-rejects-12-mba-applicants-for-plagiarism/