<p>Skidad has an excellent point(He had more... But I'm pointing out one). </p>
<p>Even though HBS didn't say, "If you look at decision earlier, you're out." The students should realize that they weren't given permission. It is the same thing as looking into a locked file cabinent because you found out the combination to check the decision. Nobody said, "Don't look in that cabinent!"... But it was locked for a reason.</p>
<p>On a related note a friend of mine was with me when i sent off my letters... She held the envelopes to the light and wrote down what a teacher said and decided that she agreed and wanted to tell me. I just asked, "Really good, Good, Average or Bad?" When she said, "I think he wants you as a son... Or maybe he wants to marry you?", I told her to not tell me. I'll be honest... I really want to know(now at least... and really at the moment also). I plan on asking him after March 10...</p>
<p>Many of you have excellant points, and I agree that, if I can open a door with a credit card, it still means that it was locked. Also, the people who applied to HBS should be intelligent enough to be able to examine the situation and look at the potential consequences. If they are unable to take a step back and look at the situation, why should they be accepted if they do not have enough common sense or morals? They might have been Harvard Business Graduates, and can you imagine what some of them would have done in their lives? Give in to temptation every time it passed buy? I would like to think nmot, but one can not be sure, and I think that HBS made a good descision when they rejected those people.</p>
<p>italianboarder, while I'm sure you'll get into at least most of your schools, let me tell you this: you won't be getting in because of your modesty.</p>
<p>Mickmouse301: curiosity is human nature. This is why I believe that ApplyYourself was in massive error in this situation. The specific reason for securing sites is to protect them from human curiosity, and in this case, all one had to do was add a few characters to an ApplyYourself web address to access data that should have been secure. It is NOT secure if anyone can access it by following a few simple instructions online. Nor is following a few simple instructions online hacking. I'd hardly compare accessing this data to unlocking a door with a credit card - as I said, all one had to do was add some characters to an ApplyYourself web address. To those who haven't viewed the instructions the applicants followed, I encourage you to read them. You'll see that following them would be extremely easy.</p>
<p>I think that denying all those applicants was a little harsh considering they had no idea that viewing decisions early was illegal. If they had forewarning, that would be a different story. But, as it stands, all they did was view decisions on an online database that was, in my opinion, guilty of massive negligence - it was because of their security flaws that over 100 normal, curious, excited, human applicants were denied admission to what was to most probably their top choice.</p>
<p>To be honest, if I had found myself in the same position as these applicants, I probably would have checked as well.</p>
<p>"On a related note a friend of mine was with me when i sent off my letters... She held the envelopes to the light and wrote down what a teacher said and decided that she agreed and wanted to tell me. I just asked, "Really good, Good, Average or Bad?" When she said, "I think he wants you as a son... Or maybe he wants to marry you?", I told her to not tell me. I'll be honest... I really want to know(now at least... and really at the moment also). I plan on asking him after March 10...."</p>
<p>Sorry, how was that at all related to misusing ApplyYourself to prematurely view admissions decisions to Harvard Business School? Italianboarder, we all know that you're superhuman and all, but we don't need reminders. From my experience with your previous posts you'll take any opportunity to extrapolate on your godliness, but this one was the basest of all.</p>
<p>You basically said, "There was a reason that applicants weren't allowed to view their decisions early. On a related note, I got a rec that is probably better than any of yours." Sorry, but I just couldn't let it go. My apologies because I really don't mean this in a mean way, but I thought that someone as book smart as you would know when to close their mouth.</p>
<p>:) This is going to be interesting... And I agree. I usually do. I've stopped posting as much because I realized that whatever I want to say, Tom will probably say it better. :D Especially that part about italianboarder. :D</p>
<p>"I understand that the temptation to peek must have been overwhelming."- Periwinkle the post before.
"On a similar note: two of my son's teachers offered to show him their recs before they were sent. He told them that they were supposed to be confidential and that he trusted them to be fair." Neato on post 18.</p>
<p>I decided to share something that happened to me. I could have read through the entire rec(The envelope was a full legal size package(The paper wasn't folded)), but I didn't.(That is related to Neato's post)</p>
<p>Now I actually look back and think, "I really want to know what they think of me." I am compelled to ask the teacher if they would like to share their thoughts after the 10th. I'm guessing most won't agree, but I'm still burning with curiosity. (Related to Peri's post(In regards to the power of curiosity))</p>
<p>I definently boast more here(CC) than I normally do. I'll try to be mindful of that.</p>
<p>Periwinkle, typing a correct URL is not analogous to saying "I was able to open the door with a credit card, so it wasn't really locked." It's more like saying, "there were thousands of unlocked doors, and I looked behind the correct one".</p>
<p>Now again, I do think it was unethical, but ApplyYourself really dropped the ball here. They didn't just install a bad lock; they didn't install <em>any</em> lock.</p>
<p>It is unethical, and the situation is kind of like Pandora's Box. She opened the box, and horrible things came out. Curiousity is defintley a human nature, Tom, but these people were extremely intelligent and they should realize that the information was priveldged information that should not have been looked at.</p>
<p>I was wondering, how did HBS know? Did the people have those sign in things on the internet for the schools, and it just was there? Sorry if I sound ignorant on the computer matter, but that is because I am not great with computers =). I think that I would have probably looked at the results. I know that right now, I REALLy want to have the results for boarding school, but I know I have to wait.........</p>
<p>hmm I am kind of taking both sides on the situation, but I believe that HBS was entitled to do what they did, but it is not compleltey fair. Hmm.</p>