<p>I must admit, if someone had told me I could find out my ED decision weeks before I would otherwise find out by doing something quickly online, I would be so anxious, I just might do it. I think that almost any CCer would. Most of us are ON this board because we obsess so much over college; so surely it’s easy for us to criticize when we haven’t been in the situation.</p>
<p>Don’t forget how difficult temptation is to resist in the moment, especially if you haven’t had time to consider the possible consequences - and just go for it. Is this something that the rest of your life should depend on, because you were rejected from the business school that was right for you?</p>
<p>Hours is not a month. If they’re able to access results “hours” before they went out officially, chances are someone at Harvard flipped a switch that allowed people to see the results. They didn’t do anything underhanded.</p>
<p>I don’t see how they could prove with 100% certainty that it was the actual student who tried to access his page unless the univerisities can sieze ISP logs. I think they’re going to be dissappointed in any students that tried to see their info early, but I doubt they’ll revoke anyones admission over it.</p>
<p>rc251 - that’s a good point, but I think at the most competitive colleges where they’re inevitably looking for the littlest thing to distinguish crazygood students from eachother, this might just end up one of them.</p>
<p>Sweet, within two days this thread got 30 replies and 1500 views. That’s pretty freakin’ awesome I think it should be featured. Anyway, I agree with admissions counselors decisions to revoke acceptance.</p>
<p>I sort of have to know how intrusive the “hack” was before I agree using it was wrong. If there had been an attempt to prevent access to th information and the hack
abused security to get to it, that’s one thing. If the schools left the information available in such a way you didn’t really have to go through security to reach it, or you could get to it through some action you just never thought of trying from a webpage they gave you access to (click this link that’s not highlighted), the problem is the school’s sloopiness, not the student’s curiosity. </p>
<p>I find the idea that the school might reject someone for simply searching for his acceptance letter on their website ridiculous, for instance. They’ve essentially invited that kind of thing when they made search available on their site. They should know better than to put sensitive information where it could be accessed that way. And I remember when the College Board added a link to student’s website that let those who knew about it check their SAT scores the day before they were supposed to be available. Once the scores were published, accidently or not, students were no way at fault if they found out about it on a forum and accessed their scores.</p>
<p>Let me make myself clear. My son applied to one of the schools in question. On their webpage for prospective students is a link. Students are sent a user name and password so they can monitor progress on their application and see if their application is complete. It also provides limited status information. My son could see when the school pulled his folder for review, for example.</p>
<p>Beneath that link on the page is another one labeled, “Now that you are accepted”. If a student did no more than click that link and enter their username and password, they’ve done no wrong. It’s not a “hack” to use the link in a way it’s clearly designed to be used.</p>
<p>Aren’t most schools just starting to narrow down the field at this time, and still making committee decisions? I did not think that acceptances would be online 3 weeks before mailing them out. Does anyone know if any of the hackers actually found out that they had been admitted? </p>
<p>Anyway, at this point the competition is so close, and the applicants all equally brilliant, that the hackers gave the adcoms a reason to move them into the discard pile and go to bed early.</p>
<p>One person hacked into the system, and the rest followed. Although the other students didn’t actually commit the ‘crime’, it was still wrong to follow the hacker’s instructions. It’s like having a burglar break into a store for you to follow after him.</p>
<p>I don’t blame these students for their curiosity, though. I don’t know if I would have done it because I’m always wary about unofficial information. However, if I hadn’t known that a hacker had paved the way (say, for example, the instructions were posted on this board by someone who hadn’t revealed that the info. was lifted by way of hacking), then I probably would have been overwhelmed by curiosity and checked.</p>
<p>Also I think it would be different if it was for undergrads, who might have parental pressure and aren’t use to the whole college admission thing, versus GRADUATE students who should know better by now.</p>