HBS / ApplyYourself screw-up

Apparently, there was a major screw-up involving Harvard Business School and the ApplyYourself website. Someone found out a back door which enabled all applicants to check the status of their applications! The method was explained in the BW forums, and promptly deleted by the moderators. However, it can still be found in the PowerYogi blog, another LBS R2 applicant.

Here's an official statement (not very polite and too authoritary for my tastes... as if all high-potential leaders are 100% ethical) sent by HBS, after this mess:

The mission of Harvard Business School is to educate leaders who make a difference in the world. We aspire to achieve this mission in all our activities, and our admissions process reflects our commitment to the highest standards of integrity.

Earlier today, we sent the following e-mail to all applicants currently in the admissions process:

We understand that some users of ApplyYourself, the on-line application and decision notification system we employ, have inappropriately attempted to access decision information about their own applications before the specified notification date. We take this abuse of the ApplyYourself system very seriously. Such behavior is unethical and inconsistent with the behavior we expect from high-potential leaders we seek to admit to our program. We want to assure all applicants, however, that:

• HBS decision information housed within ApplyYourself is neither complete nor final until our application notification dates
  
• The application information that all applicants and recommenders submitted to us has been, and continues to be, secure
  

We appreciate your interest in Harvard Business School, and we want to underscore to all our applicants our commitment to make and communicate our admissions decisions in the most rigorous, fair, and secure fashion.

Sincerely,

Brit K. Dewey, Managing Director of MBA Admissions & Financial Aid
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field Road
Dillon House
Boston, MA 02163