HBS Reverses Policy On Grade Disclosure
In a mid-December letter to all MBA students, Dean Jay Light announced that the School was dropping its seven-year-old policy that prohibited students from revealing their grades to potential employers. The change takes effect with the Class of 2008 entering this fall.
“Fundamentally, I believe it is inappropriate for HBS to dictate to students what they can and cannot say about their grades during the recruiting process,” Light wrote. “I believe you and your classmates earn your grades and should be accountable for them, as you will be accountable for your performance in the organizations you will lead in the future.” Under the new policy, students have the option to authorize the School to release their transcripts to potential employers.
While broadly supported by the faculty, the policy change had little support among students. In a Student Association poll of 1,559 of nearly 1,800 MBA students, 87 percent opposed the change, 6 percent favored it, and 7 percent were indifferent. A letter to the administration signed by nineteen of twenty Student Association representatives argued that grade disclosure “would have a significant negative impact on the learning environment and overall student experience at HBS.” The students maintained that grade disclosure would lead to decreased cooperation and collaboration and less willingness to take risks in second-year course selection.
In his letter to students, Light took note of these objections and stated his belief that “the transition back to our original policy can be managed — with careful consideration of the implementation issues many of you have raised — to minimize any such [adverse] effects.”
HBS allowed students to disclose their grades until 1998, when concern about the two-cohort system — with one starting classes in September and the other in January — resulted in the change. Because many courses for the separate groups used different cases, it was difficult to compare grades between the two, prompting the policy change. However, the two-cohort system came to an end beginning with the Class of 2003.
Last September the faculty approved a formal review of the nondisclosure policy. The committee of faculty and administrators charged with this task, led by MBA Program Chair Rick Ruback, unanimously recommended the policy change, as did the broader faculty in a late fall meeting. Acknowledging the student opposition, Ruback said, “I look forward to creating the student-faculty committees that will ensure the best possible implementation of the new policy.”
