Mystery Business School Student Revealed

Gaining acceptance to either the Harvard or Stanford Business School is certainly not easy. And attending both institutions, at the same time, is seemingly impossible.

Betsy Spence, a 34-year old New York City resident, performed the nifty trick without even knowing it.

Spence became a cult heroine at the B-School following an administrative blunder. The Business School failed to remove her from the Class of '86, although she turned down Harvard in order to enroll at Stanford.

After opting for Stanford two years ago, Spence wrote letters to Harvard's admissions, finanical aids and housing offices notifying them of her decision. She even received a form letter back from Cambridge querying her why she chose the Stanford Graduate School of Business Administration.

It was the last Spence heard about the matter, until she received a strange long-distance phone call from "Charlie," a member of Section D, while studying for her first year final exams last year in Palo Alto.

The caller asked several personal questions, including whether she had ever applied to the Harvard Business School. Initially, Spence recalled, she thought it was an obscene call from "a pervert with an MBA fetish."

But as the call progressed, Spence learned that during the 1984-85 school year she was officially enrolled in Section D and became a mythic figure among classmates and a favorite target for professors.

"She became our mascot," said sectionmate Lisbeth Barron. "Anything that must have gone wrong Betsy must have done it." Added Jonathan Bower, "Betsy nosed out Mr. Potato Head for our affection." One student is rumored to have handed in a final exam with Spence's name on it.

During their first year, the amiable 5-ft., 10-inch brunette's new-found sectionmates nominated her inabsentia to be the group's academic representative. Spence lost the election, said Bower, because her absence prevented her from "making enough unfulfillable promises."

Both HBS professors Michael E. Porter and Steven R. Fenster '63 cold-called Spence, which faculty members often do to put students on the spot and insure student preparation. When no student replied, other students responded aloud tongue-in-cheek that Spence must be ill.

Porter and Fenster taught their classes in the second semester of the first year, so Spence--despite her 100 per cent cut record--was somehow able to make it through the fall semester. The Business School's registrar office could find no transcript for Spence.

This spring, Section D asked her to send them a curriculum vitae to be included in the group's resume binder. And on graduation day, they tried unsuccessfully to have Betsy Spence awarded a diploma, with their version of a Betsy Spence-look-a-like ready to accept it.

Picking an imitator was not easy, because to this day, no one from the section has ever met Spence. They have spoken to her on the phone during occasional parties, but their knowledge of her personality and appearance is largely restricted to their imaginations.

"She is a very glamorous, Alexis Colby of Dynasty type," Barron speculated. "I always thought the real reason she had decided not to come to Harvard was because she was discovered by MGM on her way to Cambridge."

"Definitely one of those sun-loving, fun-loving types that everybody likes," Bower said. "The spirit of Betsy was especially strong at parties. She seemed to shine then."

Sectionmates joked that Spence was one of the most popular people in the class, because of her "low-profile" manner. "In a closed tight knit section where people get on each others nerves, no one ever got mad at her," Bower added.

What is the real Betsy Spence like? Spence, who was chairperson of the Stanford B-School's social committee said ironically Section D is fairly accurate.

"I am a friendly and easy going person with a good sense of humor," said the soon-to-be staffer in Chemical Bank's retail division. "But I am also reserved. I'm not really a chatty type of person."

While Spence said she "really had a good time" at Stanford, she added she also enjoyed attending Harvard, even if it was only in spirit.

"This whole thing has been really fun and strange," she said. "I sort of felt like I made a new group of friends, who I'm bound to meet at some point, maybe in New York."