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emoryhopeful
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Complaints, Suggestions, Pet Peeves -- Speak up please 10 Oct 2007, 08:37
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I don't think "drive" narrows down the selection to elites and ultra elites. There are tons of very driven people following different paths to success. I know that I'm very driven, and my number 1 goal is Emory. There are many circumstances that can lead someone to apply elsewhere, and the information on this site can help them just as much as an elite school, if the information was available.

People come to this format for help on the GMAT, because they are driven to succeed. That drive could increase their score from 450 to 640, and they won't want to apply to Elite. After they get the 640 and realize no other schools are being talked about, they don't join in the discussion for B-School application because none of the discussions have ever applied to them. All I'm suggesting is that the club is great for UE/E but could improve otherwise.
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Complaints, Suggestions, Pet Peeves -- Speak up please 10 Oct 2007, 08:38
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Emory, while I think we all agree with you that this forum is very biased towards the more elite schools, its the self selecting nature of the members than the forum itself. Overall everyone here is very helpful to people no matter what schools they are going for, the more elite schools just attract a far greater number of applicants so they tend to be the ones that are talked about the most.

I think a big factor is not just the intimidation its also who is spending hours a day thinking and researching b-schools. I know if I was aiming for a school in the lower part of the USNews rankings I would not be stressing and obsessing over the process nearly as much as I am with my goal of an elite school. This website isn't businessweek or some other place that is exteremly easy to come across during a quick search for b-school information.

Maybe instead of GMATClub it should be MBAclub or MBAprospect since a lot of people who are done with the gmat dont bother visiting a site they consider only for GMAT stuff. That would much better reflect the whole intent of this place.
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Complaints, Suggestions, Pet Peeves -- Speak up please 10 Oct 2007, 08:49
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I agree with you River. I'm not faulting the current active users in any way at all. Really, I'm blaming the users who come here and want to know more about lower ranked schools, then never post any questions or information. I'm not sure of the number of registered users for this site, but not all of them are elite cluster applicants.

I don't want my topic to be misconstrued as placing blame or really even criticizing the forum, just a place I think it could improve.
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Complaints, Suggestions, Pet Peeves -- Speak up please 10 Oct 2007, 09:05
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Emory I think we all would agree with what you are saying but really I dont think there is much that could be done. I think the fact that the threads for the elite and above schools have tons of participants and stay at the top might have something to do with it. The trans elites and below have threads but they quickly disappear off the front page because they have fewer people replying.

Maybe all the pants pooping threads should be moved. Then have an area to talk about general application topics (resumes, recs, essays, visits, interviews, etc.) and then a forum with individual threads for specific schools. That forum should be locked so only mods could start threads, that way it wouldn't get filled with random posts. Have an announcement at the top to request new threads be started by a mod.

That might allow schools to get more visability because threads on Tepper, BYU, Emory, UNC, and the like wouldn't immediately be lost among all the other information that populates the applicant forum.
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I like that idea, but there are no guarantees it would work either. I know there's already currently forums that break down the schools in UE, E, TE, etc., but that are doesn't seem to get very much activity. It wouldn't hurt to try something like the idea you propose. The worst it can do is not work, and then revert back to the old format.
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Complaints, Suggestions, Pet Peeves -- Speak up please 10 Oct 2007, 09:22
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Quote:
I don't think "drive" narrows down the selection to elites and ultra elites. There are tons of very driven people following different paths to success. I know that I'm very driven, and my number 1 goal is Emory. There are many circumstances that can lead someone to apply elsewhere, and the information on this site can help them just as much as an elite school, if the information was available.
Show more


I could not agree with this more. For me, an elite was never an option, mostly because my husband and I live in Columbus, Ohio, he has a good job that he really likes and would not be willing to move somewhere else for 2 years. Also, a full-time program was not really an option since we really could not afford for me to stop working for 2 years because that would mean we'd have to sell our house, etc... Therefore, OSU Fisher PT MBA it is!

However, I do think that I'm a pretty driven person, which is what brought me to this site in the first place (plus, I'm also an information junkie and thoroughly research just about anything I plan to do!). And I can testify to the fact that for the few of us here who are not looking at elite schools, it can get a bit intimidating and/or irrelevent. I guess that I just keep reading and posting because I feel like I'm not not going to an elite because I'm not good enough, but because other life circumstances won't permit it. :-D

However, A LOT of the information on this board regarding the GMAT and application process can still be aplicable to just about anyone thinking about going to b-school. I felt that reading about the GMAT and application process helped me to turn in the best application possible and also gave me a good idea of what to expect during the process.

One big reason, however, that I think that most of the conversation here revolves around elite schools is that there are obviously much fewer of them. Once you start getting into the NEF and lower, there are many, many more schools and therefore there would be fewer people interested in each one. Plus, and I hate to say it, I don't think that folks stress out quite so much about their application to Podunk U Business School as they would about H/S/W, etc...
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Complaints, Suggestions, Pet Peeves -- Speak up please 10 Oct 2007, 09:35
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I think anyone who legitimately wants to further their career opportunities by pursuing an MBA is stressing about their application no matter where they are applying. They want to go to that school for a reason, and stress getting in no matter the school. Honestly, I feel like I could be a very competitive applicant for H/S/W but I'm applying to Emory and I'm still stressed about it. Its not Podunk U, but it certainly isn't UE either.

Anyone who cares about putting their best foot forward is stressing, no matter the school.
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Complaints, Suggestions, Pet Peeves -- Speak up please 10 Oct 2007, 11:56
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I just thought of one thing that might be nice after going through a few threads. A width restriction on avatars, most people do use pretty small ones but occasionally there are some that shift everything over an inch or two.
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Complaints, Suggestions, Pet Peeves -- Speak up please 10 Oct 2007, 12:01
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I dont know if one can limit image width, but I believe there is a phpBB setting that can restrict file size. Lowering this threshold should force smaller avatar sizes.
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Complaints, Suggestions, Pet Peeves -- Speak up please 10 Oct 2007, 18:18
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Elitist:

Incidentally, I did bring this up earlier. https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/t50133?start=40

OK, so you are interested in a local not-so-elite school and you want to fix this: Be a part of the solution. Can you spend 15 minutes a day researching schools in the elite and transelite category. Start a thread and see how it goes.

If you want some motivation, here is how the B-School App forum got started. When you have time, send a thank you note to lhotseface and rhyme.

https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/t30580?po ... sc&start=0

Pelihu gets credit for the B-School life forum.

See a trend?


Smilies:

Yes, we are aware of this. We will fix this. Babies, I tell ya!


Male/Female in the profile

I see kavet83's point. We will take this up.

Avatar

Some members on here need to get their act together and be a little more mature when it comes to respecting other member's sensibilities. I realize that all of you are perfectly normal and honorable people in real life and that the anonymity of an internet forum may be a prime catalyst in helping you get your freak on. But this is not what we want this place to become.

What else?
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Complaints, Suggestions, Pet Peeves -- Speak up please 10 Oct 2007, 18:34
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wow found this gem in that link

rhyme
I am 100% onboard with this idea.

Where is everyone applying?

I'm trying to narrow my list right now.

So far:

KGSM
Wharton
Harvard
MIT (maybe)
NYU
Yale
Georgetown


Chicago = no, too quantitive
...
Show more
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Complaints, Suggestions, Pet Peeves -- Speak up please 10 Oct 2007, 18:48
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I agree Praet, some peoples avatars are bordering on obsene. I mean if someone at my work saw mNeo's avatar on my screen I would have some serious explaining to do.

A few more suggestions:
How about a quick reply feature, I know some messageboards with formats very similar to this have a way you can write a response without having to go to a reply page. Just a little something to make it a little faster.


One thing I think would be awesome (not sure anyone else would agree) would be a forum for people to post their profiles, instead of just having a thread where everyone introduces themselves that is 25 pages long. That way people ask for someones profile or in the future people look for a profile of an accepted student for a given school than can easily find it. If people put the link to their thread about themselves in their member profile, it would be easy to find. I think it would also allow a person to post as detail a profile as they want. I know after I am done with applying I wont mind expanding on my profile so that people can have a more accurate view of who I am and what in my background may have helped get me in. As of right now we are all just a bunch of GMAT 7XX, GPA 3.XX WE: 5yrs engineering Extras: good

I think this might also help eliminate the trend of people posting threads on this forum asking what their chances are. While we all like to have people give opinions and feedback on our applications if we start getting a lot of these its going to be maddening.
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Complaints, Suggestions, Pet Peeves -- Speak up please 10 Oct 2007, 19:05
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That is very funny. Goes to show that you guys need to keep all your options open.

dabots
wow found this gem in that link

rhyme
I am 100% onboard with this idea.

Where is everyone applying?

I'm trying to narrow my list right now.

So far:

KGSM
Wharton
Harvard
MIT (maybe)
NYU
Yale
Georgetown


Chicago = no, too quantitive
...
Show more
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Complaints, Suggestions, Pet Peeves -- Speak up please 10 Oct 2007, 19:30
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dabots
wow found this gem in that link

rhyme
I am 100% onboard with this idea.

Where is everyone applying?

I'm trying to narrow my list right now.

So far:

KGSM
Wharton
Harvard
MIT (maybe)
NYU
Yale
Georgetown


Chicago = no, too quantitive
...
Show more


I wonder if he agrees with that statement once again...
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Complaints, Suggestions, Pet Peeves -- Speak up please 10 Oct 2007, 20:17
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dabots
wow found this gem in that link

rhyme
I am 100% onboard with this idea.

Where is everyone applying?

I'm trying to narrow my list right now.

So far:

KGSM
Wharton
Harvard
MIT (maybe)
NYU
Yale
Georgetown


Chicago = no, too quantitive
...
Show more


In rhyme's defense (not that he needs one), I will state that most of us changed our target schools lists a lot once we started researching schools. At first glance you may think that a certain school is too [insert undesired quality here] or not enough [insert desired quality here], but then we go to presentations, talk to people, visit websites, etc. and change our minds.

Actually, now that I think of it, a good indication that you've done your homework is if your list of target schools has actually changed at least a bit.

L.
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Complaints, Suggestions, Pet Peeves -- Speak up please 10 Oct 2007, 20:46
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dabots
wow found this gem in that link

rhyme

Chicago = no, too quantitive
...
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Hee hee... rhyme spelled quantitative wrong... hee hee ;-)
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Complaints, Suggestions, Pet Peeves -- Speak up please 10 Oct 2007, 20:51
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riverripper

One thing I think would be awesome (not sure anyone else would agree) would be a forum for people to post their profiles,
Show more


To add to that, maybe have a section in our official "profile" page that we can put in all this data. This way, all you need to do is click on a person's "profile" button and voila, you get their full profile, however much they wish to display. Right now we only have "Target Schools" and "Target/Real GMAT Scores".

As for additions, I think a few of us will get on the ball again once R1 and R2 apps are done to populate the "Essay Vault" idea that Avi suggested. The 2009ers should benefit from that.

Finally, somewhere to house the "Comprehensive Results" thread that someone started last year and I am continuing this year would greatly benefit future applicants so they can see what type of person gets into which schools. Maybe the new area will also house discussions on how much time we spent on each application, class visit thoughts, essay topics, etc... I know all of these are in random threads in the B-school App area, but eventually if we collect them all into one forum, like "B-school App Experience", maybe as a sub-forum to B-school Apps, it will make things easier to search?
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Complaints, Suggestions, Pet Peeves -- Speak up please 10 Oct 2007, 22:23
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riverripper
I agree Praet, some peoples avatars are bordering on obsene. I mean if someone at my work saw mNeo's avatar on my screen I would have some serious explaining to do.
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Hehe..Penguins are obscene? :P
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aurobindo
riverripper
I agree Praet, some peoples avatars are bordering on obsene. I mean if someone at my work saw mNeo's avatar on my screen I would have some serious explaining to do.

Hehe..Penguins are obscene? :P
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Thats what I was kidding about...then again someone might think you are trolling a little kids webpage hahaha.

Kryzak, you must have missed this sentence
riverripper
If people put the link to their thread about themselves in their member profile, it would be easy to find.
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I really like your idea of taking very valuable threads from past years and housing them in an area. That would be a leg up next spring when new people join up and start having the same discussions that we had this year, and the 09 guys had last year.
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Complaints, Suggestions, Pet Peeves -- Speak up please 11 Oct 2007, 08:35
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riverripper
Kryzak, you must have missed this sentence
riverripper
If people put the link to their thread about themselves in their member profile, it would be easy to find.

I really like your idea of taking very valuable threads from past years and housing them in an area. That would be a leg up next spring when new people join up and start having the same discussions that we had this year, and the 09 guys had last year.
Show more


Actually, I read your sentence to mean having a *link* in the profiles to a thread about themselves, is that correct? I was suggesting having the entire profile about themselves *in* the profile area, instead of just a link. That would reduce the "clutter" of threads on the main page.

Thanks for the support on the "past thread" forum. Praetorian, if you can create a forum area like "B-School Application Lessons Learned/Experiences" or something like that, I (and many of the other moderators) can start scouring the B-school Apps forum and move some of the good threads over there.

I definitely learned A LOT from reading some of the same threads from the 2007ers in the B-school app forum!
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