Admissions "Study Group"

Question

Would anyone be interested in forming a small study group for the 2013 admissions process?

I am looking for individuals who:
 - dont mind reading 4 or 5 sets of essays/resumes from 4 different people
 - are willing to take/give constructive criticism
 - offer some editing insight 
 - take it seriously and are as objective as possible (I will read your essays as critically as I can if you can do the same for me)
 - have similar target schools so that I have better insight into the essays (Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Cornell, Wharton) 
 - can get their essays/resumes in early (would prefer not to read anyone essays the week of the deadline as I plan on putting the finishing touches on mine)

Kind of the 4 people in the group to just help each other with ideas and cleaning up essays/resumes. None of us are admissions consultants, but we can probably help each other.

So if anyone would like to join, please pm me or post below. I will most likely set up a Google group of the first 5 people who want to join (including myself). I would welcome all but feel I would be overextending myself and not be able to give everyones information enough time to review properly. If I get a group of 5 people together, I will repost that the spots are full and someone else can piggy back off of this and start with the next group of 5 if interested.

Cheers!

RoyHalladay · Answer

This is a great idea. Unfortunately, our target schools do not overlap well...but I'm still researching and will likely make changes to the list.

I think it would make sense to know which round everyone is shooting for. I'll be done (hopefully) with the GMAT in Aug, which means I'll really only be able to get 2 schools for R1.

Dbalks · Answer

Thats a good point about the rounds... I am shooting for 3 schools in round 1 and 2 schools in round 2.

scorpionz · Answer

Dbalks, this is a great initiative which will serve everyone in the group very well!

Just one tip, if I may -
Try to make your group as diverse as possible instead of signing up just the first 4 folks. Having gone through this process recently and having already interacted quite a bit with my new colleagues at Booth, I can't stress enough on the immense importance of having a diverse group in such activities. People working in the same profession tend to get sandboxed and most people end up having similar thought processes. Having a pair of eyes reading your application material with a completely different mindset & thought process will help you identify chinks that you thought never existed...

Good luck!

finmaster · Answer

Great idea. Here's a group I've created for this purpose. I've made it a Private group. bschoolessaygroup@googlegroups.com Just send an e-mail and I will add you to this group.

mybusiness · Answer

I would be game. I am only applying to Harvard and INSEAD R1, but Cornell is on my list for R2 (if I don't get accepted to Harvard or INSEAD). I am going to be submitting mine pretty far ahead of time, I hope. I am 100% game to read/edit a ton of essays.

str1der · Answer

I am game - already applied last year so have a sense of the overall process. School list is also a bit similar - hit me up on more details pls.

finmaster · Answer

PM me your e-mail messages and I'll invite you to the 'B-School Essay Group'.

Dbalks · Answer

fin,

How many people are you accepting in your group? My original intent here was to keep the number limited to like 4 or 5. I think the more people you hav the more likely social loafing will occur. In other words, if you have 100 people sign up, everyone will submit their essays and expect them to be read, but in reality it is impossible to read 100 peoples essays to 5 different schools. So what you might get is someones essays read 20 times and someone else's not even looked at.

Str1der, mybusiness, I will PM you if you still want to join. I also had one other person PM me and say they would be game, so I will PM them as well.

finmaster · Answer

anything less than 10 should be ok in my opinion. Wotsay you??

Dbalks · Answer

Too many people for me.. I figure on average everyone has 4 schools, 3-4 essays per school. Multiply 16 essays per person times 10 people and there is no way I can commit to reading and seriously critiquing 150+ essays....

finmaster · Answer

hmm. You do have a point there. Well, for starters, I haven't received even one PM yet. lol. Let the PM's come and I will close the group at 4-5 but first of all people have to start showing interest, right?

arpan31289 · Answer

Hi there,

I would be game to join. I am planning my GMAT in October and will be applying to round 2 but my target schools overlap with DBalks and I would love to give my inputs to essays while I am preparing for the GMAT.

Regards,

Arpan

denys09 · Answer

Hi, I'd like to join as well. Are you limiting the ranking of the school in your group? My top two choices are University of Texas and UNC at Chapel Hill?

faro · Answer

I'm happy to help with Tuck applications

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