Your opinion: Admission consultants in applicant threads?

Question

hello everyone,

The applicant threads are supposed to be for applicants. I notice that admission consultants are now participating in the applicant threads and I am not sure if that is something we should permit.

Does anyone have a problem with admission consultants posting in applicant threads? I certainly dont want every admissions consultant taking over every applicant thread.

Let me know what you think!

osdihg · Answer

Well I'm not sure what the drawbacks are, other than maybe advertising their services, but I do believe they have a lot of good insight to add and some inside info sometimes that could be really helpful. Again, I'm not sure what the drawbacks are of allowing them to participate.

tdave · Answer

Perhaps each consultant should have a dedicated thread (like the consultants have on the BW forums). Direct participation in applicant threads will become problematic if a lot more admissions consultants join GMAT Club.

2012dreams · Answer

Isn't there a consultant sub-forum? I'd actually prefer they not participate in the threads. I will say gmatclub is lucky that only some of the more notable consultants post here, but it's only a matter of time until the "I went to a top 10 school so now I'm a consultant" types start trying to take over the boards. That's one reason I don't post on BW forums anymore, too many people with no track record or credentials claiming to be consultants and spamming threads. I definitely think their posts should be in the consultant subforum only.

Aenigma · Answer

(Maybe make this a poll?)

Since I phased myself out of the HBS thread, I actually haven't seen admissions consultants participating anywhere on this sub-forum. That said, with the exception of Sandy, whom I find sort of... alarmingly funny, I don't care too much for admissions consultants. It could be sour grapes 'cause I could never ever ever afford their services, and I do think they have valuable things to add. But there is already an entire GMAT Club forum allocated to their advice, free services, profile evaluations, etc. I don't think things are too crazy on this board yet but it could get out of hand if they all just hop in wherever. There are some well-established consultants around here but honestly at this point, I've gotten into a single top-10 school, I've read a bunch of books, edited my friends' essays:  I  could pretty much be selling myself as a consultant.

The question I ask myself mainly is this: what's their agenda? They're not here to be altruists, for the most part: they're here to drum up business. Whereas I really like to think that most of the participants on the GC forums are here for mutual aid and support.

shadow · Answer

i think the problem of admission consultants running rampant in the app threads can be averted by properly vetting these consultants when they first start posting.

for example, few people would have a problem with some of the more well known consultants posting (i.e. sandy, linda from accepted) in the threads. but if an unknown consultant starts posting, a mod can ask them to limit their posts to the admission consultant subforum until we can get an idea of the value they bring to the site.

shana22 · Answer

I dislike seeing the admissions consultants in the school threads. Not only am I unsure of how trustworthy they really are (excluding nobody), but I think they detract from the sense of community.

theDreamChaser · Answer

I don't mind Sandy's posts on HBS thread, coz some of them are quite helpful

but I would hate to see consultants posting advertisement in these thread, so far haven't seen much

LB20 · Answer

I definitely appreciate the advice that the trustworthy consultants provide (and I like the idea of having it be filtered or vetted out), but I did like that the applicant threads and this forum were basically all about all of us stressing and venting and helping each other out. I'm not saying that the consultants can't read our forums and perhaps use the information to fuel their own threads or forum within GMAT club, but I agree that in general, it was nice to have a community of applicants to particular schools that was supportive without having to weed through consultants advice when you may or may not want any of it.

shadow · Answer

there have been a few blatant advertising posts in some of the threads without any advice being offered (notably the HBS thread). i've been deleting such posts as i saw them, and warning the posters to stop spamming the threads

theDreamChaser · Answer

thanks shadowsjc! that's probably I haven't seen that many of those posts...hehe

Aenigma · Answer

I'd like to see a thread for admissions consultants to debate whether they want any applicants participating in  their  threads. It's only fair.

Your opinion: Admission consultants in applicant threads?

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