NYULocal.com, a blog by NYU students that gets more hits than the NYU newspaper, recently provided a student perspective of GradeGuru at NYU:

“My roommate Lucie spent most of last night manically copying notes for a final today. Looking crazy-faced and muttering a little bit, she thrust at least ten pages– covered back and front– in my face, apparently expecting me to commiserate and make the whole wasting her life with anthropology work thing feel less terrible. All I could think, though was what a waste, she’s just going to trash those notes in twelve hours, possibly even burn them in some sort of useless gesture of finality. Irony of all ironies, Under the Button posted about their test run of GradeGuru.com that very day. The site pays for your class notes based on their user popularity and it’s possible to get up to 50 sets of notes before you even register. So while it may sound ridiculous to pay $50,000 a year only to skip class and buy a stranger’s notes, when you’re waking up at the ass crack of dawn for a core requirement, I’m pretty sure that GradeGuru will start to feel a little less reprehensible.”

LINK: http://nyulocal.com/on-campus/2008/11/25/gradegurucom-get-paid-for-note-taking/

After learning about GradeGuru on The Daily Pennsylvanian, the editors of U.Penn’s popular gossip and entertainment blog, underthebutton.com, decide to take a test run of GradeGuru to see what all the fuss was about. Underthebutton provides a great student perspective of GradeGuru…

“When we opened the DP yesterday and read about the opportunity to get paid for note-taking, we were thrilled. After all, once we’re done with a final, we dump all of the semester’s information out of our brains to make room for the next set of classes. Wouldn’t it be nice if we were rewarded long after our blue-books were handed in (you can say what you want about learning being its own reward; we’d rather have cold, hard cash)? Besides, since my degree will likely only prepare me for a career as a secretary, this would be great to list as relevant work experience.

But more than that, I was also excited that GradeGuru.com would help me with my econ problem. Okay, full disclosure: I have many econ problems, but the one that I’m most concerned about is my inability to concentrate at 10 a.m. during a class I abhor so wholeheartedly. My notes mostly consist of random graphs and doodles, plus some indecipherable words and equations. Clearly the best method to a good GPA.”

LINK: http://underthebutton.com/2008/11/we-test-drive-gradegurucom/

The Daily Pennsylvanian, U.Penn’s leading student newspaper, wrote about GradeGuru in an article titled, “Take good class notes – and get paid for it”. The article talks about how U.Penn is the number two school in terms of universities with the most points on GradeGuru.

“U.S. News and World Report may say Penn is tied for sixth place, but it’s number two for the quality of its students’ note-taking, according to GradeGuru.com. GradeGuru is a Web site that lets students from any university post old notes and study guides from classes and get paid for them. The notes are free to access. According to the site, the notes of Penn students who have posted their work have the second-highest ratings out of the 322 schools with registered student contributors.”

“The students who tried it say it’s a fast – and fulfilling – way to make money. College sophomore Landon Marder said posting notes on GradeGuru provides a unique satisfaction. ‘I worked really hard in making my notes and study guides, and it would be a shame for only myself to use my notes once,’ he said. ‘With GradeGuru, I am able to share my hard work with other people.’ Marder said he earned over $60 uploading his notes onto the site since the beginning of the year.”

The University of Pennsylvania has historically been one of the top school on GradeGuru, with notes coming mostly from business, communications and liberal arts students.

LINK: Daily Pennsylvanian Article