Why we made StudyBuddies
Why did we make this?
Zoom University makes going to class and studying an isolating process. Instead of finding people to sit next to every day, you’re trying to find time to rewatch the 3 lectures you’re behind on. No one should have to go through the stress of online class alone. That’s why we created StudyBuddies. StudyBuddies is a way to make sure you keep on top of what you need to do with help from your peers in your class — like it would be if you were in person.
Great, so you’re going to find me StudyBuddies, but what does that process actually look like?
After you go to your college website and click “Find your buddies,” you will find a form. This form is going to ask you for some information to verify that you’re a student and also understand your study habits. With an understanding of your study habits, we will be able to find the people in your class that you will most vibe with.
We then take your study habits and find your buddies with our matching algorithm. The algorithm will account for any odd numbers in your classes. For example, if 5 people sign up in a class, we wouldn’t want to leave one person out, so we put all 5 of you together! So in extreme cases, you can end up with a group of 2–5 buddies. However, in most cases you will end up with a group of 4.
After we put your group together, we send you your group’s contact information so that you can start discussing homework and asking questions as quickly as possible. We’ll be sending you your group’s phone numbers and email addresses with a text and an email. Feel free to use whichever medium is most convenient to stay in contact.
We also want to stress that this isn’t a high commitment endeavor. While we would love it if you all became the bestest of friends, what we’re really looking to facilitate is a small community of people ready to help you with any questions you may have over the duration of the course. The ultimate study group.
How does the matching algorithm work?
After you enter your study habits, we take your information and compare it with every other person in your class. The closer a person’s study habits are to yours, the higher we make their score. The people with the highest scores are paired with you. Then, based on the next person’s study habits, we recalculate everyone’s scores — repeating the process. This way everyone finds the group that they most vibe with.
What do I gain from signing up with this?
You gain study buddies! Research has shown that studying in groups is significantly better than studying alone (WashU Research, Stanford Research). We have personally found that working with other people increased our motivation and desire to learn. However, the casual interactions which allow us to find study groups in classes don’t naturally happen online. StudyBuddies helps bridge that gap.
What happens to my data?
Your data privacy is our number one priority which is why everything is stored in a secure database. The only people we share your email and phone numbers with are the buddies that you are matched with.
After you fill out the form, the data is sent securely to our database. From there, we will load it into our matching algorithm to match you with people you vibe with. Finally, we will send you an email and a text with your buddies.
Why do you need my phone number?
It’s really hard to have a conversation over email and we understand that. We ask for your phone number so that it’s easy to set up group chat with your new study buddies. We will send you a text with your buddies so that you can just click on the number and text them straight away.
Why do you need my email?
We will be sending you an email, in addition to a text, with your buddies. This will be a backup if the text gets lost, or just want to read it on your computer. This email will have your buddies’ phone numbers and emails in them so that if they don’t respond to your text, you can email them through their school email.
We really hope this helps you out!
Best,
Sam and Varun
