New member application

[Aaron Lussier]

My team is looking to put together an application to give to new students coming on to the team, I was wondering do any other teams do this, and if you do could you send a file of what it looks like. I have heard the Technokats have one, maybe I could get some ideas from it for our application. And anybody else who might have one.:D

[Ashley Weed]

Hmm, our team has never done anything like that. I think that is an excellent idea. Perhaps I shall borrow some of the input that will appear in this thread.

[Clark Gilbert]

Hmmmm....application? (an application to get on the team?) (we dont have no stinkin application :p)

If so i think you're mistaken...but i'm still gonna help :D


The one thing we do have is called our Student Handbook (http://www.technokats.org/documents/handbook.doc) . This handbook has the rule outlines and "applications" for certain positions on the team (driver, operator, student team lead, etc.)

Hope this helps.

[Trashed20]

i think CD has an application. try searching the white papers for their stuff

[mtaman02]

we mainly interview the new members b4 they actually start working with us. we basically feel them out. we also use like a sign up sheet that preety much askes for contact info house # email name and emergency contact just in case something goes wrong we also ask them for like a profile type thingy sry no visual picture of it but something to give u an idea i guess

[mtaman02]

the prfanity cr** should not be allowed to be used naughty naughty member

[Brandon Martus]

Originally posted by Trashed20
i think CD has an application. try searching the white papers for their crap

theres not an application in the white papers. if there was one in there, however, i can bet it probably wouln't be 'crap'.

[Trashed20]

er, crap was a bad word, stuff would be better

[Kristina]

When our team first became a class (with limited spots) we started using applications. The first year 160 people applied and our teacher/advisor reviewed them all. This year, he put the team captain and I in charge of the proccess. We reviewed all of the applications, took 1/2 of the team based on stellar responses and known skills and then interviwed the last half to choose the remaining spots.

I don't have a copy of the exact application, but this is what it asked:
Name, Grade, GPA, Current Science & Math Class
Please Rate which field you would like to be in: Design & Construction, Animation, Programming, Management
Why do you want to be on the robotics team?
What skills or experience do you have in the field you have selected 1st choice?
How have you exemplified team work?
What one characteristic would make you an asset to our team?

I know that these are pretty standard questions but they weed out people too lazy to fill out an application and gives us a background on people who don't know. It gave Jeff and I jumping off points for questions for the interview which was very helpful so we could have a more personal interview rather than the generic questions that can't really let us see the actual applicant. Then at the interviews we asked them questions more specific to the field they want to be in. Design and construction asked them what ideas they had for building an extendor, programming set up a programming question, I asked for management what ideas for fundraising and streamlining efficiancy they had, and I don't remember what animation was. The more ideas people shoot out (no matter how silly) the better because we like people who aren't afraid to brainstorm and speak their minds.

I think I could go on forever but if anyone has more questions about our process I would be happy to answer them.

[Chris]

Being an Alum from team 151 i think applications is a horrible idea. I think its better to have a series of team building activities and seeing how people work and work together and make judgements off of that. You can't tell about a person from an application, you don't know who'll get hooked and who won't. who will do work and who wont. Whats the point of asking GPA? how does that translate into FIRST at all? Keep in mind there are a lot of AP, and high level kids in FIRST but it wasn't meant only for them, FIRST was meant for the lower level kids who maybe wouldn't have considered engineering and to give them a chance. Its like colleges basing stuff on SAT's they are going to decided to weather or not to let us in on how we perform on some sillyA#$ test at 8:00 on a Saturday morning? Asking GPA on a FIRST application is the same thing. I think everybody deserves a chance and go from there. We had some kids on our team who weren't in the highest level classes but were the hardest working and most dedicated, they worked to keep their grades up because of FIRST. Thats what this is supposed to be.

My $.02

Chris
Currently Teamless
00-02 Wildcards (151)

[Kristina]

Sorry...I should have probably specified that the first set of questions basically mean nothing.

The only time when GPA would come into question would be if it's lower than a 2.0 (C-Average, which honestly shouldn't be that hard). To be on sports teams, choir, band, and any clubs of the like...the school wants them to have at least a 2.0 because if they can't maintain a C-Average without activities, how are they supposed to when they devote hours to an organization. Trust me, our team is and will always be a very diverse group, and not the "brain trust" of the school or science dept. We turned down many people who had over a 4.5 GPA and accepted those with a 2.75.

And I agree, applications aren't the best method. I mean, look at college applications, writing about those horrendous essay topics & SAT scores can't possibly gauge whether a person is fitted to that school but its their best method for now. I would have loved to do team building excercises but with over 100 applicants and not that much time, it just wouldn't be plausible for our team.

[Chris]

What grounds do you use to pick?




Chris
Currently teamless
00-02 Wildcards (151)

[DanLevin247]

My team is also a class at my school, which anyone can join. Therefore, we have the slight problem of slackers and stoners getting the "hey! battlebots!" mentallity, and taking away from the fun of the class. Outside of school is the place where the real devoted kids do their handywork....sadly, out of some 50 kids spread out between two classes, only about 10 are totally passionate about the real aspect of the team. We don't have an application or anything like that, if you want to join the team, prove to us that you can be devoted, and we'll except you...I guess that's our philosophy.

[Kristina]

I'm guessing you're directing your question to me. Well...there are many many grounds on which we choose our team. Each captain of the fields look for something a little different but I would say that our #1 priority is dedication. If they have that spark, they'll stick with the team and contribute in whatever way they can. We don't want those people with a billion AP Classes, Clubs, who simply want to join because it will look good on their application. I'm probably the #1 person on my team to vouch that it has nothing to do with smarts. Well ok, I have a pretty high GPA and all those other numbers but I'm absolutely horrible at science and I don't like math at all. But I'm good at what I need to do and that's leadership skills and organization. Thank goodness they let me on the team because I've come to a new appreciation of engineering and I think thats what its about.

Animation and Programming did their interviews seperately but these are the basis of the interviews & criteria of the people that I helped interview.

Design & Construction: Experience helps but not necessary. We fish out of people any semi-engineering encounters they've had. We've heard stories of people who have taken apart remote controls to try to make them into tasers, rocket cars that almost exploded in one guys face, and all these crazy stories. We love those because it shows their interest in how things work and those are the best people during brainstorming for ideas. We also showed them the goal, asked them if they had any ideas for grabbing it and as long as they made an effort and didn't say "um, no ideas" we liked it.

Management: Sorry, but this is only for those who are organized, my key priority. Don't care how smart you are, you have to be able to sort things out, keep track of everything, and be extremely responsible (since our teacher does give management his credit card # to order parts, airilne tickets, and reserve hotels). Also, those who have leadership skills and will be respected amongst the class.

[Ashley Weed]

Does anyone have requirements for your team on how much time you must participate to be a member and to travel with the team?


Are members in a group and work only within that group, or do you allow members to 'float' between groups. Example, would the webmaster be able to write an article for the PR team, or help the build team construct the base, or do you have them stay within the internet/computer group?

[Jeff Waegelin]

We basically allow people to do what they want, as needed. Everyone has a primary responsibility, but if their group is not working that day, they can work on something else if they are needed. We have a pretty small team, though (less than 20), so we can get away with it.

As for applications, I may be able to get a copy of ours. I'll have to ask our captain for it, but I'll try to get it soon. We basically ask a few questions like "Why do you want to join" and "What can you contribute to our team", ask what the person's interests are, whether they can provide their own transportation home and to Visteon on weekends (not necessary, but we ask anyways). We also ask for 2 teacher recommendations. It's not perfect, but it helps us filter out the few people we really don't want. Most applicants get accepted, so its not really that important.

[Jferrante]

Most teams that use applications seem to be trying to determine who to allow to join, and most of these teams seem to do so because there robotics team is also a class with a limited size. Last year my team (506) decided to try applications. We were a purely after school club so did not have a restriction in size and most of the members who stayed from beginning to end were willing to put in at least some work on a fairly regular basis. We didn't use the applications to turn anyone away and anybody who wished to join could. So why did we use em then?

We needed to be able to understand who could work and how much work they could do. We wanted to know that we could count on project leaders to be present at all meetings so that there was someone that always knew exactly what was going on with each system and subsystem. We also wanted to know if anyone had skills that could help us. Why have someone who has never sodder'd before take a guess as to how its done when we have someone that can teach them the propper technique to build stronger, longer lasting connections.

I dont have our application handy, but since I was the one who wrote many of the questions i'll can still remember most of em, I'll list em below as a reference to anyone interested (exluding the obvious name, grade, etc (we didnt ask for GPA)).

have you been on the school robotics team before?*
what fields would you be most interested in working in?*
what fields would you be most interested in being a leader in?*
what previous experience do you have?
what other clubs/activities will you be participating in durring the robotics season?**+
can you work on weekends/vacations?* **
can you work late (after the last buses leave)?* **
how many hours a week can you promise (on average)?**+
Is there anything you would like to add (please be brief)?

* multiple choice answer
** used to determine dedication/availibility (should this person be given crucial projects or be made a project leader)
+ cross-check question (if there in X clubs can they truly give Y hours?)

total we had about 10-15 questions not counting name, grade, etc. A few people did decide not to join because they were to lazy to fill out the application.

[Andy Baker]

The TechnoKats use this "info sheet" for all incoming members, even veterans. It's pretty simple. Change it for your own needs and use it as you wish.

(see attached Word doc.)

Andy B.

[Jessi]

hey, my team does applications. the one on our website is from two years ago but its still good. so if you go to cyberblue234.com and click on downloads it should be there. personally i like the application thing. the team also has to go through an interview process, and the old members have to do it also. i think that should help if you still need something. let me know.

jessi

[Dan 550]

What's better than applications? Fund raising! With a large group of new members having joined after an open members call, hit every member with a fund raiser quota that is equal. Say you have fifty members and need to raise ten grand by December 9th and it's now September 10th. That comes to each member having to raise $200 in 90 days. That's only $2.22 a day! In a candy sales fund raiser, if each member sold 5 bars a day at $1 each, and the sale makes one full turn per bar (that's a sale at double the purchase price), the sale would be more than successful. That is, in a perfect world, it would.

[Aaron Lussier]

I would like to thank every body who responded to this thread It has really helped my team get a feel for what to put on the application:D

[D.Stephenson]

871 doesnt have one....

[Chris Nowak]

Hmmm...we don't have an application either. Unfortunately, our team is primarily run by the leaders(engineers and a teacher). Not to say thats terrible in this situation, but we have no "managers" team, although I wish we did. If we were to have an application to consider people for entry (ludicrous anyway just because we have like 25 people) then the leaders, who(most of them), unfortunately, place almost no trust in the students IMO, would have to review them and while we know they would be impartial they wouldn't know the applicants as well as the students would.

In my opinion, the ideal solution is to kick people out if they cause trouble or don't work. That might sound harsh, but only through experience will you know if a person is truly good to work with. I also would say that no one should be kicked out because of their competence with the subject matter unless it would pose a serious problem(such as training animators taking away from the project). In the spirit of FIRST, anyone can fit in somewhere. Also, i agree that a minimum GPA requirement is good. Grades reflect a lot. If you can't keep them up reasonably, you shouldn't be allowed to come.

[Mike Martus]

At Chief Delphi we have used the application and interview process from the very start 8 years ago.

The application will allow you to gather important information about the person and facilitate the team selection process.

Our team has several basic requirements a student must meet before they apply. These are verified on the application.

They must have at least a 2.5 grade pt avg. cummulative
They cannot have any "E" in any class, any time.
They must have good school attendence
They must not have any discipline referrals
They must have three recommendations from current teachers
They must have a parent recommendation and commitment to participate and assist the team

After the information is checked the student is given an interview by the coaching team. Here questions regarding personality, effort, time and skills to bring to the team are discussed. This takes about 10 to 15 min each student. Time and effort well spent.

At that point the coaches review and decide who makes the club phase. This all happens in the spring following the nationals. In the fall we open up applications for 9th graders and new students that come to the school.

We have students that transfer to our school just to apply to the FIRST Team.

I will post the application in the white papers as soon as I can.

As do the Techno Kats #45 we also have a Team Hand Book. I will also post the generic version so that it can be a starting point for other teams.

[Brandon Martus]

Check the white papers (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/papers.php?s=) for the 2003 Chief Delphi Handbook.

[Ryan Foley]

Hmm, applications.
They do sound like a really good way of filtering out those members who are there when its time to drive the bot, but not when its time to work on it (aka the slackers). I know Timberlane has never used one. Our team has never been more that 20 and for the 2000 and 2001 years we barely had any slackers, so we took everyone who wanted to join so we could get a decent size team.

[mtaman02]

If theres one thing I've noticed its not only Chief Delphi have a Top Ranked Web Site. But the member selection of their team is also Top Ranked. If I had to start a new team myself. I would look at Chief Delphi's format of doing things to do it. I've seen there spirit @ NYC FIRST! Regionals 2001 and give them respect for their way of controlling such a large team.

[Cory]

Wow, you must have a HUGE robotics program! At my school, we are lucky if three people want to join any given year. Our team currently consists of maybe seven dedicated members, and another ten people who like to go to events with the team, and be recognized, but put forth no work.

[Aaron Lussier]

Originally posted by Brandon Martus
Check the white papers (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/papers.php?s=) for the 2003 Chief Delphi Handbook.

I suggest every body check out there hand book it has a lot of good info on how a big team should be run, if you want to be like Delphi.

[Rob Colatutto]

i read that handbook they have, and it seems like they are very restricting with some of thier rules and applications to join the team....

[Clark Gilbert]

Here is my teams version of the team handbook. (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/papers.php?s=&action=downloadpaper&paperid=22) . After looking over 47's handbook it has many similarities and many differences.

Note: This is from the 2001-2002 season and the new 2002-2003 season handbook (not released yet) has a few additions.