Dean's List Advice

[Zealii]

I promised myself that I would post this before kickoff so here it goes.

Never in a million years did I think that I was going to win the Dean's List Award last year. It turned out to be the experience of a lifetime! Going into Championship, I had convinced myself that I wasn't going to win, so as to not be disappointed. After all, I am from a small town and a mediocre team, and I thought that others had more opportunities to make a difference than I did. You can therefore imagine how surprised I was at Championship! With that I have just two things to say:

Mentors: Please, nominate your students for the Dean's List Award! Being a Finalist is a huge honor and you never know how the award can change someone's life! The interview is also a great learning opportunity, as for most students, this is their first interview.

Students: If you are nominated by your team, or even just curious and have any questions, do not hesitate to ask me and/or post below! I would love to help. My main advice for the interview is to show a passion towards FIRST (since that is the question I get asked most often).

[mikexcao]

If your team has not nominated someone in a few years, how would you suggest getting them to nominate somebody (not necessarily me, anyone on the team)? Do I just ask them to nominate someone, or is it bad to ask your mentors to nominate you/someone else?

[Sperkowsky]

If your team has not nominated someone in a few years, how would you suggest getting them to nominate somebody (not necessarily me, anyone on the team)? Do I just ask them to nominate someone, or is it bad to ask your mentors to nominate you/someone else?

Since our team had never nominated someone I did ask my own mentor who had no problem nominating me for it. I don't see any problem with it unless your team usually does nominate someone.

[Jon Stratis]

If your team has not nominated someone in a few years, how would you suggest getting them to nominate somebody (not necessarily me, anyone on the team)? Do I just ask them to nominate someone, or is it bad to ask your mentors to nominate you/someone else?

I would start by asking them why they haven't been nominating someone. Then explain why you feel nominating someone would be beneficial to the team.

I've written the nominations for my team for the past 4 years, and I can tell you that it takes a lot of time and energy to do it well. I put in probably 15-20 hours over the course of 4-6 months per nomination in order to do it justice. The students we nominate deserve the best from us, and I want to give them the best chance of winning.

In a (somewhat) related note, does your team nominate a mentor for WFFA each year? The respect and honor shown in these nominations really does go both ways!

[guniv]

One of my favorite things we do each year is announce our team's selections each year at our Stop Build Day celebration.

(Sort of spoiled last year when FIRST emailed them like a week before out of the blue. I got to send an upset email, but still not a big deal.)

Our team lets the student leaders select our WFFA nominee each year. Mentors & seniors select the Dean's List nominee, who is always a junior. It's sort of frustrating - obviously the older members deserve the nomination and we have more to talk about than our younger members, but the next year they're ineligible and you can't nominate them again. Last year was the first year I really was disappointed our students didn't get it.

I definitely recommend teams take the time to fill out these (and every!) award because the students and mentors appreciate it regardless, and it gives your students something to work towards.

[GeeTwo]

The last couple of years, the mentors have done"counseling" sessions with team members late in build season or shortly after stop build day. At these counseling sessions, we help freshmen and sophomores develop their specific goals for the next years of high school, and juniors and seniors to entry goals for college. From these counseling sessions, we have always noinated at least one (and last year two) Dean's List candidates. We have also prodded the students to nominate a WF candidate each year. As one of our WF nominees, I can tell you that just being nominated by your own team (especially when they have obviously done a bit of research) makes a lot of little sacrifices worthwhile. I expect that the same is true of DL nominees.

[Cothron Theiss]

Do any teams have the students nominate or elect your Dean's List candidates?

[Zealii]

Do any teams have the students nominate or elect your Dean's List candidates?

On my team, we have a group discussion about who we want to nominate (no one nominates themselves), but the mentors have the final say.

[Basel A]

If your team has not nominated someone in a few years, how would you suggest getting them to nominate somebody (not necessarily me, anyone on the team)? Do I just ask them to nominate someone, or is it bad to ask your mentors to nominate you/someone else?

Besides the great comments others have posted (particularly Jon), I'd say that if you encounter any resistance to the idea of nominating students for Dean's List, honestly give me that mentor's email and I'll express to them why I feel it's important. I know when I was nominated way back when it seemed a huge honour, and I enjoyed having the opportunity to write our students' nominations last year. Really, I like any chance to recognize outstanding students.

[Billfred]

If your team has not nominated someone in a few years, how would you suggest getting them to nominate somebody (not necessarily me, anyone on the team)? Do I just ask them to nominate someone, or is it bad to ask your mentors to nominate you/someone else?

1) Prod gently.
2) Have a kid that's such a shoo-in for it that they can't press on the other awards with a straight face unless they nominate.

One of those two worked last year on 4901. :)

[Ringo5tarr]

So I asked somebody this before (I don't remember where or who) but I don't remember getting an answer that really helped, so is it better to have an air of professionalism or relaxed confidence? Like, should I be as well dressed and groomed as possible while trying to use complete and proper grammar or should I dress and act like I typically would at competition, that is, clothes that I feel conformable in, speaking in my typical (not really professional) manner?

[Jon Stratis]

I would treat the Dean's List interview just like a job interview. And that's hard for most high schoolers, as you don't have the experience of interviewing for professional jobs!

In interviews, it's important to dress appropriately (note: everything that follows is from a male perspective. I have no idea how females should dress for most interviews!). "Appropriately" is, of course, defined by the circumstances. If you're interviewing for a position stocking shelves at a warehouse, you would probably be fine with a collared shirt and nice pants. Interviewing for an engineering position that is mostly a desk job, you would probably want to go with a nice suit. For Dean's List, I think team attire is entirely appropriate... But make sure it's on the nicest side. Wear some nice jeans, not ones with rips at the knees and a huge stain from grease. If you can class up your team dress (some teams have both t-shirts and polo's, or they have a button down that most people leave untucked), then by all means do so! It would also be appropriate to dress up for the interview if you desire - some people find that dressing up for something like this helps give them added confidence, which is definitely good in an interview!

As for answering the questions, do some research on the proper way to answer interview questions. The STAR method works great, and is one I highly recommend. Take a second to think about the answer, formulate a response, then verbalize it completely and professionally. And above all else, let you enthusiasm and excitement for robotics shine through!

[Sperkowsky]

So I asked somebody this before (I don't remember where or who) but I don't remember getting an answer that really helped, so is it better to have an air of professionalism or relaxed confidence? Like, should I be as well dressed and groomed as possible while trying to use complete and proper grammar or should I dress and act like I typically would at competition, that is, clothes that I feel conformable in, speaking in my typical (not really professional) manner?

I think what you wear is not as important as the confidence and professionalism you radiate. I personally wore a pear of joggers and my team shirt and don't think it would have gone any differently if I'd worn a suit.

[Poseidon5817]

I think what you wear is not as important as the confidence and professionalism you radiate. I personally wore a pear of joggers and my team shirt and don't think it would have gone any differently if I'd worn a suit.

At the same time, in my experience, dressing up nicely definitely shows that you care, and that it's not just an aside from the regular competition for you, and that you appreciate the award itself.

[Rangel(kf7fdb)]

How you dress probably isn't going to be the deciding but it could matter. I could definitely see some judges liking one candidate more because they were dressed very professionally. In something like Dean's List where everyone going for the award is likely to be an all star on their teams, there will likely be very little separating the top candidates. Maybe dressing up nicely won't show up on paper, but it could affect the bias of how a judge scores on whatever scoring system they go off of. Key word is could. Dressing nicely might have no impact at all but it could.

As for standing out in the interview, I would definitely try to talk about some experiences that other candidates might not have had. I didn't have to do an interview back in my time but I believe my biggest appeal to the judges was the work and leadership I did in other competitions outside of FIRST. Talk about how you led your team in a new direction or how you maybe restructured your team. Everybody has their own story to tell, big or small. Just make sure that when you go into the interview, it's your story and not some cookie cutter leader.