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Unread 29-03-2009, 23:02
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FRC #1197 (Torbots)
Team Role: Engineer
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Rookie Year: 2003
Location: SoCal
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Re: Attn: Present & Future College Students, Think carefully before you mentor

As a college sophomore, I bring an interesting perspective. Let me note, there isn't a FIRST team, period, within at least a couple of hours driving time, though there is some interest in having one. Yet, there are 3 FIRST alumni/mentor types at my college.

For the three of us, one is not very involved at this time, at least from what I can see. One mentors a team from here, as I did last year (though I had a longer distance...). As for myself, I confine myself to using CD as my primary means of getting my "FIRST fix", though I did volunteer at a regional over spring break.

FIRST should not be your primary criterion for choosing a college. FIRST is an added bonus. And as for whether or not it'll be worse than 12-hour days, it will be. Maybe not your freshman year, but your sophomore year, if you're an engineering student, is the worst. I'm taking 14 credits (that's 42 hours per week, roughly) and I'm having "fun" getting the work done. My previous years, I took more credits and had fewer problems getting work in. Trust me, it'll be bad.

Instead of FIRST, how about this: keep your ties to FIRST and volunteer during breaks while finding another competition in college. There are plenty of them; I know that my college has 12 competition teams in one group, with many more that aren't as recognized. More are being added.

So go ahead, find something new and different. Branch out a bit. Do College VEX, maybe. Keep your ties to FIRST strong, and when you graduate, come back with more knowledge and help a team.
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Past teams:
2003-2007: FRC0330 BeachBots
2008: FRC1135 Shmoebotics
2012: FRC4046 Schroedinger's Dragons

"Rockets are tricky..."--Elon Musk

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