2015 Waitlist Spots

[BrendanB]

Originally Posted by Anupam Goli

My hunch is that there are a lot of teams who may not be able to go on such a short notice, but that's a dangerous game to play. My other hunch is that a lot of teams in the district system are also on the waitlist, taking spots away from the district championships.

Yes it is true that some teams from districts might not be able to make it but I still believe New England sent our full contingent from last year and intends to do the same this year (as do other districts I'm sure). I would be very shocked if half of the district invites were not used as the current FRC registration is showing that is left. Again no hard numbers in front me since usfirst.org won't load but I'd be surprised if more than 5-10 district slots went un-used last year.

Either a mistake was made or the Championship got bigger.

[Rick]

Originally Posted by BrendanB

Either a mistake was made or the Championship got bigger.

83 team divisions?

[AdamHeard]

Maybe some of the teams on the list are waitlisted teams that dropped, and their site takes time to update?

It does take ~ 15 minutes to push match results afterall....

[MikeE]

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

It does take ~ 15 minutes to push match results afterall....

Oooh - website caching strategy burn!


CMP is down to 527 listed teams now. My current hypothesis is that the team list was updated a little prematurely and shows all teams *offered* a waitlist spot rather than all that have accepted and paid for one.

[tindleroot]

Originally Posted by MikeE

Oooh - website caching strategy burn!


CMP is down to 527 listed teams now. My current hypothesis is that the team list was updated a little prematurely and shows all teams *offered* a waitlist spot rather than all that have accepted and paid for one.

I think the only teams that are on the list are teams that have registered through TIMS.

[KosmicKhaos]

My current hypothesis is that the team list was updated a little prematurely and shows all teams *offered* a waitlist spot rather than all that have accepted and paid for one.

I would agree with that it showing the teams that were offered the slot because i remember seeing teams on there the other day but not today when it dropped back to 527. Those teams must have declined.

[rahilm]

Originally Posted by KosmicKhaos

I would agree with that it showing the teams that were offered the slot because i remember seeing teams on there the other day but not today when it dropped back to 527. Those teams must have declined.

This is definitely the case. Teams offered a spot are immediately given "Registered" status. If they decline, they are removed.

From the email:
"Your team has been moved from Wait List status to Registered status in TIMS. Important: This does not commit you to attending the Championship; this status change was done to expedite the overall Wait List process."

[cgmv123]

Originally Posted by tindleroot

I think the only teams that are on the list are teams that have registered through TIMS.

Teams do not register for Championship themselves. They are automatically registered when they qualify and are dropped if they do not contact FIRST Finance to commit to paying the Championship registration fee within a certain amount of time.

[jds2001]

Originally Posted by mcarobotics

Our team (4595) just got a waitlist spot today. Never been to champs so we are very excited!
However, this has been a hard year for fundraising and we arent sure if we can raise the money to go. What's the minimum amount needed to go, and does anyone have any ideas as to how to get ourselves to St. Louis?

You need to pay the $5K registration fee, and then you need to get yourselves and your pit there. I suppose that you could send a skeleton crew and have the costs be minimal, or have people pay their own way in terms of transportation/lodging.

I'd probably put a minimum (registration + transportation + food + incidentals) at ~$10K, but I'd let other people more experienced opine as well.

[seg9585]

Team 4276 got a waitlist spot invite yesterday, but we are going to turn it down due to lack of funding for the registration fee, and too many students have AP exams during that time frame to make it worthwhile. Even for the students that don't have exams, spending $5k to send a skeleton team to participate in another competition does not feel like the best use of our funds, which we would use instead to benefit the the entire team via summer projects and training.

Good luck in St. Louis!

[New Lightning]

With all the confusion out there on who gets wait list spots or not I believe that there could be a simpler, mathematical solution, Have the wait list spots be merit based.

In this merit based system the first wait list spots would go to the team captains of finalist alliances that have not already qualified, in order of Total average score over their season. If all those teams have now qualified then you move on to the first pick and invite those teams based on their Total average score over their season. (etc.)

Not to knock any of the teams that are going to champs on the wait list, but there are some very good teams who have fantastic robots who don't get to go to champs but have played much better on the field than some of the teams on the wait list.

I know that the current system wants to try and get as many teams experience at champs as possible, but when you take away the opportunity from a team with a really competitive bot, and give that opportunity to a team that might not play as well, it seems a little off to me.

If wait list spots were disrupted on merit I believe it would significantly increase the level of competition at champs, and make it more rewarding for those students who have built a good robot and earned the spot by playing well, rather than getting drawn out of the metaphorical hat.

[philso]

Originally Posted by mcarobotics

Our team (4595) just got a waitlist spot today. Never been to champs so we are very excited!
However, this has been a hard year for fundraising and we arent sure if we can raise the money to go. What's the minimum amount needed to go, and does anyone have any ideas as to how to get ourselves to St. Louis?

Originally Posted by jds2001

You need to pay the $5K registration fee, and then you need to get yourselves and your pit there. I suppose that you could send a skeleton crew and have the costs be minimal, or have people pay their own way in terms of transportation/lodging.

I'd probably put a minimum (registration + transportation + food + incidentals) at ~$10K, but I'd let other people more experienced opine as well.

Originally Posted by seg9585

Team 4276 got a waitlist spot invite yesterday, but we are going to turn it down due to lack of funding for the registration fee, and too many students have AP exams during that time frame to make it worthwhile. Even for the students that don't have exams, spending $5k to send a skeleton team to participate in another competition does not feel like the best use of our funds, which we would use instead to benefit the the entire team via summer projects and training.

Good luck in St. Louis!

One alternative to sending a team to compete could be to send a few key team members (students and mentors) to visit with the teams in attendance and to learn from them. You would not have the pressure of competing so you can focus on attending the seminars and learning from the teams in attendance. You may also be able to network with more established teams who can help you in future years. Other teams in your area may have a few empty seats on their bus or in their cars. The cost would be your share of the hotel room and the travel and your food. Done right, the return on the investment can be huge.

[BSV]

Originally Posted by philso

One alternative to sending a team to compete could be to send a few key team members (students and mentors) to visit with the teams in attendance and to learn from them. You would not have the pressure of competing so you can focus on attending the seminars and learning from the teams in attendance. You may also be able to network with more established teams who can help you in future years.

So glad to hear this, because this is exactly what we have planned to do. We were offered a waitlist spot, but had already have booked rooms to have our leadership team go attend seminars, network, and volunteer. Since we are small, have no money in the bank for the $5K entry fee, and would have to do an amazing turnaround on the robot to not embarrass ourselves, we figured that we are saving ourselves a lot of money and stress by not accepting, with the added benefit that we're probably almost guaranteed a spot next year if they conduct the waiting list lottery the same way (8 years, never been, for this FRC team).

[GreyingJay]

Another thought, if you want to look at the value of being at Worlds outside of competing your actual robot, is to just go as a team full of spectators. The event is open to the public and free of charge. You will still get to visit your friends in the pits, take advantage of all the conferences, networking, and other learning opportunities.

[MikeE]

Frank addressed the waitlist numbers on the FRC Blog FRC Blog earlier today (CD thread)