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.

[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 )

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


The one thing we do have is called our Student Handbook . 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?