Criteria for Allowing New Team Members

[RunawayEngineer]

Originally Posted by Tanis

I'm not sure that's entirely accurate. I agree that grades are very important for getting into the college you want, but I think that employers have been relying less and less on GPA to evaluate new hires. I also think that colleges are behind the times in this regard, but that's a different topic.

The company I work for probably wouldn't have noticed if I had left my GPA off my resume (and they certainly never asked about or requested a transcript). From what I've heard from other recent grads, this is becoming somewhat of a trend. Google has also made the news lately by stating that "GPAs are worthless as a criteria for hiring.".

I'd be willing to bet that Google still does what all large companies do for their normal recruitment process: put their resumes through computer filters that eliminate based on benchmarks - GPA included. You have to have a decent GPA for your resume to ever be seen by human eyes.

[Jon Stratis]

I can tell you back in the day (dating myself here... about 14 years ago!) when I was looking at colleges I talked with a recruiter from * (I don't want to influence opinions of an institution based on a single anecdotal incident in my past). He asked my GPA, and when I told him it was less than perfect (at the time a 3.99998), he practically dismissed me out of hand. He didn't care about the other stuff I had done, and it left me with a very bitter feeling towards that institution.

[Tungrus]

We have open enrollment policy, even allow students from other schools come in. As far as academic performance is concerned, we inform the student and parents that they are responsible for academic performance and students can chart their path in our team, pick activities of their interest. Mentors will guide and train them. So far it has been working good. Students who are regular and show interest, they have picked up leadership reins and have become good leaders. Few times we ask student to do something that he/she hasn't been doing and we either see potential in student or we need some hands to do it.

[Gregor]

Originally Posted by DampRobot

I'd much rather have someone getting Cs and learning a ton in FRC than getting As and bored in school.

If a student is capable of getting A's, and is using FRC as an excuse to be lazy, then they're not doing themselves justice, nor is the program. A students getting C's are not helping them with their future, no matter how many people they learn to work with.

C students getting C's are a different ballgame, but FRC is never an excuse to permenantly deflate your grades.

My personal favourite is when C students get A's thanks to their involvement in robotics.

Full disclosure: Yes during build season my grades do suffer, but that has helped me. I've learned that I have to work extra hard before January and after April to compensate, which actually resulted in a net gain for me. FRC taught me how to manage my grades on top of robotics. How many times have you heard "how can you possibly put this much time into something and still pass your classes?" My favourite thread on Chief Delphi had some awesome advice and techniques to employ if you're struggling with this. http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...threadid=57499

FRC is not an excuse to ruin your future, no matter how you sugercoat it.

EDIT: Reading this back it seems like I'm coming off overly harsh towards you Roger. This post isn't targeted at you, it's more of a general statement.

[thegnat05]

Originally Posted by Oblarg

I'm not sure I agree with minimum grade requirements - I was a terrible student in high school, and got more out of this program than probably the rest of high school put together.

I agree with this as well. I, along with some members of our team, are not A honor role students and we do get a lot out of FIRST. Maybe even more so then from our classes. I know that the athletic teams at our school have a grade requirement in order to compete in meets or play in games but FIRST is a different program then normal sports. It really is a "sport for the mind" and kids learn skills that will help them in life more so then just a sport. I think that not letting your grades fall because of being in robotics is important but I don't think it should be a requirement to join the team.

[wasayanwer97]

Originally Posted by Oblarg

I'm not sure I agree with minimum grade requirements - I was a terrible student in high school, and got more out of this program than probably the rest of high school put together.

I understand this view, but I think any student's first priority should be school itself. Almost all sports at our school have minimum grade requirements, so why shouldn't the sport of the mind? As much as FIRST can teach a student, graduating is a far more important goal.

A large part of what FIRST has taught me is how to balance and prioritize. I understand the struggle of keeping grades high or even passing, especially in the heat of build. The ability to draw the line where I need to stop doing robotics and focus on school is arguably one of the most important skills I've learned.

[Brandon Zalinsky]

1058's stance:

We have no exhaustive requirements or rules, no applications or getting rejected from joining the team. We have the Pirate's Code: (which, if you've seen Pirates of the Caribbean, are more like guidelines than actual rules )

Don't be a jerk, be willing to learn, stay on task (the snowball fights after long Saturday build season meetings don't count ) and most of all, HAVE FUN. We deal with all grade and disciplinary issues on a case-by-case basis with the student's teachers and administration.

[cadandcookies]

On my team the minimum grade requirement is essentially an excuse for the team to help struggling members out. We have all types-- A students, students that would drop out, and everything in between. We try to help our students succeed in all academic aspects of their high school career.

[Riverdance]

We have no policies regarding who can join and who is allowed to attend our meetings (for example, one of our member's girlfriend is known to drop by meetings and competitions on a regular basis and help us out, even though she's not an official member of the team). However, we take attendance extremely seriously and various aspects of the team experience are off limits unless you meet a certain attendance criteria.
To be considered officially in the records as a member of the team, one must have cumulative 60% attendance at team meetings (Sundays, competitions, and extended meeting times are extra credit, so some members might have in the ballpark of 140% during build season). There also used to be a rule that members with less than 60% attendance would at least have to arrange their own ride to competition, but with a recent lack of scouters that rule has been left relatively unenforced.
Running for a management position or trying out for the drive team requires an attendance rate of 85%, which is rather inflexible. Rarely are there exceptions granted to this rule, whereas the former is pretty flexible. Exceptions may be given to the former if you were very sick, grounded, or an extremely dedicated member who had an intensive prior commitment. (I'd also like to add that while you might get an official exemption for showing up late to every single Sunday meeting because you had oboe private lessons, you will still be made fun of and asked to remind everyone what time this meeting starts.)