[Soc-coordination] Update: provisional number of slots is *still* 10

[Steve McIntyre]

On Tue, Apr 15, 2008 at 02:25:17AM -0700, Don Armstrong wrote:
>On Tue, 15 Apr 2008, Wouter Verhelst wrote:
>> That would favour students who are in their later years of
>> engineering (or similar) studies. I'm not sure that's reasonable.
>
>More importantly, it's favoring the students who are more likely to
>complete their project successfully (and usefully), because they have
>thought through what is required and have a base of knowledge
>necessary to complete it. It likely also favors advanced students as a
>side effect, but there's nothing really wrong with that. Students who
>don't make the final cut should be encouraged to try again next year,
>ideally with evaluations by mentors indicating precisely what the
>weaknesses in their proposal were.

Absolutely, yes. I *want* a bias towards students who:

 * have already shown themselves to be organised and prepared to work
 * have looked into the problem thoroughly
 * have shown they have the skills needed

precisely because they're the most likely to succeed. We like
successful projects and students, and so do the folks at Google.

-- 
Steve McIntyre, Cambridge, UK.                                steve at einval.com
< sladen> I actually stayed in a hotel and arrived to find a post-it
          note stuck to the mini-bar saying "Paul: This fridge and
          fittings are the correct way around and do not need altering"