Changes between Version 1 and Version 2 of SoCHints

Timestamp:

Mar 22, 2010, 1:59:55 PM (13 years ago)

Author:

Andrew Sutton

Comment:

--

SoCHints

@@ -3 +3 @@
 
 == Engage the Community ==
-Join the mailing list. Talk about what you want to do. If we know you're willing to get involved, then we'll review your proposal more favorably.
+Join the mailing list. Talk about what you want to do. If we know you're willing to get involved, then we'll review your proposal more favorably. Also, if you're active on the mailing list, it might lead us to believe that you are willing to participate beyond the end of your summer project. 
 
 == What Makes a Good Proposal? ==
@@ -13 +13 @@
 
  * Write Professionally - Writing a GSoC proposal is no different than applying for a job. Emoticons do not belong in job applications.
+
+Well-written proposals will demonstrate the student's understanding of the problem, in addition to describing what they are proposing to work on. Good proposal will generally do the following:
+
+ * Describe the problem being solved - Give some context to the proposal. If you're proposing to implement a generic tree container, give some background on trees and their applications in computer science or software development.
+ * Explain why the problem is important (to Boost) - Sell us on your idea. Why should we be interested in funding development on a Boost tree container? This should be pretty easy for trees.
+ * Give examples of similar or related projects (also in other languages) - Demonstrate that you have actually thought about the problem and looked for other solutions. This helps convinces us that you're actually interested in the problem, and have developed some insights on the project. What other C++ libraries have tree data structures? Java trees?
+ * Outline the work being proposed - Tell us what you're going to build. What classes? What algorithms? Are there any natural extensions to your work that might be included. Are you going to build a fixed-sized n-ary tree? A multi-way tree? Specializations for binary trees?
+
+= Reviewing =
+
+Reviewing is basically done in two rounds. First the mentors score each of the proposals, then we vote on which of the highest scored proposals will be funded based on the number of slots Google awards Boost. The specific process may vary from year to year, but you definitely need to write a good proposal and usually need to be active on the mailing list to make it to the 2nd round.
+
+Acquiring funding to work on a Boost project is '''highly''' competitive. We can typically only fund 10% (or less) of the proposals that we receive, and we usually receive a lot of proposals. Following these guidelines will substantially increase the likelihood that you will make it into the voting round.