Crafting PennApps Applications
We completely overhauled our application process last PennApps — broadening the emphasis from just your hackathon experience to what you’d created when given the opportunity, be it at a hackathon or in your own free time. We felt that this allowed applicants who had never been to a hackathon before but were motivated and passionate a better chance of coming to PennApps. It helped us further align with our goal of expanding the community and give more people a chance to hack with the similarly dedicated and passionate hacking enthusiasts.
This PennApps, we’re expanding to 2000 participants. This gives us a better chance to welcome even more people, whether veterans or beginners, to the hacking environment we foster at PennApps. So without further ado, here is some advice on how to fill out your application. Keep in mind that you can continue to edit your application until July 5th, so you have time to keep improving it.
Name and School: Pretty self explanatory
The big one — Provide links and/or descriptions of anything you want to show us.
This can be a personal website, past projects, or anything else you’d like:
- We want to see what you can create. It doesn’t have to be most technically challenging project or the most polished project but it should be something that showcases your passion for building.
- A nice description of the project is always appreciated so we know what we are looking at when we see it. Video or picture demos are also great ways to supplement this.
- If your project is under the NDA, talk about it as much as you are at liberty to. Don’t break any agreements.
- Besides projects, tell us if you have won prizes for coding or hacking, if you’ve had any interesting internships, or even just something unique about yourself. Every little bit helps!
- Make sure all your projects start in a new line and this entire section is easy to read.
Github username: Enter your Github username, no need to enter the full link. This is optional, so only enter your Github username if there’s something you’d like us to see.
Teams: Some of you may have already formed teams and want to apply together. When you choose to do so, every member of your team is reviewed individually but the team is considered as a whole. Then we try to pick the best teams to let in. However, if your team as a whole did not make it, we do reconsider all team members individually and may offer them spots. In this case, for teams of 3 or more members, if more than half of the team get in individually, we let the entire team in. So you have everything to gain and nothing to lose if you apply as a team!
What if you don’t have a team yet? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. We’ll have team building activities right at the start of hackathon where you can find plenty of other people looking for teammates.
We want as many of you as possible to be here and we will do our best to make sure that happens. Hopefully you have a better idea of how to craft your PennApps Application and will show us what you can do this Fall!
