Intern Applications 2013: By the numbers

The deadlines have passed and all of the applications have been processed, so now it is time for a little data analysis on the 2013 intern pool!

• Total number of applicants: 90 (a 50% increase over average and a 91%! increase over last year, WHAT)
• 41% female / 59% male
• Total number of schools represented: 30
• School with the most applicants: Tie between Honeoye Falls-Lima and Rush Henrietta (both with 10 each)
• Number of represented schools outside greater Rochester area: 6 
• Geographically farthest school represented: Loudon School for the Gifted, Ashburn, VA (other out of state applicants include 2 from NJ, 1 from CT, 1 from VT)
• Most frequent first choice lab: visual perception, followed closely by ultrasound
• Most requested lab overall: visual perception, followed closely by astronomy

Check out last year's results for comparison.

All of the applications have been passed on to the selection committee, who definitely have their work cut out for them this year. I am hoping to get their feedback and notify applicants of their status early next week. Good luck to all the applicants!

NEW Undergraduate Imaging Science brochure!

After much time and effort, I have finished the new undergraduate brochure! (And just in time for next week's Big Shot - we will just barely have enough time to get these printed so we can take them with us.) I teased this quite a while ago back when I announced the release of our new digital information booklet, as the intention was to stop giving away the expensive, wasteful, and outdated booklets and instead hand out something inexpensive and to-the-point that would then direct people to the digital booklet. As is always the case with anything Imaging Science, it's difficult to be be concise, especially when downsizing from a 20-something page booklet to a brochure... but I tried my best by keeping text short and employing lots of exciting visuals. The theming of the brochure is similar to what has been handed out in the past: I still focused on 4 areas that make Imaging Science unique (high tech qualities, preparation, flexibility, community), and kept a similar bright color scheme to coordinate with postcards and folders that we will still distribute. I threw in some "fast facts" to cover anything that might have been left out by the 4 themes, and included a student story. All this information resulted in a 4-fold accordion brochure, which looks a little funny digitally, but you can use your imagination to picture what it will look like:

From L to R: back cover; back inside folds; front cover

Inside panels - this is exactly how the brochure looks when opened fully.

I'm pretty excited about the final design (hopefully you like them, too) and can't wait to see how they turn out! Enjoy :-)

Don't forget, it's almost Pi Day!

Sorry we missed both Phi and e days. Again. Maybe next year...

I'm 100% done with getting 65% finished.

I am FINALLY done with the initial processing of this year's pool of intern applicants - HOORAY. Well, that is, I was, before I sent out notifications to all of the interns who were missing pieces of their application. Now I am receiving all of those pieces and I have to search out their packets and get these items processed and added in, so that I can then deliver the whole shebang to to the selection committee. So, if any intern applicants are reading this, you can thank the 35+% of you that didn't have complete packages for the hold up. And yes, you read that right - more than 35% of the applicants had one or more required components missing from their application packages. Tsk tsk. Though in a majority of cases, the missing item was a first semester report card, which is a typical mistake. Many schools don't include mid-year grades on official transcripts, and many students don't realize this. However, that is why we put "including first semester of junior year" in bold underline on the transcript part of the application checklist.

If I were really strict, I would just throw out the incomplete applications - heck, doing so would pare down the pool nicely and leave us with total numbers that would be less overwhelming and more consistent with past years; and besides, it is the student's responsibility to make sure their application is complete, and you could consider this the first hurdle to being eligible. However, since I can't be totally certain where the breakdown happened (whether the student didn't ask for those grades, or whether whoever submitted their transcript left it out) I give the applicants the benefit of the doubt and give them another chance to get their grades in. If they aren't in by this Friday, well, then it's too bad for them.

I can see legitimate arguments either way on this, but fairness is a really difficult thing to pin down in this situation. In the end, not knowing 100% whether it's truly the student's fault or not, I would feel bad preventing their application from going to the selection committee. So, ultimately I think I'm doing the right thing. Unfortunately it holds up the whole process, and it creates a lot more work for me (sending out 34 personalized e-mails, and subsequently receiving 34 replies, as well as >30 report cards and recommendations, plus faxed and mailed duplicates of many of them, plus more worried phone calls from parents, plus follow up phone calls to confirm receipt.... is not helping my overall productivity). So once again, just when I thought I had my head above water, a new wave of materials comes crashing in and I'm buried under applications again...

So instead of just complaining, what am I going to do about it? Well, this summer I will definitely be devoting some of my resources to developing an electronic application system. It should make collection, tracking, and notifying significantly easier, and it should allow applicants to better keep track of their application packages. That makes it all sound lovely and easy and straightforward, but I bet it's going to be a lot more complicated than I think and we will probably have some issues to have to remedy when we try to employ it. Oh well, it's a process, and at least we'll finally be bringing our applications into the 21st century.

Anyways, once everything is finally and completely processed and on to the selection committee, I'll post my annual "by the numbers" data on this year's pool of applicants. Stay tuned!

The envelope, please.

No. I take that back. Please, no more envelopes. PLEASE. My hands are so dry, and so torn up with paper cuts. Next year I'm definitely taking this process digital. What process, you ask? Why, Summer Intern Applications!!!! It is now 2+ hours past the deadline, and I have some initial (unofficial) numbers.

# of applications received prior to Wednesday, 2/27: 11
# of applications received ON Wednesday, 2/27: 16
# of applications received on Thursday, 2/28: 20
# of applications received today, Friday, 3/1, the final day for submission: 42

FORTY TWO... that's right, forty two. This afternoon I was able to finish processing all of the applications received up until today. That total was 47. Now I have 42 more. Forty two! I think this must be a new record. It has to be, right? The unofficial total is 89 applications. I take that back - I have one more via e-mail that wasn't printed out yet, so not counted. So the grand total (unofficially) is 90. And just when I thought I was on top of it all, I now see that I am only half way there. I like being busy, but WHOA. It has taken over three days straight to get those 47 processed, and that was ignoring all of my other duties (sorry, everyone's e-mails I've been ignoring). Boy am I glad I timed the final week of submissions this year to correspond to RIT break week! Or am I?... some break. (Though I can't really complain, I did just spend all of the week before in Florida - in case you were wondering where I've been... (see my last post)) Now I start class again next week, AND I still have the rest of the applications to process. Next week is not going to be pretty.

But WAIT! The complaining doesn't stop there! (Sorry.) Can I just take a minute to express my frustration with people waiting until the absolute last minute to do things? I have included an incredibly painful to look at timeline graph below to demonstrate:

For additional consideration, please note the following milestones:
12/20/2012 - Applications Posted
1/3/2013 - Applications formally announced
2/1/2013 - First related material received (letter of recommendation)
2/5/2013 - YNN Feature airs
2/11/2013 - First application received

My point is, all of the data is AAALLLLL the way to the end on that graph. Save for a measly few materials received in a timely manner, most of the applications were concentrated on the last three days. Over all of the time leading up to Wednesday morning, only 12.5% of the eventual total number of applications had arrived. Wednesday accounted for 18%; Thursday,  22.5%; and Friday alone brought 47% of the total applications. Seriously? I mean, I know that's human nature, but.... come on. And it really gets ridiculous when I become bombarded all at once with phone calls, e-mails, and in-person visits. Yesterday I received three phone calls AT THE SAME TIME - no joke. And yet, applicants who just submitted want to know the status of their application, and students who "just found out about it" want to know if there's anything I can do for them. Yeah, right. (Sorry.) If you can't tell, I'm a little overwhelmed. Although, I guess it could be worse - I could be the selection committee, who, after my processing is eventually completed, will be receiving 90 applications all at once. (Seriously, this has to be a record - that's an increase of 50% over our normal totals.) ...Oh well. With the responsibility comes the work; and when it rains, it pours. (Don't get me wrong, though - for all this complaining, honestly I revel in being so busy, and thrive under the pressure ;-). )

Two more random data points of note: 1 application was late (5 minutes), and I only got 1 unaccounted for material (a recommendation letter with no corresponding applicant).

And with that, I bid you TGIF! I'm going to go cool off for a weekend. Good luck to all the applicants!

"Nice ears"

So you may have noticed things have been a little quiet on here lately; I definitely don't have the number of posts in February as I typically do in a given month. That can partially be blamed on the fact that February is a short month, though the main reason is that I spent a week in Disney World! What! (If you follow me on Twitter, you probably know this already, since I tweeted about Howie Mandel complimenting me on my sparkly Minnie ears. It's a true story.) If you know me at all, you would know that I'm actually not a very big Disney fan (despite this being my second trip there in one year - but that other trip was technically a scouting trip for this trip... trip trip trip) but I was there to be in a wedding at the Grand Floridian resort, and there were several other events planned around it that stretched our trip into a full week. Okay, and I added on a day at the beginning to go to Kennedy Space Center (which was my absolute FAVORITE), and a day at the end to go to Universal Studios. Anyways, I'm not here to talk about my vacation but to give excuses as to my absence, so I move on.

Since returning, my time has been monopolized by all things interns. This Friday is the application due date, and what do you know - the applications are pouring in. As are the e-mails, phone calls, and personal visits... Right now, I basically serve to accept applications, answer questions, and give people directions how to find me. We don't have that many applications as of this moment, but with the amount of communication I've been getting, I expect a lot more to come flooding in in the next 48 hours.

Amongst the chaos, I've also been helping coordinate more shooting for the freshmen class video, planning upcoming alumni events for DC and Boston, prepping for the Big Shot in Texas in less than a month (which a small group of us is participating in this year), wrapping up a new undergraduate promotional brochure, and coordinating with the folks behind Science Exploration Days so that I may participate this year. Sooo, if you don't hear from me for a while.... I'm just a little busy multitasking. And while I'm still dishing out excuses, I might as well admit right now that the winter issue of the Imaging Connection which would normally be out right around now definitely won't be ready in time, or even anytime soon. Oh no! So that's enough blogging out of me; I've got a lot to do and better get to it!

The longest run-on sentence ever, caught on tape

Well, not on tape really, but "caught on card" doesn't have the same ring to it. But anyways, I'M ON TV!!! I haven't been home yet to actually witness it (since I've been here since 6AM) but the video has been posted online. CHECK IT OUT!!!11!11!1

So why have I been here since 6AM? The interview was scheduled to take place at 6:30, I guess so that the video can get the most exposure. Needless to say, I am exhausted. But it was so worth it! Apparently I was originally going to be interviewed live, but the reporter's baby sitter fell through so she couldn't actually come in. So, the cameraman did the basic interviewing, with questions like, "What are we here to talk about today," and, "What do the interns do," and, "So you were an intern yourself, right?" I got asked probably 7 or 8 questions in all, and I'm glad it didn't end up being live because it probably took me 3 takes just to answer the first question correctly and get comfortable in front of the camera. For all the experience I have from my years in radio, video is way different than just hearing my voice (and besides, no one was listening to my show back then anyways).

Anyways, from the whole interview they used one answer, which I think might have been one of my longest stream-of-consciousness statements EVER. But hey, it sounds okay. And the segment overall was really, really good - they said the Center's full name nice and clearly, and included all the important details without leaving anything out. I'm really happy with how the piece turned out and am excited to witness the buzz it will generate.

Man do I make doofy faces. It's like when The Soup features a clip, and then displays an incredibly unattractive single frame image from said clip in the background while they make fun of it.

Meanwhile, I've enjoyed my little taste of stardom. I always loved being on the radio and those videos I did for ETC (Remember when this happened? Maybe not. I didn't have the blog back when filming occurred and I don't think I ever posted about it once the videos came online... whoops) were way fun to be a part of. I love doing this kind of stuff! (moar plz) Some people say I'm pretty good at it, too, but hey I'm not one to brag... very much. Just doin' my job (the best job ever!)