The Introductory EA Virtual Program has been invaluable for getting enough people engaged in EA for me to be able to start a group at my university, and for that I’m extremely grateful to those who have helped organize it and develop the curriculum. If you’re in the same position I was a few months ago, reasonably interested in starting an EA group but having difficulty finding enough people interested in EA, I’d highly recommend advertising the Introductory EA Program!
I’m interested in running a local in-person program at my university from September to October with the virtual program as overflow capacity, in case our capacity for in-person cohorts isn’t enough to accept all quality applicants. Would that setup be possible?
Also, is there a reason that the program is no longer called a fellowship?
I’m interested in running a local in-person program at my university from September to October with the virtual program as overflow capacity, in case our capacity for in-person cohorts isn’t enough to accept all quality applicants. Would that setup be possible?
Yes, just direct people who are not able to join your local program to EA VP’s website! And tell them to state in the application form that they want to be in a cohort with other people from the same uni.
Also, is there a reason that the program is no longer called a fellowship?
I spoke to Emma about this, so here’s what I gathered:
When we think about fellowships, we generally think about programs that are highly selective, are intensive, has funding, has various supports and opportunities (example 1, example 2). It sounds misleading when we use the term of “fellowship” and that’s bad for EA’s reputation so we use “programs” instead.
I didn’t ask whether locally organised programs should also have the same naming conventions, so I’m still clarifying this.
It seems inconvenient if applicants potentially have to fill out the Virtual Programs application form too and receive a second acceptance/rejection decision—could we have just one application form for them to fill out and one acceptance/rejection decision notification? I was thinking that hopefully we could have something like the following process:
Have applicants apply through the EA Virtual Programs form, or have a form specific to our chapter which puts data into the EA Virtual Programs application database. (I don’t know enough about Airtable to know whether this is possible or unrealistic).
Include a multiple-choice application question about whether they prefer in-person or virtual. I think we can assume by default that Georgia Tech applicants prefer to be with other Georgia Tech students—or at least that should help with building the community at Effective Altruism at Georgia Tech.
Tell EA Virtual Programs how many in-person cohorts we could have and the availability of the in-person facilitators. Perhaps the facilitators could fill out the regular EA Virtual Programs facilitator form but with some info about whether or not they can facilitate on-campus.
EA Virtual Programs assigns people to in-person or virtual cohorts.
Something extra that might be nice: If they were rejected due to limited capacity and their application answers were not bad, automatically offer them an option to be considered for the next round (for EA Georgia Tech, I’m thinking we’d have rounds in September–October and February–March).
When we think about fellowships, we generally think about programs that are highly selective, are intensive, has funding, has various supports and opportunities (example 1, example 2).
Interesting, I didn’t realize “fellowship” had those connotations before to such an extent! I mainly associated “fellowship” with its meaning in Christianity haha, where it isn’t selective or prestigious, just religious.
The Introductory EA Virtual Program has been invaluable for getting enough people engaged in EA for me to be able to start a group at my university, and for that I’m extremely grateful to those who have helped organize it and develop the curriculum. If you’re in the same position I was a few months ago, reasonably interested in starting an EA group but having difficulty finding enough people interested in EA, I’d highly recommend advertising the Introductory EA Program!
I’m interested in running a local in-person program at my university from September to October with the virtual program as overflow capacity, in case our capacity for in-person cohorts isn’t enough to accept all quality applicants. Would that setup be possible?
Also, is there a reason that the program is no longer called a fellowship?
Hi Michael!
Yes, just direct people who are not able to join your local program to EA VP’s website! And tell them to state in the application form that they want to be in a cohort with other people from the same uni.
I spoke to Emma about this, so here’s what I gathered:
When we think about fellowships, we generally think about programs that are highly selective, are intensive, has funding, has various supports and opportunities (example 1, example 2). It sounds misleading when we use the term of “fellowship” and that’s bad for EA’s reputation so we use “programs” instead.
I didn’t ask whether locally organised programs should also have the same naming conventions, so I’m still clarifying this.
It seems inconvenient if applicants potentially have to fill out the Virtual Programs application form too and receive a second acceptance/rejection decision—could we have just one application form for them to fill out and one acceptance/rejection decision notification? I was thinking that hopefully we could have something like the following process:
Have applicants apply through the EA Virtual Programs form, or have a form specific to our chapter which puts data into the EA Virtual Programs application database. (I don’t know enough about Airtable to know whether this is possible or unrealistic).
Include a multiple-choice application question about whether they prefer in-person or virtual. I think we can assume by default that Georgia Tech applicants prefer to be with other Georgia Tech students—or at least that should help with building the community at Effective Altruism at Georgia Tech.
Tell EA Virtual Programs how many in-person cohorts we could have and the availability of the in-person facilitators. Perhaps the facilitators could fill out the regular EA Virtual Programs facilitator form but with some info about whether or not they can facilitate on-campus.
EA Virtual Programs assigns people to in-person or virtual cohorts.
Something extra that might be nice: If they were rejected due to limited capacity and their application answers were not bad, automatically offer them an option to be considered for the next round (for EA Georgia Tech, I’m thinking we’d have rounds in September–October and February–March).
If it is true that people who are rejected tend not to reapply or engage with the EA group because they might feel discouraged, then it seems important to try to minimize how many people get a rejection from the Intro EA Program.
Interesting, I didn’t realize “fellowship” had those connotations before to such an extent! I mainly associated “fellowship” with its meaning in Christianity haha, where it isn’t selective or prestigious, just religious.