I’m really sorry to hear this. It is concerning to hear that being rejected from EAG made you feel like you were “turned away from even hanging out with people.” This is not our intention, and I’d be happy to chat with you about other resources and opportunities for in-person meetings with other EAs.
We also get things wrong sometimes so I’m sad to hear you feel like our decision impacted your trajectory away from a highly devoted version of your life. The EAG admissions process is not intended to evaluate you as a person, it is for determining whether you would be a fit for a particular event. It seems possible that you applied at a time when we were experimenting with a policy that prioritized people who were not yet highly engaged but were in a position to become highly engaged (I’m guessing this because you say your “newbie” partner got in). Our admissions process has changed over time and currently we consider things like engagement with EA, epistemics, and ability to gain things from the event or provide mentorship to others (for example, if people are currently making a decision and have a plan to use conversations at the conference to influence them).
As an example of the imperfection of the process, EA Global once rejected an application from someone who then went on to work at Open Philanthropy less than 2 years later. One change we have made since 2020 is to not outright reject sparse applications, but rather send a message saying that we did not have adequate information to approve an application, and suggest the applicant update their application if there is anything more they think we should know.
Thanks for your comment and I’m sorry to hear how our admissions process impacted you.
I’m really sorry to hear this. It is concerning to hear that being rejected from EAG made you feel like you were “turned away from even hanging out with people.” This is not our intention, and I’d be happy to chat with you about other resources and opportunities for in-person meetings with other EAs.
We also get things wrong sometimes so I’m sad to hear you feel like our decision impacted your trajectory away from a highly devoted version of your life. The EAG admissions process is not intended to evaluate you as a person, it is for determining whether you would be a fit for a particular event. It seems possible that you applied at a time when we were experimenting with a policy that prioritized people who were not yet highly engaged but were in a position to become highly engaged (I’m guessing this because you say your “newbie” partner got in). Our admissions process has changed over time and currently we consider things like engagement with EA, epistemics, and ability to gain things from the event or provide mentorship to others (for example, if people are currently making a decision and have a plan to use conversations at the conference to influence them).
As an example of the imperfection of the process, EA Global once rejected an application from someone who then went on to work at Open Philanthropy less than 2 years later. One change we have made since 2020 is to not outright reject sparse applications, but rather send a message saying that we did not have adequate information to approve an application, and suggest the applicant update their application if there is anything more they think we should know.
Thanks for your comment and I’m sorry to hear how our admissions process impacted you.