Q: How do you determine if a review is a 3 or a 4?
A: Everyone will have different ideas on this, that's why we have more than 2-3 people review each application.
A rough expectation of the scores could be:
1 = Not a good fit for this program (perhaps not showing any interest in technical/programming fields) or little effort displayed
2= Average. Some effort showing but needs more to stand out
3= Above average. Stands out a little.
4 = Exceeds expectations. Top tier. Nailed it.
Q: What about candidates that don't show much interest in film, VFX, or animation, but are interested in games? Are these applicants the people we are looking for? Or at least considered a potential candidate?
A: This is a great question as we are getting more applicants in the past few years that have an express interest in gaming.
Our opinion on this is that some students think they want gaming because they like games and may not have visibility to the VFX/3D animation. Some of them may learn more about VFX/3D Animation and find it's a better fit for them so I wouldn't dismiss them outright.
In the "few sentences provide your thoughts" add something like "seems to be more interested in gaming industry" this can help any tie-breakers to encourage a deeper look into the application
That being said, if someone seems dead-set on gaming industry with no interest in industries associated with ASWF, we would rank the following lower:
"Passion for THIS program" this program meaning the Summer Learning Program from ASWF for technical careers in VFX/3D Animation. They are passionate, but passionate about something else outside the scope of our directive. (we also have a few people who are interested in art-related and/or producing type roles which is great, but not our scope)
and/or "Ideal Candidate" again they have great qualities, but our purpose is to try to enhance D&I efforts within our scope of 3D Animation and VFX
Q: How do we judge "Time Commitment"?
A: With some of the applicants, you can get a sense on their commitment and passion which could reflect time commitment. For example, if they mention instances of self-guided learning outside of the classroom, that is a good sign that they can dedicate time to their passions. If they can't even take the time to respond with thoughtful answers to the application, that is a bad sign. If there is anything showing that indicates they are going to be "too busy" e.g. on vacation a lot, excessive work or school time commitment... at the end of the day we are looking for at least 8-10 hours a week dedicated to asynchronous learning, mentor meeting, attending the live sessions (talks and team building programming), and engaging in the Slack channel.