A set of notes and a simple analysis tool by Samuel A. Rebelsky
Version 0.3 of 2014-12-10.
Available at http://www.cs.grinnell.edu/~rebelsky/Department/cs-summer-analysis.pdf (and .html).
This document supplements http://www.cs.grinnell.edu/~rebelsky/Department/cs-summer.pdf (and .html). I'd recommend that you use the two documents together.
As someone interested in summer opportunities in computer science (or at least in summer opportunities in computing computing), you face two potentially contradictory issues: there are many opportunities and many different kinds of opportunities, but most of these opportunities are competitive. To deal with these issues, you need to spend time figuring out which opportunities are right for you and you need to spend time finding ways to make yourself competitive for those opportunities.
There is no magic formula for identifying the right summer opportunity or for obtaining the right opportunity once you've found it. This tool is designed primarily to help you think about what opportunities are right for you.
I'll also note that even when you don't end up with the perfect summer option, you will gain much from almost anything you do related to computing, provided you introspect about your work. You may find that you like something you didn't think you'd like. You may find that the parts of a summer program that you like least are the things that you thought you'd like best. And, in any case, you will meet people and have an opportunity to build your network.
As our summer opportunities in CS page suggests, you should start by setting your goals for the summer and identifying some potential opportunities. The chart at the end of this document provides a simple way for you to record and explore that information.
I'd recommend that you put goals in columns. How do you identify goals? Certainly, you should think a bit on your own. But you should also talk to friends, family, and the CLS in making the list of goals.
Next you need to spend some time identifying opportunities. You'll need to look things up, contact people (CLS, other Grinnellians, alumni, family, friends, etc.), and reflect on what sounds possible and what sounds intersting. You can write opportunities in separate rows. Then, at the appropriate column, you can note how well or how poorly it meets each goal.
In essence, the table gives you a simple way to think about the relationship between the opportunities you've found out about and your goals for the summer. And you may find, as you fill out the table, that there are goals you hadn't realized you had. That's fine. The main purposes for this tool are that you reflect upon goals and think more deeply about what opportunities are available.
| Opportunities | Goals | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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As you'll note from the list of summer opportunities, another approach you can use for analyzing opportunities is to list advantages and disadvantages. You can start with our lists, but you'll be better off coming up with some of your own. You may also find this second approach useful as you start comparing offers.