<aside> 🌟

If you make the effort, communicate, and explore with curiosity, we think you’ll have a great experience in SPAR!

Getting the most out of your project

1. Prepare for meetings with your mentor
2. Outline your goals
3. Reach out for help when needed
4. Use the available resources
5. Apply yourself

Failure modes to avoid

1. The planning fallacy
2. Not communicating proactively
3. Treating SPAR like a school assignment
4. Indecision and partial commitment
5. Not making the most of your mentor </aside>

Getting the most out of your project

1️⃣ Prepare for meetings with your mentor

• This allows you to use your time efficiently and make sure everything important gets addressed.
• We suggest spending 15 minutes or so drafting some notes on your progress, uncertainties, things you’re stuck on, and anything else you’d like to discuss, and sending them to your mentor some time in advance

2️⃣ Outline your goals

• Having a clear, concrete, and specific idea of exactly what you want to achieve during the program is important for helping your project stay on track.
• Use the Research Project Planning Template (or an alternative if your mentor has provided one), or keep a simple list of what your main goals, objectives, tasks, and deliverables are.
• Reflect on how SPAR can help you and what steps you can take to ensure you meet your objectives (this might imply e.g. being intentional with coffee chats, or making sure you ask your mentor for career advice).

3️⃣ Reach out for help when needed

• Your mentor, teammates, and the SPAR staff are all great sources of guidance and can improve your experience.
• If something isn’t clear, don’t hesitate to ask questions or ask for help.
• Remember, SPAR is designed to foster growth, and there’s no need to pretend you have all the answers already!

4️⃣ Utilize the available resources

• There are many resources available through SPAR. Be sure to take advantage of them!
• Your mentor is a great resource and is well-connected in the AI safety field. Use their expertise and network to help you reach your learning and career goals.

5️⃣ Apply yourself

• Treat this experience seriously. SPAR can open many doors if you put in the effort!
• High-quality SPAR projects have:
  • Resulted in NeurIPS and ICML papers
  • Led to future collaborations with mentors on other projects
  • Helped mentees get into advanced research programs like MATS and GovAI
  • Helped mentees get strong letters of recommendation for grad school
  • Helped mentees land full-time roles in AI safety