Hi all,

I hope your students are all doing great on their projects! I just
wanted to point out a few things to keep in mind for the midterm evals
of your student. I hope that they're all doing well, but if they aren't,
here's some advice:

- Nothing major will change in the second half. If your student's *way*
behind now and claims he will catch up, assume that's wrong. Fail him
now. Google wants to keep this program prestigious, and letting
half-assed projects and students finish doesn't help that. (If there is
a basis in reality for expecting major changes beyond your student just
saying "I'll work harder," please talk with me about it.)

- Re-scoping a proposal is perfectly OK, but it still needs to be a
significant accomplishment that's worthy of a full summer's work. If
re-scoping at your student's current pace doesn't allow for that, fail
him.

- If you aren't sure it's a pass, it's a fail. Yes == pass; Maybe == fail.

- Please feel free to ask advice of me or any other past mentors if
you're not sure what kind of standards we have.

If you're thinking of failing your student, please let us know now so we
can discuss why, what happened, and whether there's anything we could
have done differently and should change for the next time.