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The JA Selection Process
Finally, there will be those who say that the committee is too secretive. This is always a complaint that comes out after the actual selection has taken place by individuals who never asked how the process operated in the first place. All of us on committee are more than willing to explain the process, the various checks and double checks to ensure every candidate gets a fair shot, and that unsubstantiated opinion is not allowed to influence our decisions."
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The JA Selection Process 2012
The Application:
Each candidate is asked to submit an application as well as ask a JA (former or present) and a peer to complete a recommendation form on their behalf.
The Review of Application:
Each application is read by junior and senior interviewers prior to the interview and given an informal rating of 1-7 by each interviewer. The rating does not impact the applicants overall chances of getting JA and is simply a personal reference for the interviewer. All applicants receive an interview.
The Interview:
Twleve junior and senior members of the JA Selection Committee conduct interviews. The twelve interviewers are paired up and divided into 2 groups of 3 pairs each. The application pool is then divided equally between these two groups. Each pair is assigned one of three question topics that they are responsible for asking during each interview. During the interview, the applicants rotate between the three pairs until they have been asked questions from each pair. At the end of the interview, the applicant has the ability to not count the interview towards the application for any reason.
Selection Committee Deliberations:
The final selection process consists of deliberation and three rounds of voting. NO hearsay is allowed during deliberation. Anything that is said or written about a candidate must be first-hand, personally observed or experienced by Committee members or the candidate’s recommender(s).
The First Round:
Candidates are discussed in alphabetical order by last name and by gender. A candidate’s name will be read aloud, any member of the Committee who has serious objections to a candidate is allowed to propose a pre-emptive strike. If two or more additional Committee members support this strike, the candidate’s application will be put aside for the time being.
Each candidate’s application and interview is read aloud and discussed. Committee members who know the candidate are given the opportunity to speak about the candidate. Then discussion is opened to the floor, reading the application and the following discussion should last no more than 25 minutes. The Committee Co-Chairs will be the discussion to a close and ask the Committee “Can this candidate be a JA?”. The Committee will vote (blind) and the candidates receiving the majority vote will move on to the second round. The votes are counted by the Co-Chairs. The result is released directly after the vote.
After considering every application in this manner, any candidate that has not qualified for the second round by pre-emptive strike may be reconsidered. If any member of the Committee wishes to reconsider a candidate, the Committee discusses that candidate again and votes again on the question “Can this candidate by a JA?”.
The Second Round:
Candidates are discussed in the same order as the first round. One of the current JA Co-Presidents will read aloud the notes of the Committee’s first-round discussion of each candidate. Any new information can be introduced and candidates will also be considered in the context of the JA class as a whole. Parts of the first-round discussion will be explored in more detail without rehashing previous discussions.
The Committee will vote on whether to continue an applicant’s candidacy after the discussion of each applicant, but in this round, each Committee member has 52 votes that not gender specific. The top 40 female and top 40 male vote-getters will be placed on the final ballot. At the end of the second round, like in the first round, the Committee may reconsider any candidates who have not qualified up to this point. This is the last time to discuss these candidates for JA.
The Final Ballot:
Each Committee member will consider the male and female applicants who are eligible for the final ballot. Committee members will be allowed to use their own notes and will have access to candidates’ applications and interview transcripts. The final ballot uses a six tier voting system.
Each Committee member will vote for their top 36 candidates of each gender, placing six candidates in the first tier (30 points), six candidates in the second tier (25 points), seven candidates in the third tier (20 points), seven candidates in the fourth tier (15 points), five candidates in the fifth tier (10 points), and five candidates in the sixth tier (5 points). The points are tallied for each candidate and top 26 male and 26 female vote-getters are accepted as JAs while the next ten of each gender are waitlisted (in order).
