Tips for a Great BETA Camp Application

Thanks for your interest in BETA Camp and we are excited to get to know you better!

BETA Camp is open to students ages 13-18 located in the US, Canada or UK. While we do not have a specific cap on the number of students in a cohort, we do not accept all applicants. We look for students who are ready to take initiative, develop new skills, and collaborate in a team.

In the short answer questions, we look for a 3-5 sentences, free of spelling and grammar mistakes.

General Tips for a Great Application

Your application is you chance to introduce yourself! There are absolutely no right or wrong answers -- we want to get to know you, your interests and what you are excited about. We look for:

  • Thoughtfulness: We are looking for well-written and thoughtful responses, free of spelling and grammar mistakes.
  • Passion: We want to know why you want to join BETA Camp. What do you hope to get out of the program? What are your individual goals? What areas of your life would you like to develop, or what interests would you like to pursue?
  • Examples: Provide clear examples of how you’ve demonstrated the skills in the question in the past. You can use an example from school, extracurricular activities, clubs, sports, or your personal life.

Short Answer Questions

There are 3 short answer questions in BETA Camp’s application:

  • Why do you want to join BETA Camp? (3-5 sentences)
    This is your chance to demonstrate why you want to join the program. What you hope to get out of the program? Common examples are specific skills or knowledge; development of a current entrepreneurial endeavor; access to mentors; a peer network, etc.
  • Tell us about a time you took initiative to learn something new or make a change. (3-5 sentences)
    We look for students that are self-starters or are motivated to develop new skills. In your answer, we recommend sharing a specific example of a time that you took initiative. You can use an example school, an extracurricular activity, sports, or your personal life.
  • Tell us about a time you demonstrated leadership or team-building skills. (3-5 sentences)
    BETA Camp involves extensive team collaboration, so we want to make sure you have the skills and mindset needed to contribute meaningfully to your team. Tell us about a specific example of a time when you demonstrated leadership, or collaborated in a group or team.

Examples

Below are examples of applications of students that have been accepted to BETA Camp.

1) Why do you want to join BETA Camp?

Example 1 -
“I want to join BETA camp to rediscover my potential by developing new soft skill sets such as creative and critical thinking, a really powerful growth mindset, public speaking, time management and more. Furthermore, I want to deeply learn the hard skills to run a successful business smoothly such as proper marketing, proper budgeting, proper inventory management and logistics and much more. With that said, this would be more than just learning about business for me. I want to open my mind to new ideas and industries and connect with successful people in all kinds of industry and fuel myself with knowledge and growth, which will not only develop me professionally, but also as an individual personally.”
Example 2 -
“I hope to improve my public speaking skills and overall communication skills, as both are necessary to convey our message and develop creative solutions to solve problems. I would also like to learn new strategies on how to launch and maintain a business, as well as learn how to brainstorm ideas with other students who have similar goals as I do and become an entrepreneur. I would like to learn valuable skills in business, technology, and personal development that will benefit my future career options and increase my chances of becoming a successful entrepreneur.”
Example 3 -
"By attending this program, I hope to develop the skills and build the network required to become an effective entrepreneur, all in a stimulating environment. For me, entrepreneurship means encouraging change, pursuing dreams and solving problems, all wrapped up in a bag of motivation, adventure and ambition.Very understandably, my dream job was always to become one and make a significant impact on the world! However, building the set of skills but also the network needed to effectively lead people is challenging, and I must admit that I was a little lost at first as to where to begin. This is when I encountered BETA Camp. More than basic lectures, BETA Camp's will to empower young students and let them build skills and networks particularly appealed to me. Surrounding myself with this stimulating environment of motivated friends and passionate instructors is what excites me the most about attending this program!"

2) Tell us about a time you took initiative to learn something new or make a change.

Example 1 -
"In early January 2022, my sister told me that she couldn’t find any student reviews of the school she wanted to attend, and we debated about the lack of some information on the Internet, concluding that a community of people dedicated to sharing their international knowledge was needed. Indeed, my sister, for example, regretted that she didn’t know enough about UK schools (we lived in France). This is how [name omitted] was born! After weeks of fighting with the creation of the website, we realized that small initiatives like ours had little visibility even though they had the potential to help tons of people. We then decided to divide the website into 2 halves: posts, where people would share knowledge and raise awareness through posts, and we support, where we would promote young initiatives. The whole would then serve a pattern of “learn, share, act!”, which became one of our mottos."
Example 2 -
“In grade 6, I remember seeing a concerning amount of kids who would sit alone. Many of them would distance themselves from others. I wanted to see a change and set a goal. My intent was to make sure no one would feel left out at lunchtime. I was determined to make everyone enjoy their school break times and make new friends. I went up to these students and asked them to play any game they would like. Every day, the number of students playing with us grew. By the end of the year, our group included almost all the students who used to be alone at lunchtime! I believe this is one of my greatest achievements and have dedicated my future goals to be similar to this particular one. I received recognition from a few of my teachers who had noticed this and my self-confidence has grown since then. Because of this experience, I would like to connect with people. Whether it’s a common goal we have to achieve or a problem we have to overcome, we have to work together to create our staircase to success.”

3) Tell us about a time you demonstrated leadership or team building skills.

Example 1 -
“I am a cross-country runner for my school. From grade 6 to grade 9, I've competed in several cross country races with my team, and although these races were not official games, the atmosphere was very competitive. Students across my school district would be pushing themselves, trying to be the strongest and fastest of all schools. In one particular race in grade 9, I had met a girl who was competing for fun. Her enthusiasm amazed me, and soon, our optimism rubbed off on each other. We then dedicated every race to motivating and cheering on other teams we were running with, regardless of how fast or slow they were. Many students gave up in the middle of the race, and I and this other girl successfully convinced them to cross the finish line.”
Example 2 -
"Being a team player means being able to adapt to different styles of work based on your team dynamic, delegate responsibilities based on individual strengths, and being open-minded to different ways of thinking. As Junior class president and Varsity cheer captain I have been given many opportunities to help strengthen my teamwork skills. For example, as Junior Class president I was completely in charge of organizing Prom. I was responsible for the delegation of different tasks such as decorating, advertising, selling tickets, etc. I also practiced being open minded because I was in charge of creating the prom theme but instead of just me deciding I wanted to get more opinions so I opened it up for the whole council to discuss. I was adaptable because during prom our DJ showed up an hour late so I walked around talking to people and energizing everyone."
Example 3 -
“There have been many instances in which I have been a good team player, as it is one of my strong points. I work the most efficiently in teams, and am able to work off of people to complete tasks. A clear example of the benefits of teamwork come through the my robotics team. I was on the mechanical sub-team of this team, and was a major contributor to the construction of the main frame of our fully functional robot. Working with the countless other sub-teams, such as CAD, programming, strategy, and many more, I was able to communicate with these different teams efficiently enough to place top 30 at the World Championship in Houston.”