Writing a Winning Proposal

Proposal Quality Distribution:

Generic Proposals  ███████████████  50%
  (Copy-paste from ideas page)

Good Proposals     █████████        30%
  (Shows some thought)

Excellent Proposals ████             15%
  (Stands out immediately)

Outstanding        █                  5%
  (Gets accepted)

Minute 0:15    "Is this person serious?"
Minute 0:45    "Do they understand the problem?"
Minute 1:30    "Can they actually do this?"
Minute 2:00    "Why this project? Why this person?"
Minute 2:30    "Decision made."

Yes or No. That's it.

Distribution of proposals received by GSoC organizations:

Terrible Proposals      ███████████████████  45%
  ("I want to contribute")
  
Basic Proposals        ████████████         25%
  ("I'll implement feature X")
  
Good Proposals         ███████              15%
  ("Here's how I'd solve X")
  
Excellent Proposals    ███                  10%
  ("I understand the problem deeply")
  
Outstanding Proposals  █                    5%
  ("This proposal shows mastery")

Acceptance correlation:
- Terrible: 0% acceptance
- Basic: 5% acceptance
- Good: 25% acceptance
- Excellent: 60% acceptance
- Outstanding: 95% acceptance