TL;DR

• In 2024, 84% of applicants were accepted to EA Global.
• We evaluate applications by considering several factors. Our two primary considerations are an applicant’s EA context and their potential to advance professionally in ways that contribute to EA-related goals or support others in doing so. If you’d like to better understand our admissions bar, you can skip ahead to An overview of the admissions bar.
• Currently, we suspect that many people who reach the admissions bar are not applying. We want to encourage you to apply!
• Events are expensive and this prevents some people from applying. We don’t think it should—if you’ve been accepted, we think your attendance is a good use of our funding. 

Introduction 

The two goals of this post are:

1. Provide greater transparency on the current admissions bar for EA Global (EAG)
2. Encourage more people to apply to EAG

We aim to provide a meaningful amount of detail without making the admissions process easy to game. We’re cognisant that sharing too much information could result in some applicants tailoring their responses solely for admission, rather than providing an authentic representation of themselves and their engagement with effective altruism.

We always sincerely appreciate thoughts and feedback—our team will be keeping an eye on the comments and we'll do our best to respond to questions, though we may not be able to prioritise addressing every one.  

Please note that this post only applies to EAGs, not EAGx conferences. Each EAGx has its own separate admissions bar, though their admissions criteria are similar (see our website for more details).  

Additionally, this post is only about the policy for general admission to EAG and does not address travel support decisions. Our travel support bar is currently under review and we hope to share more information at another time.

What is EA Global?

EA Global (EAG) is a series of conferences organised by the Events Team at the Centre for Effective Altruism, a charitable project dedicated to promoting the principles of effective altruism and supporting a global community of people trying to make the world a better place. EAGs are professional networking events for people who have made helping others a core part of their lives. Speakers and attendees share new thinking and research, coordinate on important projects, and work together to solve pressing problems. 

Acceptance rate

To provide context, it’s worth noting that we accept the significant majority of applications to EAG: the approval rate for EAGs in 2024 was around 84%.

Below are the decision rates for EAG by year. EAG has changed significantly over time, as has the bar for admissions. The current bar has been roughly in effect since 2023, with small tweaks for 2024. As of 2024, we’ve decided to weigh EA context less heavily for those with significant work experience, to encourage engagement from more mid- to late-career professionals. We suspect this has had some role in the increased approval rate.

Table 1. The rate of approval for EA Global applications. *Note that the EAG London 2021 acceptance rate is unusually high since we also invited virtual attendees. 

You should apply to EA Global

We suspect there are many people who clearly meet the admissions bar who are not applying

While the number of applications to EA Global 2024 are more than double five years earlier, they have declined each of the last two years. There are likely several contributing factors here, such as a reduction in travel support availability, general trends in community building, and limited marketing efforts over the past couple of years. 

We also suspect that declining numbers could, in some part, be influenced by a widespread belief that the admissions bar for EA Global is high. However, as shown in Table 1, this most recent year we approved around 84% of applications. Currently, we suspect there are many people who will clearly meet the bar who are not applying.

In general, we are excited to receive more applications in 2025 and beyond; one of our core aims moving forward is to increase EAG attendance while maintaining attendee satisfaction and curation. 

Events are expensive; we don’t want this to deter applications

EA Globals cost a significant amount of money to run. Some anecdotal feedback suggests that people in our core target audience are not applying for fear that the value they expect to gain is not worth the cost to our team. 

While we sincerely appreciate support from attendees and thoughtfulness towards the cost of our events, we believe that subsidising EA Global attendance is a good use of EA resources, based on analyses of our feedback surveys and actions taken by attendees as a result of the event. Additionally, the marginal costs of extra attendees can vary due to a range of considerations, including various fixed costs that come with events. Our team has the best context on relevant cost considerations—getting admitted to an EAG means that we are willing to cover your attendance. Feel free to defer to our judgement.

If you’re considering applying to EA Global, we encourage you to apply. If you would like support from our team in deciding whether EA Global is right for you, please reach out to [email protected] or comment below. 

Why have an admissions process? 

The case for having an admissions process is as follows: 

1. Filtering for our target audience
   1. EAG is intended to target those who have a solid understanding of EA and are taking significant action based on EA principles.
   2. We put less weight on EA context for mid- and late-career applicants with important experience in a field relevant to EA-related work.
2. Enhancing networking opportunities.
   1. EAG focuses heavily on networking and one-to-one conversations, which our feedback surveys consistently highlight as one of the most valuable experiences for attendees.
   2. While attendees can use our event networking app to schedule meetings, many of the 1-on-1 interactions at EAG are spontaneous (e.g. attendees interact at meet ups, speed meetings, workshops, meal times, before and after talks, etc.). In general, the admissions bar helps to curate the event experience; attendees can more easily reference existing work and ideas, are more likely to be able to help each other with their particular goals, etc.
   3. This curation makes it more likely that senior professionals will attend and find the events useful. This is important as they’re the most in-demand at EAG (because they can offer mentorship, job opportunities, etc.).
3. Maximising return on investment.
   1. EAGs are expensive to run, though we've been bringing net costs down recently. In 2022 and 2023, our average cost-per-attendee was around $2,000. In 2024, we reduced this to ~$1,600 and more than doubled revenue from tickets. We think welcoming someone to EA Global is a very good use of EA resources, offering strong returns through impactful outcomes and new donations, but it's still a cost we take seriously.
   2. Our admissions process helps ensure we're using these resources appropriately by selecting participants who we expect are most likely to benefit from and contribute to the event.
4. Maintaining a positive and productive event environment.
   1. The admissions process allows us to screen out individuals who have caused issues at past events or who could potentially cause problems for future conference attendees.

An overview of the admissions bar 

Each application is reviewed by one person on the admissions team. If an application is borderline, it will be further reviewed by one or two additional people. We may Google applicants and organisations, review LinkedIns, and sometimes reach out to references. 

We consider several factors when evaluating applications, with the two primary considerations being:

EA context: Does the applicant demonstrate sufficient understanding and engagement with core EA ideas?

• We pay attention to how an applicant is discussing effective altruism and their goals. We are not particularly concerned with how much time an applicant has spent engaging with EA; rather, we are looking for evidence that the applicant has meaningfully explored and understood the ideas. Of course, this is often correlated with more time spent engaging with EA, and we take into consideration activities that build up EA knowledge, such as participating in fellowships, reading groups, relevant research programs, etc.

Current potential and desire to make progress along a professional path that is aligned with EA principles, or to help others do so: Is the applicant currently positioned to advance along a high-impact path, or to help others do so, such that we expect them to gain or add sufficient value from attending EAG?

• We look for applicants to describe future plans they’re exploring or working towards as well as past actions they have taken. 

We’d like to stress that we weigh both of these considerations in the context of admission to EAG. Admissions decisions are not intended to make any global claims about an applicant's participation in EA or their relationship to it, their commitment to EA principles, or their future trajectory as a whole.

Our team uses the limited information available in an application to make an admission decision. As with most admissions, we recognise there is subjectivity involved. We do our best to rely on general heuristics, but sometimes we make mistakes.

To provide a bit more detail, an application is generally approved when: 

• The applicant demonstrates a clear, meaningful understanding of the core ideas.
  • Note: Applicants are very welcome to express views that dissent from general consensus within EA, so long as the reasoning transparency is clear. Crucially, the admissions team needs to be able to distinguish between thoughtful disagreement and a misunderstanding of the core ideas or lack of context.
    • An example of a transparent, thoughtful disagreement would be: “I’m working on [cause]. I realise this is not generally seen as a core EA cause area, but I think this is a mistake because y and z.”
    • An example of a possible misunderstanding would be “I work on [cause], which is obviously in line with EA principles.”
• The applicant has taken concrete actions, or is planning to and can explain their reasoning clearly.
  • Note: Applicants are not penalised for expressing uncertainty in their plans—it is not necessary to have a clear and singular plan, so long as there is reasoning transparency.
  • An example of this would be, “I will soon be graduating from my PhD in molecular biology. I am still trying to work out my personal fit and cause prioritisation. Currently, I’m leaning towards work in alternative proteins; however, I’ve also been exploring the need for molecular biologists in biosecurity…”
• We also sometimes approve applicants based on external experience, even in cases where they don’t have high EA context. For example, if they have:
  • Ample experience/skill in a relevant field, particularly if neglected in the current ecosystem (e.g. an applicant who is new to EA but has 15+ years of experience with non-profit governance and operations).
  • Access to significant resources or influence such that they have the potential to make an unusually large impact if more involved with EA (i.e. someone well-connected in philanthropic organisations).  

An applicant might be rejected if:

• They do not seem well-placed to take impactful actions as a result of the event. For example:
  • The applicant indicates that they do not intend to take significant action based on EA principles and primarily wishes to use EAG as a learning or social opportunity (i.e. “my main plan for the event is to meet likeminded people that I can discuss EA with”).
  • The applicant is planning to take significant action, but their theory of change is difficult to understand or their plan appears misaligned with their current skills and experience. An example could be an applicant who simply writes, “I plan to start an AI safety organisation,” but does not provide any further details, nor evidence of relevant experience.
• They do not demonstrate a sufficient understanding of core EA ideas. For example:
  • The applicant’s primary goals are not obviously relevant to EA and a supporting explanation is not provided (e.g. “my plan to improve the world is volunteering at my local animal shelter”).
  • The applicant’s primary goals are relevant to EA, but there is not enough information to say whether the applicant has sufficient EA context to enact them well (i.e. “I plan to start an EA group at my university where we will have socials, events, and discuss EA ideas,” without an accompanying demonstration of EA context or engagement). 

Examples of other factors the admissions team might consider include: 

• Soldier vs. scout mindset
  • Does the applicant demonstrate openness to changing their mind and epistemic humility, or are they strongly attached to particular ideas?
• Professional focus
  • EAG is first and foremost a professional networking event. It is also an event at which attendees often socialise, make friends, and have fun discussing ideas. While the EAG team loves the community aspect of our events, we aim to filter out applicants who report that the primary value they will gain or add to the event is social.

Common questions 

1. Do we prioritise particular worldviews within effective altruism (i.e. longtermism)?
   1. CEA, and by extension EAGs, are focussed on a principles-first approach to community building. Our goal is to host events where people can think carefully, and critically, and support each other to take meaningful action on pressing problems.
   2. The admissions process does not systematically prioritise any one EA-aligned cause over another. We are not prioritising between global health and development, animal welfare, existential risk work, etc. in our admissions process. We also do not have a goal for the number of attendees per cause area (i.e. we are not aiming for a particular number of people interested in AI safety versus animal welfare, etc.).
2. Does requesting travel support affect general admission decisions?
   1. Travel support decisions are made separately, and requesting travel support has no bearing on general admission to the event. If someone is approved but is rejected for travel support, they are still invited to the event, we just can’t financially support their travel and accommodation.
3. Does indicating an interest in volunteering affect general admission decisions?
   1. Volunteering has no bearing on admissions decisions—EAG volunteers must first be admitted to the event via the standard process. 

Recommendations for writing a strong application 

1. Include specific details
   1. For example: “my 80k advisor recommended that I apply” is not as useful as providing a specific name, in case our team wants to verify what’s been written. Similarly, we prefer that applicants avoid using niche acronyms, especially if referencing a newer organisation or project that we may not be familiar with.
2. Provide as much relevant information as possible, while remaining concise
   1. We discourage spending time on personal or narrative statements (e.g. “it was a cold winter’s morning when I opened a website that changed my life”) as we do not weigh those into our decision-making process. We also don’t pay particular attention to formatting or writing style insofar as we can understand what’s being communicated.
   2. You’re very welcome to use bullet points, to help you present information clearly and efficiently. Each bullet point should contain specific, substantive information that directly supports your application.
3. Explain your reasoning
   1. This is especially true if your work or plans are not obviously relevant to EA—our admissions team wants to understand your thinking. E.g., “my current thesis work is on cancer imaging using machine learning. While this particular work is not directly relevant to EA-aligned causes, I chose this project as I’m currently trying to build skills and wanted to work with a particular professor in my department…” 

Apply now

Applications to EA Global 2025 are open! We’ll be launching promotional materials and continuing to share more information over the coming weeks. 

In 2025, we’ll be hosting:

• EA Global: Bay Area, February 21-23
• EA Global: London, June 6-8
• EA Global: East Coast USA (location and date TBA)
• EA Global: Virtual (date TBA)^[1]

1. ^{^}

   Note: We expect that EAG Virtual will have a different admissions bar, given that there are different dynamics and considerations for a virtual event. We plan to share more information soon.