GSoC 2018 Update

[Olly Betts]

Student applications closed a few days ago.  Thanks to all the students
who applied to us.

We've made a start on reviewing proposals - please keep an eye open for
emails or IRC (if you're on IRC) as we may have further questions for
you.

One general note - like many orgs in GSoC, we do expect students to
contribute a patch as part of their application.  This is very helpful
as it shows us how you approach problems and what you're like to
interact with, and also helps us to assess if your skill levels are
appropriate for the scope of what you're proposing to do.

Several of the proposals we have don't currently have a matching patch
contribution, but it's not too late to work on one - the initial phase
of proposal review is until April 9th when we need to tell Google how
many slots we'd like.  If you start now you should be able to work
through the patch submission process.

Cheers,
    Olly