Jumping on, I definitely agree with sarreph. I was also selected twice (2007 and 2008), and had a blast. I'm not sure if they still do it, but they used to hold a career fair for the students as well. There is no way you will make every session you want to see, but use the time to meet people. That's something I wish I did more. You can always come back to the sessions later when they are online.

It was always a very tiring week, and plenty of times I just wanted to go back to the hotel to rest. Plus those chairs were a killer to my bad back. Looking back, I'm glad I always stuck it out.

So what was your take away after attending the conference? Genuinely interested and not trolling...

First I learned a ton more than I would have sitting at the house. Back then the videos were only distributed to conference goers (maybe ADC members too), then they opened it up to purchase access a couple of years later, now it's free. In 2007 and prior really the only sources you had were the Aaron Hillegass book (which still sits on my shelf) and a handful of scattered blogs or examples around the internet. 2008 was the year of the iOS App Store and a huge shift.

Networking was a huge thing that I should have done more. 2007 only had Mac sessions, with a few mobile web sessions. Nearly every big name Mac shop was there, in full force. Most of those shops have had to send fewer people lately, but they are still represented. Plus tons of new companies now. You'll never know who you might end up meeting. They offer plenty of time and places to do that while at WWDC.

The labs are the #1 reason to go WWDC. You get to talk directly to the engineers in charge of the frameworks. Bring them your app, code, and any issues you are having. For some people this is worth the cost of admission alone.

If you are just going to sit in on some sessions, I'd stay at the house and save the money. If you are going to network, use the labs, plus do all the extras like Stump the Experts, Design Awards, etc then it's definitely worth going.

Thanks for sharing. I didn't know that the Apple engineers were so accessible. Maybe they should run this type of conference more than just once a year, oh and without them marketing hype.

I wonder, can I take an app of mine that's on the App Store and use that? Because that's probably what I'm going to do.

I'm quite sure you're expected to create an app from scratch.

If you're familiar enough with making an app (as it seems that you are) then I would try your best to make a new app as the idea is to present an application that is about you — think of it as an 'app resumé'; done as creatively as possible, of course!

Last year, I made my app while studying for university finals that started a week after the submission deadline — it's not implausible ;)

I think to be able to apply for scholarship you need to be member of one of the listed STEM organizations. All of the listed STEM organizations seems to be only for women, black and hispanic. What about normal people from normal school?

I would recommend rephrasing as "What about everybody else from all the other schools?"

Your assumption is not true, please see below:

You must also be enrolled part-time or full-time in a course of study, or be a member or alumni of one of the listed STEM organizations. [1]

-- Key word there is 'OR'

I'm only replying to this in order to help others; I think you should strongly reconsider your use of the word 'normal', especially when using it in a way that could be misconstrued as a comparison against minorities or other groups of people, i.e. excluding 'women, black and hispanic' from being 'normal'.

[1] - https://developer.apple.com/wwdc/scholarships/Scholarship-Gu...