After forming many strategies and improvising them along the way, I decided that I will submit 2 proposals for GSoC 2019. Originally there is a limit of 3 proposals per student but as I started preparing from Nov 2018, I had enough time to curate 2 strong proposals.
The proposal which got me GSoC’19 is: Visualization of astronomical images in Julia (Proposal)
And my other proposal got me JSoC’19 (which I couldn’t pursue due to GSoC rules). I will add that too when I’m sure that it is of no use to me anymore and I can’t resubmit it XD;
Some Tips for writing a good proposal
Keep it short and under 10-12 pages long. No one has enough time to read 20 pages. Use hyperlinks if you want to explain something more but don’t have space.
Try to follow the format which I have used. I have seen, compared and analyzed many proposals and this format covers most of the necessary things while keeping length into account.
Make sure to include some of your previous work which can help the mentors analyze your quality of work.
Approach your mentors early to get feedback on your proposal and make final changes 3-4 days before the deadline.
For writing the timeline, it is ok to take more time for tasks you mention. If you have overstated, your mentor will give feedback beforehand but if you have included too many things and commit too much, you will not be able to complete it in deadlines. (Keep buffer weeks)