I don't really care how prepared or bright a student is if they are not interested in the subject and willing to work hard, attend regularly, and participate fully, they don't do well with me. They like my sense of humor, the clarity of my presentations. Students say I am fair in my expectations and evaluations of their work. They often say that I am knowledgeable in my field and that I can communicate clearly about that expertise. Sometimes I get criticized for trying to do too much too fast.
Some students end up feeling a bit overwhelmed.
I see contracts as an opportunity to do advanced work, to apply the information which students have been learning in previous quarters. Thus the first thing I look for is a specific question they want to address and how it fits into their overall academic plan. I look for a plan for how the student will work on the question, the kind of time line they have set up, the kind of credit they hope to acquire, and what they want from me. Sometimes I ask a student to imagine the evaluation they hope I will be able to write at the end of the quarter as a way to help them think about their contract. With internships I have less control, but what I look for most critically is that they student knows what they want academically from the internship.