Question about Duty Preference

Answers to various questions regarding the SMART Scholarship application process. Includes many tips and statistics.
daynadebacker

Question about Duty Preference

Post by daynadebacker »

If a place is my second preference will I not receive a Smart Scholarship from them because I listed them as my second preference?

For Example: I don't know if I will receive a Smart Scholarship from my first duty preference and so far I did not during the first round, but I am pretty sure I would have received one from my second preference if I had listed it as my first. I just didn't list it as my first because I liked the location of the first place better. (it is in my home town)

jjm390
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Re: Question about Duty Preference

Post by jjm390 »

daynadebacker wrote:If a place is my second preference will I not receive a Smart Scholarship from them because I listed them as my second preference?

For Example: I don't know if I will receive a Smart Scholarship from my first duty preference and so far I did not during the first round, but I am pretty sure I would have received one from my second preference if I had listed it as my first. I just didn't list it as my first because I liked the location of the first place better. (it is in my home town)
Your desired preference is akin to a "dream sheet" in the military. It really has very little relation to who sponsors you. My final sponsor was my third choice, and I had interviews with my second choice, none with my first choice, and a few with some i never heard of, all of which were promising.

My feeling is that the service selects you first, then you are assigned to one of the service's SFs. That is my opinion from my experience last year.

Don't give up hope!

daynad

Re: Question about Duty Preference

Post by daynad »

Okay, I received phone calls from both my first and second preference and was just wondering if I didn't get my first preference when would I find out if I got my second preference?

guest

Re: Question about Duty Preference

Post by guest »

My only two interviews came from SF not on my preference list at all. of those two, I was asked the preference I had for either of them and received an award from my first choice of those two.

ddguest

Re: Question about Duty Preference

Post by ddguest »

Okay, yeah I was asked which one I had preference on (in a phone call) and I chose the one near me although I knew I could of got the scholarship for sure from the other. I just wanted to take a chance and see if I could get that one because it would be more convient. It turns out though I most likely did not get it and was wondering what happens to my second preference now? Will I still have a chance at getting the one I listed as my second preference (in the phone call)?

post-smart

Re: Question about Duty Preference

Post by post-smart »

My understanding of the process is that each SF independently pursues the applicants that they would like to sponsor, and submits their wish list to the SPO. Then, SPO resolves any conflicts (i.e., if two SFs both want the same student, the student gets to decide). Then awards are sent out.

The only influence that your list of desired SFs has is that each SF gets a separate list of applicants that have listed the SF as being desirable. But all SFs also have complete lists of applicants, which is why some people get interviewed by SFs that aren't on their lists.

Is there a reason that you think that you "definitely" could get the scholarship from your second choice SF? Because, if you weren't offered an award, it means that the second choice SF didn't put you on their wish list...

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