The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

2020 Award Recipient

Good luck everyone! Hopefully many of you will be receiving "semi-finalist" emails soon.
I found out in March of 2020 that I was awarded the scholarship and my SF is 775th AF Squadron at Edwards AFB.

I completed my eQIP (Clearance App.) in Sept. of 2020 and didn't find out I was granted the clearance until Jan 28th. 2021 (Supposedly they knew in Nov. 2020 but didn't see fit to tell me until I asked... go figure)
For anyone scared about that process, I had a number of what the adjudicators would say are "red flags".
(You can find a list of these here... https://www.dni.gov/files/NCSC/documents/Regulations/SEAD-4-Adjudicative-Guidelines-U.pdf)
Just be COMPLETELY honest with them, and you'll be fine. If you withhold any information from them they WILL find out.

If you find that you didn't make it through the first round, or do some interviews and still don't get it, don't fret, there's always next year.

Some suggestions. I found out I wanted to apply for the scholarship in Sept. 2017. I was attending a Technical College at the time for my EE Associates degree. I started to clean my closet immediately (deleting incriminating pictures, deleting volatile friends from my life/fb, etc.) I started to join a number of extra-curricular groups (student govt. ham radio club etc.) Those sorts of things look GREAT on a resume. I started building rapport with teachers in my field so I'd have great references.
Basically EVERYTHING I did in my life outside of work and family was to make myself look better in the eyes of SMART. By the time I applied I had a 3.5 G.P.A, a number of accolades under my belt and volunteer work to talk about. I was also able to get an internship and job that both directly related to my top SF choice.
Getting this scholarship became a full-time job and it was all worth it.

I hope this information helps someone get it this time around or in the future.

If you want to know any other information, feel free to PM me and I'll get back to you when I can.

[quote=Gatorleg post_id=15414 time=1606863141 user_id=1606]
Spoke to the SMART office today. As of 3:15, there were about 2000 completed applications and about 8000 in progress. The person I spoke with indicated there might be over 500 scholarships awarded this round.
[/quote]

How did you speak with them and have you heard any updates on this?

[quote=Gatorleg post_id=15414 time=1606863141 user_id=1606]
Spoke to the SMART office today. As of 3:15, there were about 2000 completed applications and about 8000 in progress. The person I spoke with indicated there might be over 500 scholarships awarded this round.
[/quote]

That's interesting... I wonder how many out of the 8000 in progress hit that submit button in time. Also, 500 scholarships?! That's a ton.

I wonder the SMART office will let us know the final number of completed applications?

[quote=Gatorleg post_id=15414 time=1606863141 user_id=1606]
Spoke to the SMART office today. As of 3:15, there were about 2000 completed applications and about 8000 in progress. The person I spoke with indicated there might be over 500 scholarships awarded this round.
[/quote]

I'm curious if making the test scores optional this cycle made people more competitive in the eyes of SMART or less.

Spoke to the SMART office today. As of 3:15, there were about 2000 completed applications and about 8000 in progress. The person I spoke with indicated there might be over 500 scholarships awarded this round.

Applications open up in a month!

[quote=navyengr post_id=15180 time=1587936615]
For human factors you could try applying to some of the Navy facilities. Specifically, Naval Submarine Medical Research Lab and Naval Undersea Warfare Center have human factors scientists/engineers. I think NUWC is bigger than NSMRL so probably has more funding.
[/quote]

Do you have any suggestions as to how I should contact someone from the base that would be able to let me know if they would take a smart scholar in my field?

[quote=navyengr post_id=15180 time=1587936615]
For human factors you could try applying to some of the Navy facilities. Specifically, Naval Submarine Medical Research Lab and Naval Undersea Warfare Center have human factors scientists/engineers. I think NUWC is bigger than NSMRL so probably has more funding.
[/quote]

Wow! Thanks for the heads up :) I'll look into those when the time for applications gets closer.

For human factors you could try applying to some of the Navy facilities. Specifically, Naval Submarine Medical Research Lab and Naval Undersea Warfare Center have human factors scientists/engineers. I think NUWC is bigger than NSMRL so probably has more funding.

Didn't get a position and this is my only year I could apply since I would graduate too soon for next year's application :( Sad day.

We should scope this thread in a way that helps us make our applications more competitive. If you were awarded the scholarship, could you provided your materials anonymously?

I found a really good website once that had all the current research being done, but I can't for the life of me find it! One go to site I used was the Dod STEM site. It at least lists the basic research and core competencies.
https://dodstem.us/labs

I'm kind of in the same boat as you where I applied (2nd time) for SMART but got an internship at my top choice this Summer. It may be for good since I'm switching majors. The major I applied to SMART to was CS, but I just transferred schools and I'm now majoring in Unmanned Systems Applications.

Only way I'll apply to SMART again is for a dual BS/MS program. I saw in the other thread that someone got it after 4 times applying, so maybe 3x a charm?

I know we're dealing with our initial reactions to the rejection, but we should start working on tips and strategies for winning the scholarship next year.

Background info:

Program: PhD Human Factors (Cognitive, Neural, and Behavioral Sciences)
Years remaining: 3 years
Grad GPA: 3.9
Experience: 1 publication in the Human Factors proceedings, 1 upcoming NREIP internship at the Naval Information Warfare Center- Pacific. Multiple research experiences in general Human Factor roles (e.g., UX, Usability).
Locations: NIWC-Pac, AFRL, Naval Sea Systems Command, NRL in D.C., NUWC, NSMRL, NAWCTSD (I still have to narrow it down)