The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

by **HOPEFULLYSELECTED** » Sun Mar 28, 2021 4:31 pm

Also, one SF said I was one of six names they submitted to sponsor, but after they submitted the names it was our of their hands. Another SF said they were looking forward to having me as a candidate. I'm trying not to read too much into each of those statements. But, I really hope those are good signs. (The third SF was trying to sell me on their location, but didn't seem to have read my resume because he thought I was a grad student. And, the fourth SF rep said he was new and wasn't really sure how it all worked).

by **HOPEFULLYSELECTED** » Sun Mar 28, 2021 4:25 pm

I got a call last Monday from a SMART rep who asked me to re-rank my list. She said 4 interviews was a lot, so I hope that's a good sign.

by **seagull** » Wed Mar 24, 2021 10:08 pm

* I also should have mentioned that I listed 'no preference' on my application -- if that even means anything.

by **seagull** » Wed Mar 24, 2021 10:06 pm

notpoggers wrote: ↑
Wed Mar 24, 2021 11:11 am
I think I can shed a little light on this.
I received an email about a week ago (aye) from the scholarship letting me know I may or may not be receiving a phone call to "[collect] pertinent information form eligible semifinalist applicants." Additionally the email stated that award notifications typically come out first week of April.
Now I've had a couple phone interviews, and one with a facility that I interviewed with last year (I was denied the scholarship and I was told by multiple representatives that last year the scholarship's budget was cut substantially) told me that a phone call is likely an indicator of bids from more than one SF. They essentially want you to rank which location or service branch you would like to work for. This essentially seals your scholarship.
What this means for people who haven't gotten an email is that you either have only gotten one bid placed on you, or none. It's almost certain that some people who haven't gotten any interviews or any emails will get the scholarship, so don't worry too much about it.

Wow... I had no idea. Thank you for providing very insightful info. I'm so much more nervous now :")) bc I've only been contacted by one SF! Is there still a chance other SFs are bidding on you but won't tell you? Maybe I'm just in denial...

by **Guest0324** » Wed Mar 24, 2021 1:32 pm

Sorry I didn’t get the last sentence, do you mean to say it this way?
It's “not” certain that some people who haven't gotten any interviews or any emails will get the scholarship, so don't worry too much about it.

by **notpoggers** » Wed Mar 24, 2021 11:11 am

I think I can shed a little light on this.
I received an email about a week ago (aye) from the scholarship letting me know I may or may not be receiving a phone call to "[collect] pertinent information form eligible semifinalist applicants." Additionally the email stated that award notifications typically come out first week of April.
Now I've had a couple phone interviews, and one with a facility that I interviewed with last year (I was denied the scholarship and I was told by multiple representatives that last year the scholarship's budget was cut substantially) told me that a phone call is likely an indicator of bids from more than one SF. They essentially want you to rank which location or service branch you would like to work for. This essentially seals your scholarship.
What this means for people who haven't gotten an email is that you either have only gotten one bid placed on you, or none. It's almost certain that some people who haven't gotten any interviews or any emails will get the scholarship, so don't worry too much about it.

by **Guest0323** » Wed Mar 24, 2021 1:02 am

I know this forum represents a very small % of applicants. But if I’m doing the count correctly, so far, there’s only 1 who got a call from SMART Rep to rerank the SF preferences, then another 1 got email last Friday to just give a heads up that SMART may call this week. Did I count that correctly? Were there more who had received a call or email? By the way about that email from Friday, did that email come from a facility or from SMART rep?

by **ilovecorpsehusband** » Tue Mar 23, 2021 10:25 pm

Oh wow. Honestly, by the sounds of it (and not that I would know by any means lol), it's geared more towards those that had listed specific facilities as a preference with combination of their interviewing SF's. Personally, I said on my app that I have no "specific preference," so I think that may have had an impact? I'm just guessing here guys. Though, I'm scared -- does not getting the email/call foreshadow anything...?

by **Nervous** » Tue Mar 23, 2021 10:08 pm

^ (It should say "Does anybody know if all of the SMART SF's get at least one scholar")

by **Nervous** » Tue Mar 23, 2021 10:07 pm

Does anybody of all of the participating SF's this year will have funding for at least one SMART scholar?

I am afraid that place I got interviewed at is not well known and does not have much significance to the DoD.

by **Guest** » Tue Mar 23, 2021 8:53 pm

Maybe it only went to people who got picked by more than one facility. When you get the scholarship they only put you with one facility and a lot of peoples preferences change after their interviews.

by **Guest0323** » Tue Mar 23, 2021 8:50 pm

I didn’t get any email last Friday. I had interviews with 2 different SFs (around 2/24 and 3/3). No email or phone calls received after those interviews.

by **Guest** » Tue Mar 23, 2021 8:43 pm

Oh interesting! I thought everyone got it. It said something like we are reviewing apps and a rep from SMART may call you Monday-Wednesday next week to ask you questions about your application. Maybe only people with multiple interviews received this because I heard they asked one other person about reranking their facilities after their interviews.

by **ilovecorpsehusband** » Tue Mar 23, 2021 8:04 pm

Wow, really? I haven't received any recent emails from SMART, besides from SF's interviewing me... can I ask what the email was about/said?

by **g9x64** » Tue Mar 23, 2021 7:58 pm

Confused wrote: ↑
Tue Mar 23, 2021 6:51 pm
I’m confused. Did SMART email all semi finalists last Friday? (3/19). If so, I didn’t get one

I don’t think so! I had an interview on Thursday of last week and the guy who interviewed me said that their facility had a local deadline of the next day (last Friday) to submit their selections for smart scholars. I believe other facilities still might be interviewing/have different local deadlines and SMART releases the results for all of the facilities at the same time, so I wouldn’t worry!

by **Confused** » Tue Mar 23, 2021 6:51 pm

I’m confused. Did SMART email all semi finalists last Friday? (3/19). If so, I didn’t get one

by **Guest** » Tue Mar 23, 2021 6:49 pm

An EE major wrote: ↑
Tue Mar 23, 2021 5:27 pm

Guest wrote: ↑
Tue Mar 23, 2021 4:50 pm
Has anyone else gotten a follow up call from SMART this week?
Really? If you don’t mind saying what base? And what did they say? Did they tell you you got it or something like that?

I didn't get a call. The person who posted above my comment did though. As far as I understand SMART may call sometime Monday-Wednesday this week and potentially ask you if you want to re-rank your SFs after your interviews. These calls wouldn't be from the SF, they would be from SMART because they're in the process of placing people with SFs. You didn't get the email last Friday from SMART?

by **An EE major** » Tue Mar 23, 2021 5:27 pm

Guest wrote: ↑
Tue Mar 23, 2021 4:50 pm
Has anyone else gotten a follow up call from SMART this week?

Really? If you don’t mind saying what base? And what did they say? Did they tell you you got it or something like that?

by **Guest** » Tue Mar 23, 2021 4:50 pm

Has anyone else gotten a follow up call from SMART this week?

by **jsalt231** » Mon Mar 22, 2021 2:26 pm

jsalt231 wrote: ↑
Sun Mar 21, 2021 8:59 pm

Guest0321 wrote: ↑
Sun Mar 21, 2021 8:45 pm
For those who had more than 1 interview, have you received any call from SMART/DoD asking to rerank the facility preferences?
After I had my interviews I emailed SMART asking if I could rerank my facilities; they told me to send them my new rankings but said something about it being nonbinding/needing to be approved (I'm not sure, but they at least let me send new rankings). I got an email this past week though about how SMART representatives might be reaching out this week to clarify details about applications so my guess would be if we officially get to rerank it would be through those calls.

As an update, I just received a call from SMART and they asked me about my new facility preferences and more generally how my interviews went.
Good luck to everybody!

by **jsalt231** » Sun Mar 21, 2021 8:59 pm

Guest0321 wrote: ↑
Sun Mar 21, 2021 8:45 pm
For those who had more than 1 interview, have you received any call from SMART/DoD asking to rerank the facility preferences?

After I had my interviews I emailed SMART asking if I could rerank my facilities; they told me to send them my new rankings but said something about it being nonbinding/needing to be approved (I'm not sure, but they at least let me send new rankings). I got an email this past week though about how SMART representatives might be reaching out this week to clarify details about applications so my guess would be if we officially get to rerank it would be through those calls.

by **Guest0321** » Sun Mar 21, 2021 8:45 pm

For those who had more than 1 interview, have you received any call from SMART/DoD asking to rerank the facility preferences?

by **Guest** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 3:59 pm

I'm a physics/GIS major and had a short interview with the NGA a couple weeks ago. Nothing since.

by **rrub123** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 2:22 pm

Have any physics/math majors gotten any interviews? Also, has anyone heard from Newport or Stennis?

by **info12** » Tue Mar 16, 2021 8:18 pm

eco_person wrote: ↑
Tue Mar 16, 2021 11:51 am

info12 wrote: ↑
Mon Mar 15, 2021 10:41 pm

eco_person wrote: ↑
Mon Mar 15, 2021 9:02 am
I just got an email from APHC and have my interview tomorrow! One person I called told me to email her Friday and she would send it out to see if anyone knew about the SMART Program. Ended up getting an email yesterday for an interview!
Congrats! Who did you email?
Thanks!

I won't be giving out the email, but I just went through their list of directorates on their website for environmental science (that's the major I'm doing) and one said to email her and she'll find out.

Just finished the interview, I think it went alright except they were late to the call. The questions have been about what the others were posting on here. It was about an hour long. They also said we should hear back in April who received the scholarship, and they send in a 'primary' and 'backup' name to SMART incase the primary person declines..

Thank you for the information, that's helpful to know! Hope you hear back with good news!

The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

Interview calls

Post a reply

Expand view Topic review: Interview calls

Re: Interview calls

Re: Interview calls

Re: Interview calls

Re: Interview calls

Re: Interview calls

Re: Interview calls

Re: Interview calls

Re: Interview calls

Re: Interview calls

Re: Interview calls

Re: Interview calls

Re: Interview calls

Re: Interview calls

Re: Interview calls

Re: Interview calls

Re: Interview calls

Re: Interview calls

Re: Interview calls

Re: Interview calls

Re: Interview calls

Re: Interview calls

Re: Interview calls

Re: Interview calls

Re: Interview calls

Re: Interview calls