Idaho ME wrote:Guest wrote: Maybe the first round is not the killer after all.
My understanding is that the first round is academic verification and checking the application for completeness, so it wouldn't be considered "competitive" by any means.
Just a note on the timeline: I received my first round notification last year on February 22, almost a full month earlier than this year. I got my final round rejection on July 2. Last year's schedule was thrown off by federal budget and politics, but I still wouldn't get my hopes up for awards being made in May as is stated in the email we just received.
My understanding, through my conversations with people at Kirtland AFB who have been on the selection board for AFRL, once they get the applications, your are in the final round (where we are right now). I was also told that the selection process at AFRL works something like this:
1) They divide the applications into VA Preference and non-VA preference
2) They then sort both piles by GPA
3) They then read all of the Essays
4) If the essays don't describe research/desired work with the DoD doesn't match their needs, they discard that application. I was also told that the best written Essays get the most attention.
5) Once they weed out the applications based on essay content, they then rank the applications based on the other aspects of the application/phone interviews
6) Once everything is ranked, the VA preference is applied to the ranking
7) Positions are then filled from the top down.
8) their final list is sent back to the SMART program office for final selection
I was also told that you could have the best GPA in the world, but if your essays are not written well, and/or are not relevant to them, the application won't go any further. A low GPA can easily be overcome by writing a very good set of essays.
[quote="Idaho ME"][quote="Guest"] Maybe the first round is not the killer after all.[/quote]
My understanding is that the first round is academic verification and checking the application for completeness, so it wouldn't be considered "competitive" by any means.
Just a note on the timeline: I received my first round notification last year on February 22, almost a full month earlier than this year. I got my final round rejection on July 2. Last year's schedule was thrown off by federal budget and politics, but I still wouldn't get my hopes up for awards being made in May as is stated in the email we just received.[/quote]
My understanding, through my conversations with people at Kirtland AFB who have been on the selection board for AFRL, once they get the applications, your are in the final round (where we are right now). I was also told that the selection process at AFRL works something like this:
1) They divide the applications into VA Preference and non-VA preference
2) They then sort both piles by GPA
3) They then read all of the Essays
4) If the essays don't describe research/desired work with the DoD doesn't match their needs, they discard that application. I was also told that the best written Essays get the most attention.
5) Once they weed out the applications based on essay content, they then rank the applications based on the other aspects of the application/phone interviews
6) Once everything is ranked, the VA preference is applied to the ranking
7) Positions are then filled from the top down.
8) their final list is sent back to the SMART program office for final selection
I was also told that you could have the best GPA in the world, but if your essays are not written well, and/or are not relevant to them, the application won't go any further. A low GPA can easily be overcome by writing a very good set of essays.