The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

Guest wrote:If I'm not mistaken, the hiring freeze targets all federal employees EXCEPT for military. If that's true, my interpretation was that the SMART program would remain unaffected. Anyone else have any thoughts on that?

I have a friend who is high up in DoD. He said they were unsure if the hiring freeze affected the civilian portion of DoD, so they went along with it department wide until they could figure it out (this was back in February).

During my interview I was told that the hiring freeze does apply to civilian personnel in the DoD, which would be us. But, since the emphasis on defense definitely would not decrease under the new administration's policies, they were considering applicants on the assumption that they would be able to hire at least as many people as in previous years, maybe more. It's possible that the delay is due to some of this uncertainty, and they just want to know for sure that the program is going to continue in its original form.

I was interviewed my AFRL, which told me that their deadline was 3/10. Maybe SMART gave everyone an extension, which in turn pushed back our notification date.

AeroApp wrote:The Air Force rep I spoke to said that all USAF-affiliated labs had to get their decisions in to SMART by the first week of March (as in, the applicant portal closed after that week).

I got interviewed by USAF SF the third week of March.

Just for fun:

If you hit the password reset button on the awards page, it actually sends you a reset link. I've not tested it, but I wonder if resetting it would allow logging in.

The Air Force rep I spoke to said that all USAF-affiliated labs had to get their decisions in to SMART by the first week of March (as in, the applicant portal closed after that week).

Guest wrote:I applied for the scholarship last year and we got the notification on April 7th at 2:45 pm.

I think that the awards will not go out until much later this year. I interviewed with an SF last year and put them on my preferred list again this year. I have had one interview so far this year, but not with that same SF I put down. I had the guys' email who did the interview last year so I emailed him and asked if they had already done SMART interviews. He said they still had not received the annual packet they get from SMART. To me that either seems like they are taking way longer or that SF isn't given funding by SMART anymore.

Either way I don't think awards will come out today. Hopefully by the end of the week, but based on that email it could be quite a bit longer. :(

Maybe they're right and SMART is running very behind. Interviews from SF's could still be going on based off that email.

America produced aircraft carriers faster during WW2 than SMART is producing awards this year.

My first thought after seeing that subject header and the first line preview on my phone was, @!*#$$, "Thank you for your application..." in the first line just means you were rejected...

Man, the heart attack from that email... I guess this confirms that they're behind​ schedule.

AeroApp wrote:UPDATE:

Dear SMART Scholarship Applicant,

Thank you for your application to the SMART Scholarship Program. We are still reviewing applications and hope to make awards by the beginning of May. If you have further questions or wish to remove yourself from the scholarship consideration, please contact us.

Regards,

SMART Scholarship Program
smart@asee.org
(202) 350-5715

I received this same email just now. You can imagine the heart attack I had as the email notification and subject line popped up on my phone while I was in the process of catching up on reading this thread.

UPDATE:

Dear SMART Scholarship Applicant,

Thank you for your application to the SMART Scholarship Program. We are still reviewing applications and hope to make awards by the beginning of May. If you have further questions or wish to remove yourself from the scholarship consideration, please contact us.

Regards,

SMART Scholarship Program
smart@asee.org
(202) 350-5715

If I'm not mistaken, the hiring freeze targets all federal employees EXCEPT for military. If that's true, my interpretation was that the SMART program would remain unaffected. Anyone else have any thoughts on that?

So we know that it's going to be early April, and almost certainly on a Thursday or Friday. That leaves today (!), tomorrow, and the 13th and 14th as possible dates for the first wave of awards. I had thought it would be delayed a bit because of uncertainty from the hiring freeze, but maybe not.

Damn right!

I'd go with 4/7. I'm taking the bet above.

Sounds like he was speaking of the previous year. I don't think any calls have gone out so far. I would assume that SMART will release the info next Friday. I highly doubt it'll come this Friday. Remember everyone -- Patience is the key.

eruwaedhiel wrote:Just noticed this post on gradcafe survey:

Contacted for two interviews early March. Contacted about which facilities I prefer on the 16th. Told offers would go out April 7th. Heard nothing all last year, but now I have a research focus. 4.0 graduate GPA, but not a highly-ranked grad school.

So it seems like someone has been contacted by SMART. The two groups who interviewed me mentioned their deadline to get back to ASEE was March 10th, which works with this post's timeline.

Can anyone confirm that they've been called about preference between two facilities? I haven't seen anyone else mention being contacted by SMART anywhere since the semi finalist notifications.

Just noticed this post on gradcafe survey:

Contacted for two interviews early March. Contacted about which facilities I prefer on the 16th. Told offers would go out April 7th. Heard nothing all last year, but now I have a research focus. 4.0 graduate GPA, but not a highly-ranked grad school.

So it seems like someone has been contacted by SMART. The two groups who interviewed me mentioned their deadline to get back to ASEE was March 10th, which works with this post's timeline.

Im not so sure... if the program has grown maybe they are trying to speed up the process, and in my opinion l, cutting one of the two interviews would be the easiest way to do so. If one candidate was recommended by multiple facilities then they can refer to the application for facility and geographic preference, or send the candidate to whichever facility has the most need for that skillset. Additionally, it has been five months, and according to another poster, they recently said results would be announced in early April. I would be a little concerned about working for an organization that does not adhere to their own deadlines without further communication from them (meaning a quick hey, were running behind but are working as quickly as possible) and I'll bet they are aware of that as well. Who knows though, there seems to be so much uncertainty in the defense industry right now, so maybe theyre playing it safe and waiting just a little longer to see what happens in the world.

Callister wrote:Is there no one here that has gotten a call from SMART at all? I know it was suggested that maybe they won't be calling applicants for that final phone interview this year but I find it somewhat unlikely. I feel like they would want to speak with any applicant that has multiple nominations. If that hasn't happened yet, I would be somewhat worried that Guest might be right and that they're a bit behind schedule this year.

I agree, they've done that in all the past years, and it makes sense that they would want to clarify preferences if someone is recommended by more than one.

Same and I've had three for sure recommendations.

No calls for me, and still have the "Either the email address or the password you entered is incorrect." error when I try to log in to the award site. I can still access the application site, though.

I agree. It most definitely won't be this Friday. Has anyone been called yet? Does anyone have access to the award site? (Not the application)

Is there no one here that has gotten a call from SMART at all? I know it was suggested that maybe they won't be calling applicants for that final phone interview this year but I find it somewhat unlikely. I feel like they would want to speak with any applicant that has multiple nominations. If that hasn't happened yet, I would be somewhat worried that Guest might be right and that they're a bit behind schedule this year.