The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

Thanks, for the info. I'm sorry I made a mistake in my original post. I meant to say semi-finalist not finalist.

I'm not sure there is any 'magic' formula. I got it second time I applied, after being a semi-finalist the first time.

Since its more complicated than just picking the 'best' people that apply, its hard to say what they'll (meaning the labs themselves as well as the SMART admin people) will want from year to year.

If you were a finalist, that means (as is my understanding) that some lab chose you. If you weren't selected for the scholarship, it just means that somewhere there were too many other physics majors or other candidates with slightly higher credentials. I'm not sure it sounds like you're doing anything wrong. I barely made the cut in the second round this past year.

I'm just trying to get a rough estimate for the number/percentage of first time applicants selected. My application for the summer of 2011 was my third attempt and by far the most successful, having been notified as being a finalist, which was not the case in the first two attempts.

For a little about me, I'm a Physics major, 4th year graduate, with prior military service.
My GPA for all attempts were around 3.7.

My standardized test scores, specifically the GRE were not that great however.

Any guidance, comments, etc appreciated.

very respectfully,

I apologize if this post goes against any of this forum's rules of conduct.