The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

I am currently a PhD student in the SMART program and I did not understand the risks that I was going to be taking when I accepted the scholarship. I believe that the SMART program is not generally conducive to graduate students, especially PhD students. For example, one of the biggest challenges has been relocating for the required summer internship for a number of reasons. First, unlike undergraduate students, graduate students use the summers as precious time to perform research, read, and write (whereas undergrads actively look for internships!). Therefore, performing a REQUIRED internship every summer as a graduate student/PhD is an extreme burden. For example, not only am I packing my belongings, but I also have to pack up some research items, prepare/ship materials that I need to work over the summer, etc. Further, the program does not provide funding for summer housing in advance, so every January/February I pay out of pocket to ensure summer housing for the internship.

With this, I fear that the internship actually delays my research progress and will therefore cause me to not graduate on time (this is due to a number of factors including the time that it takes to pack/relocate/adjust to new environment/attend required trainings throughout the internship etc.). This leads me to another reason I believe the SMART program is not properly designed for PhD students: the length of funding (5 years of funding max). I am in a program that averages 6+ years to PhD completion due to the nature of the research (sometimes science is slow and doesn't work!). It is a constant fear and worry that I will not finish on time, be marked as not compliant with the program, and go into debt. I think about this every single day.

With that out of the way, the SMART program provides a stipend that is higher than most PhD programs. I will say that not having to teach is great, as I am able to dedicate more time to research.

When deciding if this is the right program for you, consider how you will align your dissertation with the work being done at the SF (this is important and ensures that your internship time is well spent, but this is tricky and I am still figuring it out as some of my interests have diverged). Also, consider how long it takes students to graduate from the program that you are interested in, and consider the distance between your graduate school and SF (for summer relocation).

Lastly, I urge you to reflect on the 10+ year commitment that you could be making. Life happens, interests change, and so on. For me, I am a very type-A and nervous person, so having some roadmap for the next 10 years of my life was/is comforting. I am committed to making the program work for me because I am in it, but if I had known some of these things before I accepted I would have thought twice.


TL;DR

PROS for a PhD:
Nice stipend
No teaching
Guaranteed employment after graduating (no need for a post-doc)

CONS for a PhD:
Summer internship
The potential for going into debt
5 years of funding max
Long commitment (example: 5 years school + 5 years commitment)

Looking back, I should not have accepted the SMART fellowship as a PhD student. Things have mostly worked out well for me, but the risk I took on was way too high. Had I failed to graduate, I would have been buried in hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt and have no PhD to show for it.

Before accepting this scholarship, take some time to think about what your future would look like if you accept this scholarship and don't graduate. Then, go ask your department what percentage of PhD students graduate within 5 years + whatever time you've already done.

Hey, fellow PhD student here, and congrats on receiving an award offer! While I was rejected this application cycle (applied as a 4th-year PhD student in chemistry and requested 2 years of funding), I think I can still provide some insight. I 100% agree on the perks of not having to TA; that's a small reason why I applied to SMART because I've had my fill of TAing after 4 years of doing it, haha. However, I've also known for a while that I've been interested in a federal government career because both my parents and partner are federal employees (dad is 30+ years as a DoD civilian, mom is 30+ years as a DoI employee, and partner is active-duty enlisted in the Navy), so getting guaranteed employment as a DoD civilian upon graduation was the main draw of SMART for me. It would've saved a lot of stress on the job-searching side of things once I get closer to graduating.

However, I can definitely understand how nerve-wracking making a 5-year post-graduation commitment to your SF is, so no, you're not crazy at all for being hesitant to accept! Since it sounds like you'll just be starting your PhD program this year, there's undoubtedly going to be uncertainties on the research side of things as you figure out what you want to do, which can sometimes lead to big discipline changes (that's perfectly normal!). I actually switched from a purely analytical chemistry research group into an inorganic synthesis research group after the end of my 2nd year because I realized the first group wasn't a good fit. Although my new research is still represented—albeit on a very small scale—at the DoD level, that won't necessarily be the case for every SMART-interested student who undergoes a major research change during their PhD.

My best advice would therefore be to have a serious think about whether the research you'd be doing at your SF is something you could see yourself still enjoying 5 years down the road because if you're not enjoying it, then what's the point? It may also be helpful to ask your point-of-contact at your SF to see how closely related they want your PhD research to be to their work and how amenable they'd be to a change should you end up switching research groups at any point. If not, then that may be a good indication to decline the award offer and reapply in a few years once you're further along in your PhD and have a better idea about your career goals. Plus, your application should only get stronger than it already is if you decide now is not the best time to accept your SMART award.

Congrats again, and best of luck in your decision!

Is it worth it to accept the scholarship as a PhD student? My department waives tuition and provides a stipend for graduate students (slightly smaller than the SMART stipend). Funding through the program might make it easier to join a research group and avoid TAing, however. For undergrads, it seems like a good choice to accept the award and avoid student loans if you like the work at your sponsoring facility. For funded grad students, however, you go from no risk of debt w/ a guaranteed stipend to actually put yourself at risk of being indebted to the gov if you don't graduate and fulfill your commitment.

Given that I already have tuition waived and have a stipend, I'm concerned that accepting will only limit my options after graduation and put me at risk of going into debt if I don't graduate. While my sponsoring facility does exciting research, I'm not sure I want to decide my career path for the next decade right now (5 years PhD + 5 years SF commitment). Is it crazy to decline the offer?