The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

It really will just depend on the SF and your feelings and attitude towards what they do. If you don’t LOVE your SF (including location), love their work (even if you’re in more of an acquisition or management position), or are totally okay with the salary you’ll likely get (GS-7 @ B.S., GS-9 @ M.S., GS-11 @ PhD) then really weigh your options. To say which are “good” or “bad” would be difficult because the same SF might have an amazing research department for PhD holders, but be awful for undergrad engineers and vice versa.

Also- the office and department I was assigned in the beginning, confirmed my placement in, had communicated with, aligned my research to and did my internship with was NOT the office or department I was hired into for Phase II. It was a mess, and I wasn’t the only scholar to get shifted around unexpectedly at the last minute. SMART had funded my M.S. in Mathematics and I was assigned to an Air Force base in the south.

When I went on my tour I made sure to explicitly ask everyone and I mean EVERYONE what my position would be there when I signed on full time. I asked my mentor, I asked my branch chief, i asked the deputy branch chief, I asked my SMART liaison. I did not want anything to do with something not related to research.

I expressed my concern (most because of people on this forum and what I had heard). What they don’t tell you is that after you accept, you still have a chance to say no thanks after the site visit. I agree with the other commenters they give you a grand tour and butter you up, but you just need to be very clear about what you are looking for in work.

Just be explicit and clear about what you want to work on. Also, at least at my SF, there is a lot of collaboration between branches so there is opportunity to work on a variety of things.

It mainly depends on you. Some SF's have a habit of not being 100% honest about the work that goes on. They give the grand tour of all the projects but don't say what you would actually be working on. They tend to talk up all the cool projects that go on at the base but keep in mind that you probably won't be working on any of them.

When you take the SF tour ask very pointed, very specific questions about the work YOU will be doing. Which building, which office, which project, YOU will be working on. I wish I had known to ask questions instead of trusting the SF tour guide.

I am assigned to a place in the southeast and it's awful for me; mainly because the work is for a completely different major and not even close to stuff I've focused on in school/prior employment. There are a lot of other smart scholars at the base I'm working at and its 50/50 if they love or hate the work.

Any rational person would second guess accepting the SMART award after reading the horror stories on this forum. In these horror stories, when describing their dire situation, the recipients don't mention what specific SF they were involved with. If there are certain SFs to avoid or really good ones to try to get into shouldn't they be highlighted?

I would've thought the drop-outs to want to warm future recipients of terrible SF's.

So, current or past SMART awardees. Where are the good SF's? I got an offer from Picatinny Arsenal in NJ. Is this a good one?