by malarious » Mon Aug 24, 2020 6:04 pm
To add on to what he said, you do not hear nearly enough from the people it benefited because they are
1) Working potentially, so more busy.
2) Not as motivated as people who are having a bad time.
You don't usually talk about a good experience at a restaurant unless it was amazing. You will complain about something as seemingly minor as a waitress not refilling your drinks though.
I will add my own experience! SMART worked with me (when it was the previous group), I missed deadlines for GPA and they pushed it back a little. They pushed it back so far, I had to get my August payments in September, so they could wait for the summer classes grades to finish. I had the chance to join any student org I wanted and no longer had to work part time to meet bills and necessities.It just so happens I was going to a study abroad when they awarded me, so I had a passive income while abroad that made it a very rewarding trip.
Now I recently moved to stage 2 and am happy with my starting salary and benefits. Depending on facility you may actually qualify for more rapid raises than the base system. At an absolute minimum, if your facility uses the GS scale, you will be a GS-7, if your facility is on LabDemon you will likely see higher numbers. I have been treated well, the benefits are great, and there is a lot of flexibility. I told my supervisor I wanted to go to Japan for Cherry Blossoms but wouldn't have the vacation. He explained how negative vacation time worked and said it would be no problem. If I want to continue my education he is happy to sign off, whether a whole degree, or single classes (organizational development has ways to take classes to keep your skills up).
The program definitely has its hiccups, but once you get through to stage 2, you will be very happy you had it.
To add on to what he said, you do not hear nearly enough from the people it benefited because they are
1) Working potentially, so more busy.
2) Not as motivated as people who are having a bad time.
You don't usually talk about a good experience at a restaurant unless it was amazing. You will complain about something as seemingly minor as a waitress not refilling your drinks though.
I will add my own experience! SMART worked with me (when it was the previous group), I missed deadlines for GPA and they pushed it back a little. They pushed it back so far, I had to get my August payments in September, so they could wait for the summer classes grades to finish. I had the chance to join any student org I wanted and no longer had to work part time to meet bills and necessities.It just so happens I was going to a study abroad when they awarded me, so I had a passive income while abroad that made it a very rewarding trip.
Now I recently moved to stage 2 and am happy with my starting salary and benefits. Depending on facility you may actually qualify for more rapid raises than the base system. At an absolute minimum, if your facility uses the GS scale, you will be a GS-7, if your facility is on LabDemon you will likely see higher numbers. I have been treated well, the benefits are great, and there is a lot of flexibility. I told my supervisor I wanted to go to Japan for Cherry Blossoms but wouldn't have the vacation. He explained how negative vacation time worked and said it would be no problem. If I want to continue my education he is happy to sign off, whether a whole degree, or single classes (organizational development has ways to take classes to keep your skills up).
The program definitely has its hiccups, but once you get through to stage 2, you will be very happy you had it.