The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

Hello ESmith, One of the facilities had this issue (one of the Shipyards). You did not near the end of your adjudication process, which is why you did not get the SOR. You failed to get an interim clearance, which is a very early stage process. Your facility then (stupidly) signed off on a dismissal...

I mean, finding a new job is easy. You are a government employee and if you hit the 3 year mark you get: 1) Vested in pension 2) Increase to 20 days PTO a year (from 13) 3) Tenure (Permanent status) With tenure you have priority to move into any job in government over the public. So if you want to w...

I have a friend not in SMART that has failed a polygraph and ultimately not gotten his clearance a few times. He is one of the straight-shooting guys I know. He hasn't done anything illegal in his life, but he failed the polygraph and they wouldn't give him clearance. I feel like its a 50/50 tossup...

A lot of people are on the discord group, so if you are looking for more insight and help, join the group there. This is not to be confused with the debtor redoubt discord.

https://discord.gg/cdk35uv8

Yes, it does. That is the "normal path" for engineers in our facility. SMART scholars are given the accelerated 10-11-12, with 6 months to get 11 and a year later for 12. We give special preference and paypools (this is related to performance evaluations) for SMART scholars. In GS Scale you also ear...

I am not saying you should keep your options open, but I would absolutely not chase the paycheck. You have a lot of benefits in Government and our pay is not bad generally. The exact pay varies by location. At my facility you would be at 91K by 18 months, having started at 70k+. We get education ben...

Sorry for the delay in someone replying. The bad news is: This depends on facility and may be tied to it. Generally you should qualify for GS-7 at a minimum, but usually higher. You are also likely to be put on a ladder, so you get regular promotions early on. In my facility we do a 10-11-12, taking...

My current supervisor explains that is what is happening when you start getting calls. Teams have to commit to the funding for the scholar they want, which is also why you are selected by a facility, not just "DoD said yes". I imagine you could leave, but I am not sure if the handshake between HR go...

In your experiences, how long did it take to get hired between Phase 1 and 2. I graduate this quarter and I have yet to get hiring paperwork or a return email from my SF POCs. I'm assuming smart stipends stop after you graduate? Did you guys consider getting an internship between graduating and sta...

I am in Michigan, assigned in Warren.

I have a bachelor's of Electrical Engineering. I am currently pursuing a master's, but my facility is paying for that, not SMART.

1) The exact offer depends on your work experience and prior history. I was told to expect GS-9 equivalent for having a 3.0 (with bachelors), but the offer was GS-10, because the Demo scales tend to have higher base, they don't match the GS-9 directive potentially. For reference in a ~27% locality b...

Your SF funded the program. You need their approval to leave as your contract was with them. Now whether that is flexible for other DoD.... unclear

It wasn't actually enough for health insurance for me, so I just didn't get it. You can try to apply for medicaid I think, I had that at one stage, do not recall how.

Depends on degree and facility at least.

I came in with a bachelor's at GS-10 (but LabDemo scale). We moved to GS 11 and GS 12 pretty quickly though (6 months and 12 months after that respectively).

Take summer courses, fast ones perhaps. Now I started smart under the previous managing group but SMART wants you to get in. I had a goal too low after my first year. They said take summer 1 classes... I hadn't gotten high enough. They said take summer two and they'd "lose" my paperwork for another ...

When I started SMART I did an academic year study abroad, then added 2 more months on when they said I was not interning that year. Their goal is that it fits in your program. If you can take classes that work toward your major, or gen ed requirements, they are fine with it. My academic year complet...

Yes, problem because it enters into August. If you could waive pay after July it'd be fine.

Would they find out? Unknown.

Would you be kicked out if they did? Most likely yes. You'd have shown to be dishonest, which can cost your clearance.

I would err on the side of caution, rather than hide things. You signed a contract, it isn't worth the hassle.

Worst case: VOLUNTEER for some of the TA time if you want it past 16 hours. You hopefully shouldn't need the income itself, but you should be able to limit "work" to 16 hours.

1.2% of the 2021 scholarships were environmental.

1% of SMART awardees were environmental in 2021

This is from the stats. It does not differentiate degree level though on that. So is definitely a group of environmental

Every year, not just once.

Go back to the financial aid office and show them where you need to reject pell. Financial aid can remove it from your package, but you will owe that back if it was refunded to you. If it was not, they will cancel it and SMART will pay the other 5K. Note that SMART is a payer of last resort, so you ...

Thank you for all the information. I reached out to the POC at my SF about my options for next year so hopefully he has some good news. I just cannot see a world a year from now where every citizen of the USA has to either get vaccinated or perpetually wear a mask and get tested for COVID on a week...

Grain of salt: Not a lawyer. The CSA is a guarantee you will not leave and functions concurrently in general. So at my facility the CSA is 1 year I believe, but if you take another semester, you would sign a new one. You would have served 4 months of the original that way. So they would not stack up...

I appreciate your coming back! My numbers are identical to yours, but my 18 month mark (DB3) is in March! I am wondering now what the annual review will bring. I have heard conflicting information. EDIT for anyone wanting more in depth: You start at GS 10 step 1, move to GS 11 step 1 at 6 months, an...

I am in stage 2 and, with support from my SF, applying as retention. I do not have high expectations, but I thought I should at least try. If not, the facility has other options for me. Best of luck to everyone.