The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

Seriously starting to wonder what gives, this year. Not a soul has posted about getting a pleasant surprise, here or in the Discord group, and my (would have been) SF said there's something odd going on with the USACE locations not getting their requested students. I reached out to SMART directly to...

That first Monday of April is the first round finalist notification. As people decline the scholarship, there are supposed to be more waves of awards but nobody seems to have gotten good news since then...

Surely someone would post here or in the Discord if they got 2nd round?? So they're just really late sending them out, maybe?

Still nothing ?!?!?! Aaaaargh.

Maybe Monday?
I'm starting to feel pretty dumb for holding out hope.

I've heard of people getting surprise awards in June, one even in July, but I think it's safe to consider it over by mid-May.

Anyone hear any good news this morning?
Do you think 2nd rounds come out all at once, or trickle through one by one as they decide who to award?

How long do you have to decide whether to accept?

I get there are factors outside the SF control, but all I can think of is expense, really. That's why I'm so mystified. I'm at a state school with only a year left. If someone wants me as an employee, why on earth wouldn't they want to spend the $10-15k? I mean, that's nothing compared to what they ...

I'm gutted. I had an interview, she expressly said she'd be asking for me, I'm at a cheap school with only one year left...why on earth would they not pick me?!

God, I wish! No, not til Monday, probably.

Has anyone had luck getting SMART to pay for summer classes? If I don't take a couple this summer, I won't graduate on schedule.
Any tips would be welcome, because if I can't use Pell money, summer courses are stupid expensive and I don't wanna pay out of pocket!

I just want to post a reminder for noobs- in past years, the notification emails have rolled out starting around 9am Eastern, and they seem to do it in batches, alphabetically. So if your last name starts with a W and you haven't seen anything by 11am, don't freak out. Now to just make it through th...

Google says 77 million. Expensive schools count against you a bit, I think. Try not to sweat it- you've done all you can at this point.

It's not up the facilities anymore. They submitted their lists to SMART, now SMART puts the puzzle together to see who they can afford to send to the SFs.

I'm very upset too. It's not *OVER*, but you should probably plan as if you're not getting it.

Just got my rejection, too. *sigh*

Yeah, my understanding is also that it's all in SMART's hands now. Recommendations were made so it's all a budget game at this point.
I also got no email yet.

No email yet, and last name starts with D. I expected to be out of the picture for this year. I think congrats are going out first, then rejections.

I *think* I read in the 2020 handbook that all courses have to be taken for credit with a grade. But that may only be after you've received the award. You can download the handbook from their website if you wanna dig for yourself.

I'd say your chances are great, given those stats.

Thanks for the sympathy. There's a chance another facility is interested in me but I don't want to relocate my family unless there's some incredible opportunity for my spouse nearby too, which is unlikely. Plus I didn't get any interviews elsewhere, so that's a long shot anyway. I'll try again next ...

I just talked with the chief that I thought was going to sponsor me and learned that basically, because they were unfamiliar with the SMART process amd program, they weren't organized enough to be able to request any recruitment scholars. He was really apologetic and encouraging to me, but basically...

Oh maybe it was 2 years ago I saw it was the 1st and people thought they were prank posts. (Who would DO that?!) I can see it being the first Monday in April. Ugh. 4 days more seems like another month.

So nervous. I am also definitely on here at least 5x a day.
Last year it was April 1, so I'm expecting the 1st or 2nd. Hoping they don't wait til Monday the 5th!