2012 Applicants

[Guest2]

SMART and NREIP do not conflict!

[fish_]

you can accept the NREIP for this summer since SMART internship won't start until next summer

[tdmichael]

Just wondering...has anyone going for an atmospheric science degree been contacted yet?

[SMARTGuest]

...still haven't heard anything past the initial notification of round 2.

Also, is there really only an estimated 4% acceptance rate? That is very steep. Also, I wonder what the acceptance rate is for a PhD student versus an undergrad. Perhaps it's a little easier for a graduate student?

[Geust]

Some invented that there were 8000 applicants and 3/8000 rounds to 4%. But the 8000 is completely arbitrary as far as I know.

[Guest030212]

I got a call from a facility last week just asking some questions about my resume and application. I figured that's all I would hear, but I got another call today and scheduled an in-person interview at the facility for next week. I'm guessing this is obvious but I should definitely wear a shirt and tie correct? Not sure what to expect but thinking this is a good sign.

[Guest]

I got a call from a facility last week just asking some questions about my resume and application. I figured that's all I would hear, but I got another call today and scheduled an in-person interview at the facility for next week. I'm guessing this is obvious but I should definitely wear a shirt and tie correct? Not sure what to expect but thinking this is a good sign.

Shirt, tie, jacket, the whole nine yards. Expect a job interview.

[Just Curious]

What facility?

[Guest1291]

If I haven't been contacted by any facilities yet, is it safe to assume that I won't be called at all? I got an email saying I made it to phase 2, but complete silence after that.

[guest01234]

I don't think it means anything yet. I did not receive a call yet either but from what I hear it could just mean it wasn't necessary. I don't think all names submitted are getting calls and it sounds like a call doesn't mean that necessarily what sponsoring facility you'll end up with.... You could still also get a call from the smart office after the names are in. I don't know; I'm optomistic and I've only had silence too since the e-mail saying I moved on.
Good luck and don't give up yet!

[2012graduate]

StudyScotland: How do you like it? It was definitely an experience for me esp. being over there when the iceland volcano erupted...left me stranded in Europe for longer than I expected. But you should be fine...if you need to go to the embassy its not far from the student flats. I cant remember what other services the finger print place offers but I know them and the embassy is on the new side of town near princess st. if I can remember correctly near the train station and Edinburgh castle. If you needed something from the fingerprint area I suggest taking a cab cause its too far to walk.

Everyone Else: Just be patient and still have hope. Someone else's status with their sponsored facilities doesn't tell you anything about yours. I got a phone call but didn't get an offer in the previous years. Don't depend on those dates that they gave those are arbitrary dates and that's ideal but not always realistic. You may not receive notification till a couple of days after the estimated date. You worrying about your status doesn't not help you or the situation so be patient.

[In_Stitches]

It's been so quiet ...

[Xenos2012]

It has been quiet. I just assumed others were still waiting to hear something too. Still no phone call for me.

[Greengoroy]

I still have heard nothing since the semi-finalist email

[Waiting]

I guess I don't feel quite as bad if most other people haven't heard anything either, but the process still kind of sucks.

[Ticosuave]

If the agency that interviews you loves you and submits your name. It is now on Smart to decide whether or not to give you the scholarship. Is this due to budgets ? What all decides whether smart gives the scholarship if the department wants you?

[Guest 2012]

If the agency that interviews you loves you and submits your name. It is now on Smart to decide whether or not to give you the scholarship. Is this due to budgets ? What all decides whether smart gives the scholarship if the department wants you?

Budget is part of it--depending on the applicants degree type and duration of requested support, the amount of money necessary to give them may be higher or lower than others. For example if every recommended applicant was a PhD, applying for 3 years (obviously unlikely, but trying to make a point), then the same amount of money would not go as far to fund them as it would for all undergraduates being recommended asking for only one year of support. In addition are things like how many agencies requested and individual person and how desirable they are, how near the top of a an organizations list a person may be, etc. Surely there are other factors but this gives you an idea of some important factors.

[applicant2012]

And we don't find out whether or not our names were submitted by a facility, right? The next time we'll hear from SMART will be around April 9th with the final decision. At that point, there won't be any distinction between people who weren't recommended by any facility vs. people who were recommended but not selected in SMART's final round of cuts. Is that right?

If it is, it's too bad. If it comes down to it, it would be nice to know whether I'm rejected based on a lack of budget or a lack of useful skills...

[In_stitches]

And we don't find out whether or not our names were submitted by a facility, right? The next time we'll hear from SMART will be around April 9th with the final decision. At that point, there won't be any distinction between people who weren't recommended by any facility vs. people who were recommended but not selected in SMART's final round of cuts. Is that right?

If it is, it's too bad. If it comes down to it, it would be nice to know whether I'm rejected based on a lack of budget or a lack of useful skills...

It wouldn't be about lack of skills, but a mismatch of skills between you and facilities with open positions. We're competing for a future job!

[Guest2012]

Maybe I'm wrong, but I am under the impression that you WILL know if you were recommended by a facility or not. The way I look at it is this: The first big cut (email sent on Feb 15th) made you a semifinalist. Getting recommended by a facility makes you a finalist, and somewhere 9roughly) between 1/2 and 2/3 of finalists actually get offered the award after further review (they say roughly 2/3 have in the past).

But I think that you will know if you're a finalist (meaning you got recommended by a facility) because I believe that if you are recommended by a facility, there is a mandatory phone interview with someone from SMART, checking for any changes in your status since filing the application that could make you ineligible for the award this year, making sure you understand the terms of the award, potentially asking for an update on recent changes to your transcript, etc...

So if there's a mandatory interview between being recommended and being offered the award, everyone who was recommended by a facility will obviously know that they are a finalist based upon having to go through that interview/phone call.

[Guest2012]

"February 1 - March 15 Evaluation Level 3
DoD Workforce Needs Assessment DoD agencies review and interview candidates with backgrounds and interests meeting the agency's workforce needs. Candidates determined to be a good fit for known DoD workforce needs are recommended for review by the SMART Program Office.

In recent years, approximately 1/4 of all candidates reviewed by DoD agencies were recommended for review by the SMART Program Office. All others are removed for award consideration.

March 15 - March 28 Evaluation Level 4
Program The SMART Program Office reviews application materials from and conducts phone interviews with all candidates recommended for review by DoD agencies.

As a result of information obtained during the phone interview and application review, some candidates may be disqualified from award consideration. Reasons for disqualification include; inability or unwillingness to comply with the terms of the service agreement, change in degree type or field of study, change in required award length, degree type not offered at intended university, academic program not sufficiently technical**

The SMART Program Office offers awards to eligible recommended candidates based upon budget and programmatic considerations, as well as the best interests of the DoD. In recent years, approximately 2/3 of all recommended candidates were offered awards."

If you get a phone interview, you were recommended. If not, you weren't. I believe they use email or some prior means of communication to set up the date and time of the phone interview, so you'll know then at the latest. They could maybe even send out another email similar to the last one notifying you whether or not you're still being considered... not sure if that happens though.

Hold tight everybody, less than a week and this stage is over.

[Guest2012]

It does look like everything is running 1-2 weeks late though... it looks like they initially only blocked off 2 weeks for all the phone interviews, so I wonder if there will be more recommended people, and therefore more time to do the phone calls, or if the facilities will have another week to 10 days to look into people they could potentially recommend.

Time will tell I guess.

[2012_umd]

It does look like everything is running 1-2 weeks late though... it looks like they initially only blocked off 2 weeks for all the phone interviews, so I wonder if there will be more recommended people, and therefore more time to do the phone calls, or if the facilities will have another week to 10 days to look into people they could potentially recommend.

Time will tell I guess.

The Deputy Chief at the facility I interviewed with said that her deadline to submit recommendations was March 12th, so I would assume by the 15th they'll be back on schedule.

[Guestie]

I spoke to someone from a facility yesterday who talked about a possible second interview "early next week". So either they are cutting it incredibly close or the deadline is soft.

[Smart_hopeful]

I got a call from a DoD agency a few weeks ago asking to set up a phone interview with their office. We did so, and after the interview they asked me if I could visit their facility for in-person meetings.

Without going into too much detail, me and a handful of other SMART candidates were brought out to that DoD facility week before last and toured-around and informally interviewed. It sounded like they wanted to hire all of us, but more or less they'd have to rank us and then take however many of us that the SMART budget allowed. So presumably being brought to the facility in the first place means we cleared the Level 3 review. I hesitate to be too specific, but the number of SMART candidates whose applications were reviewed by the head of that particular facility (according to him), divided by the number of us brought to the facility, was roughly 50.

There's a lot of agencies though, so the cumulative odds of selection by somebody might not be so dire. Personally, I'm chewing my nails about Level 4. I'd hate to make it this far and be cut, but c'est la vie.