The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

Hello everyone,

So I previously received a BS in Neuroscience in 2015, and am looking to go back to school for Mechanical Engineering through the SMART program in the fall of 2017. I previously took most of my pre-req classes, and so I will be going in as a sophomore due to credits already acquired. However, I am concerned that because my transcripts are dated 2011-2015 that the credits acquired may not be taken into account for the program for 2017. I was curious if anyone had a similar entrance situation and/or knows how the SMART program handles credits previously acquired? I was also interested if already having a bachelor's degree affected my eligibility or likelihood for acceptance? Any information provided will be greatly appreciated, thank you.

Credits are credits. All they care about is how long you have left on your degree. Now, you might want to read over the stipulations and see if they'll fund a second bachelors or not. I don't remember.

guest wrote:Credits are credits. All they care about is how long you have left on your degree. Now, you might want to read over the stipulations and see if they'll fund a second bachelors or not. I don't remember.

Do you know what they favor in terms of degree length?

dfrancis3 wrote:

guest wrote:Credits are credits. All they care about is how long you have left on your degree. Now, you might want to read over the stipulations and see if they'll fund a second bachelors or not. I don't remember.

Do you know what they favor in terms of degree length?

Really depends. My command won't take anyone not going into their junior year, because they want you to demonstrate you succeeded in your first two years of school, want you to do an internship with them, and then have a 2 year commitment for work. A lot of commands don't take freshmen, or even sophomores, because they can't commit to having a spot for them whenever they finally graduate.

Hmm. I have 121 creds in biology and Biomedical engr, and~55 in electrical, i signed up for three years because i wanted a longer phase 2 duration because its my dream to help build new tech to defend democracy, hopefully that 3 years wasnt a mistake.
Will they negotiate with a candidate if they think their. Phase 2 should be changed or will they just toss their app out?

Credits aren't credits. Most institutions do not accept certain credits after 5 years. They will also have a limit on the number of transfer credits and if those credits can apply to your degree requirements or just electives.

You should be checking with your school on your standing, not worrying about SMART. It's no good making SMART think you're a sophomore when you really need 4 years.

Haven't seen a recent application, but somewhere in there you put your expected graduation date. This is what matters. No one is going to spend the time looking at your past work to figure out what year you really are.