The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

Can people write in as they get interview requests? I'm curious who is getting interviews and which facilities are interviewing.

So I went on my interview late last week and it was very exciting. My SF showed me around the lab and the base as a whole and I must’ve met two dozen people. I was on the base for four hours where my actual sit down interview only lasted thirty minutes. The questions were short and mostly involved asking how I liked the projects, team, and facility. One thing I think you should prepare for is answering how you will directly make an impact at your SF. They wanted me to elaborate instead of giving a vague answer. I followed up with the sponsor at my SF thanking her for the opportunity to come and get a feel for things. Her response was that they enjoyed having me and “ You would fit really well with our group of interns. I will submit your name to my Director. DoD SMART Office will make final decision and they will contact you in April.” So my question is what are the odds of the SMART office rejecting me at this point? I thought if your SF was pleased you were right as rain.

Hello,

This is not an official interview, but back in November I reached out to a lead scientist about a project I am interested in. He surprisingly replied back asking for my CV, a sample manuscript, and a lot of other things. He was so enthusiastic, but then one day he just stopped corresponding. I decided to reach out again as an official semi-finalist and he replied saying that he has been talking to others about potential opportunities that may exist for me there and that he will be meeting with a senior neuroscientist early this week to discuss my application. So we will see...

Sometimes reaching out helps!

Best,
P

Hello,

I had my interview last week and it went pretty well. The person reached out to me via email and we had a 30 minute phone interview. He said that he does interviews to decide who to write down as his first choice, and who as an alternate. Other people have mentioned that on this forum-by the time they are calling they pretty much want you.
He asked me a lot of typical interview questions.
He also talked a lot and explained what he did and what his department does.
At the end he said he'll put me down as a first choice. He also mentioned that although he makes his requests he doesn't always get what he wants. I'm not sure what that means, maybe funding issues? but I'm pretty hopeful.
Good Luck to all!
AL

I got an interview request today from the Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) at Los Angeles Air Force Base (LAAFB). I'm in my last year of physics undergrad and I'm planning on going to grad school for aerospace engineering.

I just found this forum, seems like there is lots of good information here. I am a sophomore-ish EE major, and this is my first application cycle. I got three emails last week from interested facilities, and I have done phone interviews with two of them so far. One was an Army Corps of Engineers facility in OR and the other was an Army R&D facility in MD. None of the facilities I have heard from were the "top picks" on my application, but I am excited just to be interviewing! Most of the questions were behavioral and situational; questions like, tell us about yourself, how would a professor/ classmate describe you, why us, why should we pick you, how do you feel about traveling, how do you work on teams, give us more information about this entry on your resume, etc. One of the phone interviews was 10 questions in about 45 minutes, the other was 3 questions and only about 15 mins (including my questions to them!). I am feeling very hopeful about getting a recommendation to the selection board. I guess I will know in April how it all shakes out.

btw, one of the interviewers mentioned a site visit this summer if I do get an award. How does that work?

I had an interview with the Portland facility. Questions were very similar to the ones al3293 was asked. I was interviewed by a panel and they said that they need to submit their recommendations in two weeks.

I got request by email yesterday for a phone call interview with Marine Corp Systems Command. Had the interview today and I was asked a few questions about why I applied to SMART and what experiences I had working with a team. Other than that, they told me about the facility and let me ask a few questions. I was told they would put me down to come visit for a facility tour in early summer, and that is when it'll be finally decided whether or not I earn an award.

2ndYearEngineer wrote:I was told they would put me down to come visit for a facility tour in early summer, and that is when it'll be finally decided whether or not I earn an award.

Not my understanding of how things proceed. Recommendations made, applicants selected (April time frame). Site visit to be completed prior to formally accepting the offer. Either way, sounds like you received some positive feedback.

I interviewed with Tinker AFB and US Army Cyber Command. Tinker didn't really give me an indication of what they thought either way but USACC said they were interested and as long as my references (who also wrote my letters of rec) said good things about my personality when they reached out to them with questions, then they would indicate interest in the system for me.

rerathar wrote:I interviewed with Tinker AFB and US Army Cyber Command. Tinker didn't really give me an indication of what they thought either way but USACC said they were interested and as long as my references (who also wrote my letters of rec) said good things about my personality when they reached out to them with questions, then they would indicate interest in the system for me.

Were these two among your preferred SFs?

asdfasdf wrote:

rerathar wrote:I interviewed with Tinker AFB and US Army Cyber Command. Tinker didn't really give me an indication of what they thought either way but USACC said they were interested and as long as my references (who also wrote my letters of rec) said good things about my personality when they reached out to them with questions, then they would indicate interest in the system for me.

Were these two among your preferred SFs?

The 3 Cyber Command facilities were my 3 preferred SFs. Army CECOM reached out today as well. Both Tinker and CECOM were not among my preferred SFs.

Just had an interview with USACE at my first choice SF. It went well and they said they would recommend my name! I am a PhD student.

asd123 wrote:Just had an interview with USACE at my first choice SF. It went well and they said they would recommend my name! I am a PhD student.

Which USACE district did contacted you?

Which USACE district did contacted you?[/quote]

New York. Friendly/informal interview. Basically asked me to expand on my app a bit and ask them questions.