The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

I got it, after 4 years of trying!!!!

Ph. D - Chemistry (Applied Spectroscopy)
UMBC
U.S. Army CCDC Chemical Biological Center

DanSMART wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 06, 2020 9:18 am

I got it, after 4 years of trying!!!!

Ph. D - Chemistry (Applied Spectroscopy)
UMBC
U.S. Army CCDC Chemical Biological Center

Yay, way to stick to it! Glad it finally paid off for you.

Congrats to everyone who got it! I didn’t receive it. And to those who didn’t get it don’t feel defeated or like you don’t have anything to offer. You are all smart, talented and needed young people for this generation. Stay encouraged and also stay safe through this pandemic!

Jakey wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 06, 2020 9:08 am

“At this time, you have not been selected for an award. The Department of Defense will continue to make awards over the next few weeks. If the Department of Defense is interested in offering you an award at a later date you will be notified.“ got this at 9am ET

Oof. Does anyone know how likely it is that I could get an award? Or is this very likely end of the road for me this year?

There is a topic on here from 2019 of people who were “rejected” but later got the award. So it is still possible to get the award. Hope this helps.

I got the award!!! Here are my details just in case it helps anyone.

Degree: Ph.D. Electrical Engineering (GRE 325 GPA 3.95)
Duration: 2 years
Location: Naval Surface Warfare Center
Interviews: 1 (By the NSWC)
Top 3: Yes, they were listed second in my top three, though my top 3 had no particular order.
Attempts: This was my first time applying

Good luck to everyone else, I hope your award offers come in soon if they haven't all already.

Woohoo got the award! So excited!

One question though: I am a BS/MS retention awardee and I only plan on needing 2 years of education funded (senior year and 1 year for the Masters) but was given 2.5 years of service commitment. Is it possible to get the 2.5 reduced to 2 and if so, how easy is that?

Has anyone not gotten an email yet?

LilaS wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 06, 2020 10:35 am

Has anyone not gotten an email yet?

I haven't either. Glad to hear I'm not alone!

Still no email.

Awarded:

Major: Electrical Engineering
University: California Community College, transferring to Cal Poly SLO
Duration: 3 years
Interviews: 4 - Edwards AFB (x2), MCTSSA, Picatinny Arsenal
Facility: Edwards Air Force Base, Air Force Test Center
This was my top choice facility!

Didn’t get it.

Freshman, 4.0 HS gpa, 34 ACT
No interviews
ARL in MA as first choice

:/

Still no email. Do you guys think that everyone will find out today?

Received it today, PhD Electrical Engineering, will be working in San Diego

I was awarded as well!! I'm so excited!

BS Computer Science w/ math minor
2nd year applying
4.0 GPA
Sophmore by year, junior by hours
I don't think the facility was on my top 3

Congrats to all who got it. To those who didn't, don't give up hope. Try to make yourself stand out with research/certifications next time and you'll at least see some interest! Both facilities that contacted me mentioned my "applied work" (I'm a computer technician) and my math minor as being highlights of my resume, which were not on there last year I applied. Good luck!

To everyone who hasn't gotten the email yet: MINE WAS IN SPAM

Checked my email this morning and the award notification was there! So happy and thankful for this! Doing this as a PhD retention candidate. I have friends that did SMART before as a recruitment I can truly say that no other scholarship/fellowship programs are as generous as SMART for graduate school, specially if you already DoD employee.
BIG congratulations to everyone who got the award this year. SMART is very prestigious and you should all be very proud of your accomplishments.
If you didn’t get it, please try again next year. Sometimes it takes multiple tries. I think doing an internship at the facility you are hoping to go to will help with them sponsoring you. I’m sure you all had wonderful academic accomplishments and don’t let this discourage you from doing your best in school.

An update to my earlier post. I've included a little more information now.

Degree: B.S. in Electrical Engineering
University: California Community College (4.0 GPA), transferring to Cal Poly SLO
Duration: 3 years
Interviews: 4 - Edwards AFB (x2), MCTSSA, Picatinny Arsenal
Facility: 772nd Test Squadron, Air Force Test Center, Edwards AFB
This was my top choice facility!

Hi all,

First and foremost congratulations on becoming selected. Also congratulations to those not selected yet, you made it pretty far. I have two questions for recipients.

1. Did any of you NOT have an interview?
2. When is your deadline to respond? This may give hopes to those who were not selected for the first round.

Thank you

Guest222 wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 08, 2020 11:00 am

2. When is your deadline to respond? This may give hopes to those who were not selected for the first round.

April 20th is the deadline to accept/decline

Hi!
I’m posting mainly so that those who haven’t heard anything can get idea of what’s happening for others.
I got my acceptance this Monday (April 6th). While my school email is supposed to forward to my primary email, the SMART email did NOT, and I only realized today (clearly I need to check my school email more, and also if you haven’t received a notification and use email forwarding, try checking your other accounts?).
Anyway, I was given until April 20th to send in my award acceptance and other documents.
For statistics - I did not receive any interviews. I got my third place choice of facility, but I’m not too surprised considering I live 10 minutes away so it’s cheaper for them. I’m an EE major in my sophomore year, if anyone cares about that...

I received the notification in early February that I'm a semi-finalist but I have not heard anything since then. Is there anyone else who has not received word on whether they got the SMART scholarship or not?

randomapplicant wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 21, 2020 12:57 pm

I received the notification in early February that I'm a semi-finalist but I have not heard anything since then. Is there anyone else who has not received word on whether they got the SMART scholarship or not?

Double check every email address you put on the application and be sure to check spam folders! Mine went to a spam folder when I was awarded.

So it turns out it did go to spam and I did not receive it. I don't know why it would go to spam considering my other emails from SMART did not go to spam. What I'm worried about is that I could have missed a possible interview. What if I got an email for an interview and it went to spam? Is it possible to recover emails that have been deleted from spam? Did anyone happen to get an interview email that went to spam?

Has anyone been awarded since the initial awards came out? I have been wondering how many secondary awards are generally awarded.

I legit just got the second chance scholarship email 30 min ago. Crazy. I had already mentally and emotionally moved on lol.