The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

I am posting this for my son who is entering college in 2012. He has interned two summers in a row (8 wks each) under the SEAP program at a NAVAIR research center and worked on cool projects involving machine vision, modeling etc., He has excellent academic credentials and is hoping to get into one of the Ivy league schools or CMU. I have the following questions and I appreciate the responses in advance:

1) When you apply for SMART, do you have to indicate how many years you are applying for? or is it always for the entire duration of your degree program (e.g., 4 years max as an entering freshman)?
2) If he wants to work only for a couple of years at DoD after undergraduate studies, should he apply now and indicate that he is only interested in two years or should he simply apply after two years in college?
3) Considering that he has the research experience at NAVAIR, does he stand better chances as a freshman or later say as a junior in college?

Thanks

1) You are expected to graudate in 4 years for BS. Pretty sure they can be flexible for 5 year masters.
2) Definitely do not state that he only wants to stay for a few years. In fact, he should not be applying if that is his plan.
3)Past experience is always good. Scholarships are weighted towards those graduating sooner. You can always reapply if you don't get in.