The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

I am a senior working on this years application and I have a question about the GPA section. Are they asking for unweighted or weighted GPA? It doesn't say on the website and I don't want to give a lesser GPA than I could have. (I have a unweighted 86 GPA)

Additionally, does anyone have any quality tips for the application essay? I am super concerned about the essay as a whole so any pointers would be HEAVILY appreciated.

Provide both if possible. Usually they will ask for your unweighted GPA though.

As far as tips for the application essay, some questions I would ask you are
1. What do you hope to achieve through the SMART Scholarship and working for the DoD?
2. What skills do you have that are useful to the DoD?
3. Do you plan to pursue a career in the DoD?

The SMART Scholarship aims to recruit but also retain people who want to work for the DoD. It's important to highlight that you are absolutely sure that you want to work for the DoD and not just have your school paid for. It would also be helpful to emphasize that you actually want to pursue a career in the DoD. The government would likely be more willing to spend thousands of dollars for you to pursue an education if they know that you actually want to work for them and keep working for them.

Leadership experience is huge in the DoD. Showing that you are the captain of your own boat and not a drunken passenger on somebody else's can go a long way. Of course, don't oversell this, especially if you are in highschool. If you are in highschool and are/were the captain of a sports team, you can talk about that. If you are a leader in a school club, you can highlight that. If you weren't either of those things, teamwork is equally important. Can you be a productive member of a team and work towards a common goal? Can you handle adversity maturely and positively in a team environment? Are you going to be a net positive or negative in a team environment? What experiences do you have to show these things?