The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

Hello all, I have a few questions that I hope you all can help me with.
I have currently finished my freshman year as an electrical engineering student at Liberty University and my gpa is a 3.47.

1: How many people apply for the SMART scholarship and what percentage of them get accepted?

2: Is it possible to get in with a gpa of 3.47 and can i just round it off and say that I have a 3.5 gpa?

3: If I do get accepted in this program for next summer (just after I complete my sophomore year) then will I be given a place to intern at over the summer and be paid roughly $25,000 - $41,000 (which by the way, will that be in a lump sum or divided out monthly, weekly, or what?) and I will no have to pay these funds back?

4: Also, will this program will cover my tuition fees for the remaining 2 years of college? And then upon graduation will I have to work at the place I interned at, or can I work for any place that is listed on their site and/or works with the DoD? And then how many years will I be contracted to work at this place?

5: What will my pay be upon graduation? Will it be significantly less than the average pay of someone in my field, or will it be around the average pay? (also, do you happen to have any numbers you could throw at me?).

6: Is this a worthwhile program or is it not?

7: Any advise for getting in, and any recommendations for places to request?

Thank you,
-James

mrjameslat wrote:Hello all, I have a few questions that I hope you all can help me with.
I have currently finished my freshman year as an electrical engineering student at Liberty University and my gpa is a 3.47.

First off, you'll want to read the big 2012 applicants thread, or at least everything since April 8 or so. Long story short, SMART is in a state of severe budgetary flux, and nobody knows anything for sure. That said, here's the current state of our knowledge:

1: How many people apply for the SMART scholarship and what percentage of them get accepted?

SMART has stated in previous years that ~8% are accepted. Half make the first cut, a quarter make the DoD cut, and 2/3 of those make the final cut. This year, nobody knows but all evidence points to it being considerably smaller. The absolute number of applicants is pure conjecture, but is likely a few thousand.

2: Is it possible to get in with a gpa of 3.47 and can i just round it off and say that I have a 3.5 gpa?

Maybe. You're going to send them official transcripts, so no point in fudging.

3: If I do get accepted in this program for next summer (just after I complete my sophomore year) then will I be given a place to intern at over the summer and be paid roughly $25,000 - $41,000 (which by the way, will that be in a lump sum or divided out monthly, weekly, or what?) and I will no have to pay these funds back?

Yes, yes at $25k (as an undergrad), monthly, and you will not have to repay anything unless you drop out.

4: Also, will this program will cover my tuition fees for the remaining 2 years of college? And then upon graduation will I have to work at the place I interned at, or can I work for any place that is listed on their site and/or works with the DoD? And then how many years will I be contracted to work at this place?

This is all on the website, which you should read, lazybones. It will cover all tuition and fees. You will have to work for the specific agency that picked you. You will have to work for them for the same amount of time as the duration of the education they paid for.

5: What will my pay be upon graduation? Will it be significantly less than the average pay of someone in my field, or will it be around the average pay? (also, do you happen to have any numbers you could throw at me?).

Gub'mint salary. You won't be rich, but you probably won't be poor. Google can give you some ideas as to the standard GS levels for various technical jobs at different agencies. Most of this sort of thing is public record.

6: Is this a worthwhile program or is it not?

This is a matter of some debate, and you will find opinions here ranging from "awesome" to "hellish". Depends almost entirely on your sponsoring agency.

7: Any advise for getting in, and any recommendations for places to request?

Be on good terms with God, because he's apparently the only one who knows what the heck is going on with this stupid scholarship.

smart_hopeful wrote:This is all on the website, which you should read, lazybones.

...Be on good terms with God, because he's apparently the only one who knows what the heck is going on with this stupid scholarship.

That pretty much sums it up.

Thank you all so much for replying.
And I have been reading up information on the website, I just wanted to make sure I was reading everything correctly.

Anyway, I have also been reading a lot of stuff on this forum and I have found that there are a lot of pessimistic persons on here which cause me to ask a few more questions.

1: Is working with DoD really such a bad thing? A lot of people seem to make it appear that you basically just twiddle your thumbs all day, and when your not doing that, you're taking crap from someone. What is it really like?

2: Will I earn a good deal of experience working with the DoD as an electrical engineer?

3: What dollar figure can I look at making upon graduation and how much is it liable to raise over the course of 3 years?

4: Do other programs, similar to this, exist? Like is it possible I could find a company willing to hire me as an intern over the summer and help me out with tuition and at the same time guaranteeing job placement with them after I graduate?

5: Does anyone know of any websites that I could get on and find lists of possible internships and or do you have any advice for someone who is pursuing an internship?

Thanks :)

you should go to one or two job fairs to see who in your locality is looking for your degree, and what they can offer.

to address your question about there being other programs, here is one:
https://www.cia.gov/careers/student-opp ... index.html