The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

Well, the applications for the 2013 SMART round have been submitted. I've created this thread so everyone can keep track of where we are in the review and award process, because the "2012 Applicants" thread was very helpful to me last year. Please post any questions as you see fit. To start: What is your background and experience, what degree are you pursuing, and which sponsoring facilities did you apply to work with? Good luck!

Any new applicants this year just a warning. DO NOT become impatient and worried when the deadlines come. Last year was total madness and very unprofessional but I'm sure the award winners say it was worth the wait.

Regardless, this forum helped ease the stress last year

Active Army currently deployed to Afghanistan. Pursuing BSME with NSWC Crane as my SF. I think sequestration will have a significant effect on the number of scholarships awarded. Not holding my breath.

As I understand it, you are exactly right. Sequestration makes the DoD cut a specific $$$ amount from their budget, but there are also activities the DoD is required to fund (SMART is not one of them).

So if the DoD has 75% of their activities that cannot be reduced in funding, the other 25% of their activities have to bear the brunt of the ENTIRE DoD cuts. SMART could very easily be wiped out this year.

Why would they even let us apply if the scholarship was too underfunded to support it's benefits? That makes no sense to me. We knew there would be few rewards given out, maybe there will be a few less than last year, but it makes more sense to cut the number of awards than the mone that the awardees will be given, does it not? I may have no clue what I'm talking about because this is my first time applying.

Status: currently Undergrad freshman in need of funding for sophomore year.
GPA: high school transcript-3.72. Current college gpa-3.69
Area requested: bioscience (studying disease)
Requested SF: fort belvior

My chances were slim to begin with considering I'm an undergrad but looking in the bioscience field limits my chances to virtually 0, but there is no harm in trying, right?

Anon1 wrote:Why would they even let us apply if the scholarship was too underfunded to support it's benefits? That makes no sense to me. We knew there would be few rewards given out, maybe there will be a few less than last year, but it makes more sense to cut the number of awards than the mone that the awardees will be given, does it not? I may have no clue what I'm talking about because this is my first time applying.

The running assumption you have is that SMART (and anything the government does) is governed entirely by rationality.

Here is the timeline for the 2013 SMART Scholarship submission and review process:

August 1
Application Period Opens
Applications are accepted only via ASEE online application portal. Hardcopy applications will not be accepted.*

December 15
Application Period Closes
All application materials including reference letters and required test scores MUST be RECEIVED by ASEE by 5:00 PM EST on December 15, 2011. Transcripts must be postmarked by December 15, 2011. It is the applicant's responsibility to ensure these materials are submitted by the day and time listed above. NO late submissions of any materials will be accepted.

December 16 - January 15
Evaluation Level 1
Basic Eligibility Screening
Applicants are screened for basic eligibility criteria such as required GPA, citizenship status, age, and application completion.
Applicants not meeting the base eligibility criteria will be removed from award consideration.
Each year many applicants are disqualified from award consideration for either not meeting one or more eligibility criteria and/or having an incomplete application.

January 15 - January 31
Evaluation Level 2
Academic Evaluation
Applicants meeting all base eligibility criteria will be forwarded for review by an academic evaluation panel. The panel consists of professors from civilian universities and DoD employees with expertise in the STEM disciplines funded by the Program. Applicants determined by the panel to be the most academically qualified are forwarded to DoD agencies for review. All other applicants are removed from award consideration.
Approximately 50% of all applicants reviewed by the panel are forwarded for review by DoD agencies.

February 1 - March 15
Evaluation Level 3
DoD Workforce Needs Assessment
DoD agencies review and interview candidates with backgrounds and interests meeting the agency's workforce needs. Candidates determined to be a good fit for known DoD workforce needs are recommended for review by the SMART Program Office.
In recent years, approximately 1/4 of all candidates reviewed by DoD agencies were recommended for review by the SMART Program Office. All others are removed for award consideration.

March 15 - March 28
Evaluation Level 4
The SMART Program Office reviews application materials from and conducts phone interviews with all candidates recommended for review by DoD agencies.
As a result of information obtained during the phone interview and application review, some candidates may be disqualified from award consideration. Reasons for disqualification include; inability or unwillingness to comply with the terms of the service agreement, change in degree type or field of study, change in required award length, degree type not offered at intended university, academic program not sufficiently technical**
The SMART Program Office offers awards to eligible recommended candidates based upon budget and programmatic considerations, as well as the best interests of the DoD. In recent years, approximately 2/3 of all recommended candidates were offered awards.
The number of awards made each year varies and is subject to availability of government funds.

March 31
Award Notifications Sent
Awardees will have 2 weeks to return their signed award documents and may be required to furnish additional information.

April 16***
2nd Round Award Notifications Sent

*Persons with disabilities requiring accommodations should contact ASEE to make appropriate arrangements.
**Applicants pursuing degrees in Systems/Industrial Engineering or Operations Research must pursue their degrees in academic programs that are predominantly technical rather than managerial in scope. It is the applicant’s responsibility to provide the SMART Program Office with sufficient documentation (such as copies of appropriate pages from the university course catalogue) for it to make a determination.
***On or about depending on award acceptance rates

Anon1 wrote:Why would they even let us apply if the scholarship was too underfunded to support it's benefits? That makes no sense to me. We knew there would be few rewards given out, maybe there will be a few less than last year, but it makes more sense to cut the number of awards than the mone that the awardees will be given, does it not? I may have no clue what I'm talking about because this is my first time applying.

Status: currently Undergrad freshman in need of funding for sophomore year.
GPA: high school transcript-3.72. Current college gpa-3.69
Area requested: bioscience (studying disease)
Requested SF: fort belvior

My chances were slim to begin with considering I'm an undergrad but looking in the bioscience field limits my chances to virtually 0, but there is no harm in trying, right?

All the sequestration people need to remember one important fact: This year’s budget is already set! FY13 budget was done in 2012, FY14 budget and beyond will be where the pennies get pinched. The biggest impact you might actually see is a reduction in the number of personnel at the SMART office, by way of delays in processing.

I am not a fiscal lawyer, but EVERYTHING I have read indicates sequestration begins immediately, regardless of if the FY budget was passed. "The across-the-board cuts now are scheduled to take place on March 1 after Congress instituted a two-month delay earlier this month as part of the partial agreement on taxes and other increases." DoD is looking at month-long furloughs for all of its civilian employees. I hope I am wrong.

All the sequestration people need to remember one important fact: This year’s budget is already set! FY13 budget was done in 2012, FY14 budget and beyond will be where the pennies get pinched. The biggest impact you might actually see is a reduction in the number of personnel at the SMART office, by way of delays in processing.

Also, the FY13 budget hasn't actually been set yet - the government is still running on a continuing resolution from the FY12 budget, which expires March 27th. So we have three fiscal problems set to come about within the next two months - sequestration (March 1st), debt limit (somewhere between Feb. 15th and 28th), and continuing resolution expiration (March 27th). I don't know about you guys, but my confidence in Congress to do their job is at an all-time low.

Another potential hiccup - if sequestration happens, there will almost certainly be across the board civilian hiring freezes in the DoD. Since SMART is essentially a recruitment program, where the end goal is to hire people, this could cause some problems.

Personally, I would not be shocked if SMART doesn't happen this year.

Hey, thought I would weigh in on the upcoming sequestration. Due to the Sequestration Transparency Act of 2012, the Office of Management and Budget was required to actually list the programs eligible for spending cuts. I've posted a link to their full report below. Apparently, the SMART Scholarship program was not listed as "sequestrable", and the SMART Grant program was even classified as "exempt," -- not the same program, I realize, but that's certainly a good sign.

While I am certain there will be fewer recipients this year as the various sponsoring faciliites are forced to downsize, I seriously doubt that the DoD would scrap the program in its entirety.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezr ... ermark.pdf

Khaleeshi1 wrote:Hey, thought I would weigh in on the upcoming sequestration. Due to the Sequestration Transparency Act of 2012, the Office of Management and Budget was required to actually list the programs eligible for spending cuts. I've posted a link to their full report below. Apparently, the SMART Scholarship program was not listed as "sequestrable", and the SMART Grant program was even classified as "exempt," -- not the same program, I realize, but that's certainly a good sign.

While I am certain there will be fewer recipients this year as the various sponsoring faciliites are forced to downsize, I seriously doubt that the DoD would scrap the program in its entirety.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezr ... ermark.pdf

I admit that totally scrapping the program is unlikely, and that downsizing is much more likely. But I'm not sure how the SMART Grant being exempt is relevant. As you pointed out, it's a different program (the acronym is even different), and it's run by a totally different department (Education, rather than Defense), and it's exempt because it's for low-income students. My understanding is that the SMART program office is with the Naval Postgraduate School, which is almost certainly not exempt.

I don't intend to sound confrontational. But people shouldn't get the idea that SMART is exempt from government funding shenanigans.

Retention Applicant wrote:I admit that totally scrapping the program is unlikely, and that downsizing is much more likely. But I'm not sure how the SMART Grant being exempt is relevant. As you pointed out, it's a different program (the acronym is even different), and it's run by a totally different department (Education, rather than Defense), and it's exempt because it's for low-income students. My understanding is that the SMART program office is with the Naval Postgraduate School, which is almost certainly not exempt.

I don't intend to sound confrontational. But people shouldn't get the idea that SMART is exempt from government funding shenanigans.

I believe the SMART Scholarship program has completed transition to OSD, Research Directorate, STEM Development Office. I believe it started this transition around September 2011 and it completed it sometime in the Spring of 2012, but I'm not entirely certain if it has been completed.

http://www.acq.osd.mil/rd/organization/stem.html

Retention Applicant wrote:

I admit that totally scrapping the program is unlikely, and that downsizing is much more likely. But I'm not sure how the SMART Grant being exempt is relevant. As you pointed out, it's a different program (the acronym is even different), and it's run by a totally different department (Education, rather than Defense), and it's exempt because it's for low-income students. My understanding is that the SMART program office is with the Naval Postgraduate School, which is almost certainly not exempt.

I don't intend to sound confrontational. But people shouldn't get the idea that SMART is exempt from government funding shenanigans.

I never meant to imply that the programs were connected in any way. My point was simply that student grant programs in general weren't being thrown under the bus. Of course, government spending is exceedingly elaborate, so it may be fallacious to interpret this as a trend, but I'm optimistic. I have to be at this point.

Will there be any notifications sent to us as to whether or not we make each of the cuts?

jgreen6234 wrote:Will there be any notifications sent to us as to whether or not we make each of the cuts?

In the past, email notifications have been sent out around Feb 15-18th saying whether or not you made the first 50% cut. However, an ASEE rep posted on SMARTs facebook page that notification for the first cut would be made "by the end of February" and that final notifications "may occur in March or April".

I'm in New jersey, Pacatinny Arsenal is where I have applied. I am a Electrical Engineering student Junior status with a 3.93 GPA.

Junior ME from the University of Kentucky here. 3.9 GPA, 4.0 Major GPA. Hopefully, we get feedback soon.

Physics major with two years at UCLA (3.3 GPA) and one year at Wisconsin-Madison (3.65 GPA).

UCCS senior 3.4 GPA ME major

Third-year Ph.D. student in Social Psychology (so I'm under Cognitive, Neural, and Behavioral Sciences). Requested 3 years of funding; it's likely my degree will take 6 years instead of 5 for various reasons. Honestly don't know GPA as it's less important in grad school, but mine's probably around a 3.7.

Anxiously awaiting updates and decisions, as my current funding source ends in July. Out of my future funding options, SMART seems to have the most advantages.

Computer engineer at Michigan State with a 3.8 GPA.

Big Tuna wrote:Computer engineer at Michigan State with a 3.8 GPA.

**Junior status

Hey, about one more week left for decision right?

I still haven't gotten anything either way.