Change of Degree....

[superskbman]

When I signed-up for the SMART scholarship I put that I was going for my bachelors in Mechanical engineering, but now I am thinking I can squeeze in a Masters as well, while keeping the same graduation date. I have a couple questions:

*Do people doing a joint bachelors/masters program receive a bigger stipend?
*Is there any reason they wouldn't want me to do this?
*Being hired as a government engineer if you have a master's do you absolutely automatically start at GS 9, or is that questionable? Also if you start at a GS 9 do you jump to a GS11 in 6 months?

Thanks.

[jramcam]

When you are in a BS/MS program once you fulfill all requirements to receive your bachelor's degree you can request a cash award increase, so you would be moving from 25K to 33K per year. You should check with the ASEE SMART Scholarship Team before you do anything though. If you graduate with a 3.0 or above GPA it is considered superior academic achievement and is qualifying for GS-7. A combination of superior academic achievement and 1 year of appropriate professional experience as a GS-7 is qualifying for GS-9, so if your evaluations are good you get your GS-9 in one year. Now if your position was announced as 7/9/11 you can get your GS-11 after 1 year of professional experience as a GS-9, so you could go from GS-7 to GS-11 in just two years, it just depends on your performance and the way your position was announced. Getting a master does not necessarily guarantee you a GS-9, but you can be converted to a GS-9 position if you complete all the requirements of a federal graduate-level student-trainee program, including completion of a master's degree in engineering and completion of 640 hours of work experience, 320 hours of which was at GS-7. For more information visit:

http://www.opm.gov/qualifications/stand ... 0/0800.htm

I hope that helps...