The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

Hello, all

I'm new to the field of computer science, but have a background in mathematics as that was my major when I initially started school. I don't have any prior experience in the STEM field, but I am a junior with a GPA of 3.72, received a National Science Foundation scholarship and even received (to my surprise) a scholarship award after being nominated by faculty. I also grew up overseas my whole life and went to DoD schools before my undergraduate career... Does it even sound like I have a good chance? Would the statements from my references make a difference? Reading some posts and comments in the forum, it looks like the majority of recipients are pursing or have received graduate degrees...

Thanks

With regard to your comment about graduate degrees, perhaps there's just more of us who comment. When I attended my cohort's orientation I would estimate that only 30% of awarded scholarships are graduates and the other 70% were undergraduates.

I'm in Phase 2 so a little antiquated now. When I started I was not allowed to accept another scholarship. Since I was applying as a graduate student that meant I had to turn down the NSF Fellowship I was awarded in order to accept the SMART Scholarship. Now there were some changes to the program since I started that allow some level of outside funding but I do not know the specifics on that.