The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

Please help the 2017 SMART recipients by providing updated info. One important consideration is the DOD payscale as compared to the market value of students earning the same degree. Info in previous threads is out-of-date.

BS graduates only please. No need to identify your SF since, understandably, that may be uncomfortable for you.

Year of BS graduation:
BS Major:
Phase 2 salary upon BS graduation:
Corresponding Paygrade code:
DOD Branch: (Army, Navy, Air Force, etc)
# of Phase 2 Commitment Years:
Do you expect/did you receive a significant increase during this time?
How did/does your initial Phase 2 salary compare to peers from your university with the same major entering the private sector?

Thanks in advance for your assistance!

SMARTparent wrote:Please help the 2017 SMART recipients by providing updated info. One important consideration is the DOD payscale as compared to the market value of students earning the same degree. Info in previous threads is out-of-date.

BS graduates only please. No need to identify your SF since, understandably, that may be uncomfortable for you.

Year of BS graduation:
BS Major:
Phase 2 salary upon BS graduation:
Corresponding Paygrade code:
DOD Branch: (Army, Navy, Air Force, etc)
# of Phase 2 Commitment Years:
Do you expect/did you receive a significant increase during this time?
How did/does your initial Phase 2 salary compare to peers from your university with the same major entering the private sector?

Thanks in advance for your assistance!

Most SF's are pretty consistent as to what the SMART scholar gets hired as. The only difference I know of is if your SF is a lab, like AFRL.

Fellow students I know get started as follows:
BS usually starts at GS-7
MS usually starts at GS-9
PhD usually starts at GS-11. The salaries and locality additions can be found online on a .gov website (probably OPM). Also, a BS would normally go up to GS-9 after a year and a GS-11 after around 2 years.

Though now, some SF's are moving to Acq Demo or the labs are on lab demo instead of the GS system. The two demos get much closer to what a company would pay you right out of college. These pay scales are less documented than the GS system. In Acq demo, a BS would likely be hired as an NH-01. And from what I have seen in the labs, one year of graduate school work is "required" to be hired at a DR-01. These are for the air force systems.

Definitely find out what system the SF you have in question is currently on... The demo systems are much better when it comes to being comparable to a salary at a major company out of school.