The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

Is there a specific form or card we need to use when submitting finger prints? Can I just go to a police department or livescan location and them process my finger prints for me? How many cards does OPM require that we submit?

CSMajor wrote:Is there a specific form or card we need to use when submitting finger prints? Can I just go to a police department or livescan location and them process my finger prints for me? How many cards does OPM require that we submit?

Wow, they must be starting the process early this year, two years ago we weren't allowed to begin the process until early September.

Their preference is generally "Live Scan," you'll need a Security Office Number to complete that, whoever initiated your background investigation should give you that. If you choose to do paper cards, you'll need to submit two copies of the official fingerprint cards, SF-87. When I did it two years ago, SMART sent these cards if you requested them.

Protip: If you ask them nicely and they are local, your SF may be willing to let you come in and get digital fingerprints for free. If that's not an option, shop around at different police stations because some charge and others don't. I was able to get mine done by University Police for free as long as I brought the specific cards I needed.

Was this process started through you SF? I haven't heard anything about it yet.

Yes. Your SF will handle the process this year. I also read through the archive of adjuntications and so long as you don't have delinquent debt, criminal charges, or forgiven influences the process should be painless.

CSMajor wrote:Yes. Your SF will handle the process this year. I also read through the archive of adjuntications and so long as you don't have delinquent debt, criminal charges, or forgiven influences the process should be painless.

Sounds like I'll be all good then! Thanks for letting me know both those things.

no one has contacted me about needing to get my fingerprints done.... is this something I should be worried about right now

confused wrote:no one has contacted me about needing to get my fingerprints done.... is this something I should be worried about right now

No I don't think so - I haven't heard anything either. Our internship isn't until next summer so we have a little bit of time.

confused wrote:no one has contacted me about needing to get my fingerprints done.... is this something I should be worried about right now

When SMART handled all the checks a few years ago, they didn't start until early September. Now that it is the SF's initiating them, they don't need so much lead time because they will only have a handful of checks to start, as opposed to hundreds.

I would not be worried if your SF has not contact you yet because they are probably not used to doing these so far in advance. Your background check doesn't need to be complete by the time you start your internship, it just needs to have passed the first stage, which can sometimes take a couple months. If you don't hear anything over the next couple of months, I would be proactive and contact your SF in January about beginning the process. Really, you could start the process as late as March/April and still be ready for a June start date, but better to start as early as possible in order to avoid having your start date delayed.