2012 Applicants

[Guest]

Just so you are clear, SPO's version of "passed the quals" means you have advanced to candidacy. So usually you already have defended your research topic (not final defense) to your committee and have done a reasonable amount of your research. You have to get your school to provide official documentation that you are officially a PhD candidate...not just passed your coursework exams. It's $38000 if you are not a candidate and $41000 or $41800 afterward...the website suggests $41k but in the past they just gave a 10% raise to $41.8k. That's what I get.

Thanks for the clarification! When you say "afterwards", are you suggesting that you'd get a raise once you achieve candidacy?

That's how they have done it in the past. Same for when people are awarded a masters along a PhD program in the same field...25k for just BS raise to 38K with MS raise to 41k with Candidacy I thought all that stuff used to be on the website but I guess not anymore. They may change it for the 2013 cohort...if there is one.

[anotherGuest]

Yes, I am in the program. The stipend is 25K when working on Bachelors, 33K with Bachelors and working on Master's, 44K if you have passed quals for PhD. All this is explained pretty well in the handbook which is posted on SMART's official website.

What do they do about combined BS/MS, do you know? I assume just go with the BS payscale

[Guest_imater]

Soooo we were told on Wednesday that the process was delayed and that the announcements would go out within the next "few weeks". As has also been mentioned, many folks have to let schools know today, which seemed to be a fire under the NDSEG's ass to get their announcements out (I hear that some letters have already gone out). We SMARTers seem to not be so lucky.

A "few weeks" seems to me to be a phrase of pacification, giving the ASEE a cushion. However, if the issue were just a reduction in the number of awards and that number was know, they'd have sent the notifications out already. So, I feel that there are two possible, not-necessarily distinct reasons for the delay:

1) The DOD needs to approve a budget number. My guess is that this is the likeliest hold up, since the ASEE would like to get this stuff taken care of. My guess is that this week would see many meetings and probably still not fix the amount by Friday.

2) ASEE has to decide how it will handle the reduced budget. As someone who asked for 3 tears support, my hope would be that they simply keep their same short list, just making it shorter from the bottom up. However, since the program is still young, they may see this as a game changing situation where they start taking the number of years requested into consideration for a student's ranking. I would feel that this is a poor decision, since the goal is quality not quantity of applicants.

I also wonder if the DOD would try to ask SF's to pick up some funding slack. If so, I'd expect the number of recommended applicants to shrink sharply, as most SF's have no extra funds for this (if they did, they'd just hire someone full time).

Worse case scenario? The SMART office decides to skip this award year and get it's ducks in a row. This possibility keeps me awake at night, but I think this style of draconian cut would be incredibly stupid and would severely damage the fellowship's reputation. But I don't rule it out.

More likely scenario, we hear back two weeks from tomorrow that a smaller number of applicants have been selected and those that got cut from the original short list will fill this thread with vehemence.

Here's to hoping we're all high enough up on the list to survive the coming storm! I'm not holding my breath ...

[Guest]

Soooo we were told on Wednesday that the process was delayed and that the announcements would go out within the next "few weeks". As has also been mentioned, many folks have to let schools know today, which seemed to be a fire under the NDSEG's ass to get their announcements out (I hear that some letters have already gone out). We SMARTers seem to not be so lucky.

A "few weeks" seems to me to be a phrase of pacification, giving the ASEE a cushion. However, if the issue were just a reduction in the number of awards and that number was know, they'd have sent the notifications out already. So, I feel that there are two possible, not-necessarily distinct reasons for the delay:

1) The DOD needs to approve a budget number. My guess is that this is the likeliest hold up, since the ASEE would like to get this stuff taken care of. My guess is that this week would see many meetings and probably still not fix the amount by Friday.

2) ASEE has to decide how it will handle the reduced budget. As someone who asked for 3 tears support, my hope would be that they simply keep their same short list, just making it shorter from the bottom up. However, since the program is still young, they may see this as a game changing situation where they start taking the number of years requested into consideration for a student's ranking. I would feel that this is a poor decision, since the goal is quality not quantity of applicants.

I also wonder if the DOD would try to ask SF's to pick up some funding slack. If so, I'd expect the number of recommended applicants to shrink sharply, as most SF's have no extra funds for this (if they did, they'd just hire someone full time).

Worse case scenario? The SMART office decides to skip this award year and get it's ducks in a row. This possibility keeps me awake at night, but I think this style of draconian cut would be incredibly stupid and would severely damage the fellowship's reputation. But I don't rule it out.

More likely scenario, we hear back two weeks from tomorrow that a smaller number of applicants have been selected and those that got cut from the original short list will fill this thread with vehemence.

Here's to hoping we're all high enough up on the list to survive the coming storm! I'm not holding my breath ...

I imagine they are simply rewriting the handbook and contract such that they can afford as many of you guys as they can. The biggest swell of spending has been internship payments obviously and I think someone way back when forgot to include those in the budgetary assessments...which is why they tried what they did recently. Anyway, so I think they are trying to figure out how to cut internship costs while still giving you guys all the other benefits. I imagine there will be a substantial decrease in the number of recipients this year, but that is to be expected due to all the defense funding cuts this year. Rather than a 10% acceptance rate there might only be a 5% rate or something. Maybe only 150 of you will get awards. I doubt they will change the stipend amounts.

I also doubt the award length will be a consideration since each year's stipends would be part of that particular years budget. So the question is how many can they support THIS year much more so than how many next year after many of the current cohorts graduate participants. How much funding do we have this year? How much do we have to pay already? How much do we have left? How many new scholars will that support until next year's budget? Next year we will figure out next year. One thing though, they could quit spending millions of dollars on a stupid orientation. Just put the presentations on a website and force everyone to watch them, like all the other DoD training. Orientation was the biggest waste of my time. What did walking around on a carrier have to do with going to college?

[2012_UMd]

Soooo we were told on Wednesday that the process was delayed and that the announcements would go out within the next "few weeks". As has also been mentioned, many folks have to let schools know today, which seemed to be a fire under the NDSEG's ass to get their announcements out (I hear that some letters have already gone out). We SMARTers seem to not be so lucky.

A "few weeks" seems to me to be a phrase of pacification, giving the ASEE a cushion. However, if the issue were just a reduction in the number of awards and that number was know, they'd have sent the notifications out already. So, I feel that there are two possible, not-necessarily distinct reasons for the delay:

1) The DOD needs to approve a budget number. My guess is that this is the likeliest hold up, since the ASEE would like to get this stuff taken care of. My guess is that this week would see many meetings and probably still not fix the amount by Friday.

2) ASEE has to decide how it will handle the reduced budget. As someone who asked for 3 tears support, my hope would be that they simply keep their same short list, just making it shorter from the bottom up. However, since the program is still young, they may see this as a game changing situation where they start taking the number of years requested into consideration for a student's ranking. I would feel that this is a poor decision, since the goal is quality not quantity of applicants.

I also wonder if the DOD would try to ask SF's to pick up some funding slack. If so, I'd expect the number of recommended applicants to shrink sharply, as most SF's have no extra funds for this (if they did, they'd just hire someone full time).

Worse case scenario? The SMART office decides to skip this award year and get it's ducks in a row. This possibility keeps me awake at night, but I think this style of draconian cut would be incredibly stupid and would severely damage the fellowship's reputation. But I don't rule it out.

More likely scenario, we hear back two weeks from tomorrow that a smaller number of applicants have been selected and those that got cut from the original short list will fill this thread with vehemence.

Here's to hoping we're all high enough up on the list to survive the coming storm! I'm not holding my breath ...

I imagine they are simply rewriting the handbook and contract such that they can afford as many of you guys as they can. The biggest swell of spending has been internship payments obviously and I think someone way back when forgot to include those in the budgetary assessments...which is why they tried what they did recently. Anyway, so I think they are trying to figure out how to cut internship costs while still giving you guys all the other benefits. I imagine there will be a substantial decrease in the number of recipients this year, but that is to be expected due to all the defense funding cuts this year. Rather than a 10% acceptance rate there might only be a 5% rate or something. Maybe only 150 of you will get awards. I doubt they will change the stipend amounts.

I also doubt the award length will be a consideration since each year's stipends would be part of that particular years budget. So the question is how many can they support THIS year much more so than how many next year after many of the current cohorts graduate participants. How much funding do we have this year? How much do we have to pay already? How much do we have left? How many new scholars will that support until next year's budget? Next year we will figure out next year. One thing though, they could quit spending millions of dollars on a stupid orientation. Just put the presentations on a website and force everyone to watch them, like all the other DoD training. Orientation was the biggest waste of my time. What did walking around on a carrier have to do with going to college?

One question this brings up is how locality plays into ranking? If the internship support is the most expensive part, would you be better positioned for an award after the budget tightening if you're local to your SF (and would therefore get paid normally)? I understand that to some extent this is speculation, but any info in this regard would be welcome news.

[Guest]

One question this brings up is how locality plays into ranking? If the internship support is the most expensive part, would you be better positioned for an award after the budget tightening if you're local to your SF (and would therefore get paid normally)? I understand that to some extent this is speculation, but any info in this regard would be welcome news.

I would imagine this point is moot. Don't count on ANYONE getting paid internships after the 2011 cohort. If payments are made, they will come from the SF (a great option).

I also wonder if the DOD would try to ask SF's to pick up some funding slack. If so, I'd expect the number of recommended applicants to shrink sharply, as most SF's have no extra funds for this (if they did, they'd just hire someone full time).

Worse case scenario? The SMART office decides to skip this award year and get it's ducks in a row. This possibility keeps me awake at night, but I think this style of draconian cut would be incredibly stupid and would severely damage the fellowship's reputation. But I don't rule it out.

More likely scenario, we hear back two weeks from tomorrow that a smaller number of applicants have been selected and those that got cut from the original short list will fill this thread with vehemence.

Here's to hoping we're all high enough up on the list to survive the coming storm! I'm not holding my breath ...

As for my SF (I'm a current recipient) they actually have plenty of money.

It's just getting that money into the hands of scholars that is hard. Also, even though they have plenty of money, they're under strict command to not hire anyone full-time. So even though they have money coming out of their ears (a $14k summer internship is absolutely nothing to them) they're not allowed to bring anyone onto the books. It's weird, I know. But the DoD does a lot of "draconian" weird things... Be surprised at nothing.

[Guest22]

Soooo we were told on Wednesday that the process was delayed and that the announcements would go out within the next "few weeks". As has also been mentioned, many folks have to let schools know today, which seemed to be a fire under the NDSEG's ass to get their announcements out (I hear that some letters have already gone out). We SMARTers seem to not be so lucky.

A "few weeks" seems to me to be a phrase of pacification, giving the ASEE a cushion. However, if the issue were just a reduction in the number of awards and that number was know, they'd have sent the notifications out already. So, I feel that there are two possible, not-necessarily distinct reasons for the delay:

1) The DOD needs to approve a budget number. My guess is that this is the likeliest hold up, since the ASEE would like to get this stuff taken care of. My guess is that this week would see many meetings and probably still not fix the amount by Friday.

2) ASEE has to decide how it will handle the reduced budget. As someone who asked for 3 tears support, my hope would be that they simply keep their same short list, just making it shorter from the bottom up. However, since the program is still young, they may see this as a game changing situation where they start taking the number of years requested into consideration for a student's ranking. I would feel that this is a poor decision, since the goal is quality not quantity of applicants.

I also wonder if the DOD would try to ask SF's to pick up some funding slack. If so, I'd expect the number of recommended applicants to shrink sharply, as most SF's have no extra funds for this (if they did, they'd just hire someone full time).

Worse case scenario? The SMART office decides to skip this award year and get it's ducks in a row. This possibility keeps me awake at night, but I think this style of draconian cut would be incredibly stupid and would severely damage the fellowship's reputation. But I don't rule it out.

More likely scenario, we hear back two weeks from tomorrow that a smaller number of applicants have been selected and those that got cut from the original short list will fill this thread with vehemence.

Here's to hoping we're all high enough up on the list to survive the coming storm! I'm not holding my breath ...

I imagine they are simply rewriting the handbook and contract such that they can afford as many of you guys as they can. The biggest swell of spending has been internship payments obviously and I think someone way back when forgot to include those in the budgetary assessments...which is why they tried what they did recently. Anyway, so I think they are trying to figure out how to cut internship costs while still giving you guys all the other benefits. I imagine there will be a substantial decrease in the number of recipients this year, but that is to be expected due to all the defense funding cuts this year. Rather than a 10% acceptance rate there might only be a 5% rate or something. Maybe only 150 of you will get awards. I doubt they will change the stipend amounts.

I also doubt the award length will be a consideration since each year's stipends would be part of that particular years budget. So the question is how many can they support THIS year much more so than how many next year after many of the current cohorts graduate participants. How much funding do we have this year? How much do we have to pay already? How much do we have left? How many new scholars will that support until next year's budget? Next year we will figure out next year. One thing though, they could quit spending millions of dollars on a stupid orientation. Just put the presentations on a website and force everyone to watch them, like all the other DoD training. Orientation was the biggest waste of my time. What did walking around on a carrier have to do with going to college?

I feel the need to fact correct one thing here: the stipend, as well as any other funding provided to you from the SMART program, for the ENTIRETY of your award (1yr, 2yr, whatever) is provided in the budget of your cohort year. For example, I am a 2011 Cohort Awardee. My 3 year award is funded under the 2011 budget. I don't get a penny from the 2012 budget or any future budget (which is why we were upset about the cuts to us...because we weren't supposed to be cut for this very reason).

This was explained to us at orientation.

[Guest 2012]

I feel the need to fact correct one thing here: the stipend, as well as any other funding provided to you from the SMART program, for the ENTIRETY of your award (1yr, 2yr, whatever) is provided in the budget of your cohort year. For example, I am a 2011 Cohort Awardee. My 3 year award is funded under the 2011 budget. I don't get a penny from the 2012 budget or any future budget (which is why we were upset about the cuts to us...because we weren't supposed to be cut for this very reason).

This was explained to us at orientation.

This. It is all stated pretty clearly on any page, document or FAQ response regarding the stipends that all money for a particular cohort comes only from a single year's budget--it is set aside and disbursed regularly. In the event of a cessation of the SMART program, the money is still available to be given to anyone who was already a SMART scholar.

[AAArrrrgh]

Actually you can't attest to that because it's not true, I know of a shipyard that has had SMART Recipients the last 2 years and actively sought more this year. Everyone needs to stop throwing out speculation as fact, no one has a concrete grasp on why the delays are occurring. We're all in the same boat.

Interesting, that means that there has been some kind of misunderstanding. My department and HRO made it very clear that we (our shipyard) does not participate in SMART and that I shouldn't expect to have an opportunity at another shipyard... because none of them are SMART SFs. hmm :?: :?

Sounds like a classy employer you got... Willing to lie to you to retain you, rather than facilitate you obtaining your dreams...

Meh, my experience as a DoD employee is that these kinds of things are said in honest error rather than an intentional deceit. People who don't really know, hypothesize, assuming that you aren't going to go fact check their statements. I wouldn't go assuming all the U.S Navy shipyards are deceiving their employees about the SMART program in an underhanded plan to retain more employees...

And to "Guest" below, on the topic of DoD "command" to not hire anyone, you are correct. The DoD is under a hiring freeze. No matter how much funding anyone has, the policy right now is that the Federal Government is overstaffed. Despite the fact that one research facility might have more than enough funding for their employees, or even to hire more, overall the people who make the decisions on budgetary funding see that X dollars are spent on salary across all Federal Government and declare that we have to cut that number by some percentage to meet the constraints in the new budget. This means no more new "full-time employees", and there are more restrictions on interns, students, etc.

[WestCoastDreams]

One question this brings up is how locality plays into ranking? If the internship support is the most expensive part, would you be better positioned for an award after the budget tightening if you're local to your SF (and would therefore get paid normally)? I understand that to some extent this is speculation, but any info in this regard would be welcome news.

Does anyone have an answer for this question? There were facilities near me, but I didn't apply for them (I instead played the "where do I want to live" game). I'm now wondering if that negatively affects my chances.

[WaitingIsFun]

One question this brings up is how locality plays into ranking? If the internship support is the most expensive part, would you be better positioned for an award after the budget tightening if you're local to your SF (and would therefore get paid normally)? I understand that to some extent this is speculation, but any info in this regard would be welcome news.

Does anyone have an answer for this question? There were facilities near me, but I didn't apply for them (I instead played the "where do I want to live" game). I'm now wondering if that negatively affects my chances.

I doubt you will get an official answer. My guess is they will either leave ISP as they are or cut them entirely. They should offer the scholarship to their top ranked applicants and then if those scholarship get turned down they will trickle down to those we get on a waiting list. My guess is that if they cut ISP from the scholarship you are going to find people whose SF is remote or even worse remote and in a high cost of living area will be more likely to turn down the scholarship.

[gatsby]

I feel the need to fact correct one thing here: the stipend, as well as any other funding provided to you from the SMART program, for the ENTIRETY of your award (1yr, 2yr, whatever) is provided in the budget of your cohort year. For example, I am a 2011 Cohort Awardee. My 3 year award is funded under the 2011 budget. I don't get a penny from the 2012 budget or any future budget (which is why we were upset about the cuts to us...because we weren't supposed to be cut for this very reason).

This was explained to us at orientation.

This. It is all stated pretty clearly on any page, document or FAQ response regarding the stipends that all money for a particular cohort comes only from a single year's budget--it is set aside and disbursed regularly. In the event of a cessation of the SMART program, the money is still available to be given to anyone who was already a SMART scholar.

That's good to know. IF we get into the program, we won't have to worry about budgets not being approved and the program running out of money before we're done.

[2012_UMD]

One question this brings up is how locality plays into ranking? If the internship support is the most expensive part, would you be better positioned for an award after the budget tightening if you're local to your SF (and would therefore get paid normally)? I understand that to some extent this is speculation, but any info in this regard would be welcome news.

Does anyone have an answer for this question? There were facilities near me, but I didn't apply for them (I instead played the "where do I want to live" game). I'm now wondering if that negatively affects my chances.

I doubt you will get an official answer. My guess is they will either leave ISP as they are or cut them entirely. They should offer the scholarship to their top ranked applicants and then if those scholarship get turned down they will trickle down to those we get on a waiting list. My guess is that if they cut ISP from the scholarship you are going to find people whose SF is remote or even worse remote and in a high cost of living area will be more likely to turn down the scholarship.

So this is a place where I need additional clarification. The ISP is in addition to your monthly paycheck, to offset the relocation costs, right? Otherwise it would blow my mind that they might be suggesting that an awardee would go the entire summer with out a paycheck AND have to cover the relocation costs.

[In_Stitches]

So this is a place where I need additional clarification. The ISP is in addition to your monthly paycheck, to offset the relocation costs, right? Otherwise it would blow my mind that they might be suggesting that an awardee would go the entire summer with out a paycheck AND have to cover the relocation costs.

From the SMART website:
"Will I get paid during my internship?
Participants continue to receive their monthly cash award payment throughout the internship period.

Will travel expenses for my internship be paid?
In addition to the cash award payment, Participants completing internships located 50 miles or more from their academic residence will receive internship support payments to fund travel. Participants should refer to the Internship Guidelines for the applicable year to obtain detailed information about internship funding, travel, responsibilities, and restrictions."

They later is what is being discussed, not the former. Getting a yearly stipend that is actually pro-rated to exclude the summer months would simply be equivalent to reducing the stipend all-together.

[Today Maybe]

So who thinks today is the day??

[Today Maybe]

So who thinks today is the day??

[Today_No_Way]

So who thinks today is the day??

If it is today, I'll eat my shoe. I'd be surprised if we heard back before next Monday.

[gatsby]

So who thinks today is the day??

If it is today, I'll eat my shoe. I'd be surprised if we heard back before next Monday.

Unfortunately, I agree, I think it will be early next week. Any later than that and they will be seriously messing with people's ability to solidify summer/fall plans. That doesn't mean that I won't continue checking my email every freaking 37ish seconds.

[dreaming]

Ugh... I had a dream last night that I got the award. This is ridiculous - I've apparently been thinking about this so often recently that it's become entrenched in my subconscious, and I don't know how to stop. When will the pain end???

[WaitingIsFun]

Ugh... I had a dream last night that I got the award. This is ridiculous - I've apparently been thinking about this so often recently that it's become entrenched in my subconscious, and I don't know how to stop. When will the pain end???

If it makes you feel any better I am still waiting on an admission decision from my top choice and this scholarship so I have my phone configured to play a very loud and obnoxious sound anytime I get an e-mail to either account. My wife may snap and kill me before I find out if I have been accepted in either case.

[AZGeologist]

With trying to setup summer/fall plans and waiting to hear back from ASEE I have almost gotten to the point where I set up my filter to delete any email from them, pretend I did not get it, and go about my business...

[Guest]

Has anyone had the nads to email or even call up the SF that they interviewed with and simply ask, "Did you recommend me," or even, "Do you think I will get it?"

[In_Stitches]

Has anyone had the nads to email or even call up the SF that they interviewed with and simply ask, "Did you recommend me," or even, "Do you think I will get it?"

I got an email from an SF I interviewed at and they said that they put my name forward, but seemed either tight-lipped or just out-of-the-loop about whether they've been guarenteed their choice. I don't think the SF'a know much more than we do.

[DexyDean]

Has anyone had the nads to email or even call up the SF that they interviewed with and simply ask, "Did you recommend me," or even, "Do you think I will get it?"

I emailed them and asked if they had any info on when SMART or ASEE extended their notification deadline to... for some reason the next couple of weeks wasn't specific enough for me
I used it to try and earn some extra brownie points too, even though its too late for them to have a say anymore. The cool thing is that my Dad actually worked at the SF that interviewed me, and he was there around 10 years while he was in intelligence in the Army. He's told me quite a bit about what their on-site "Electronics Guy" actually did during his time working.
I'm an Electrical Engineering major by the way. 3.8 GPA and I think my chances are quite good, except for the fact that I only had 2 letters of recommendation. My other two didn't submit it in time. Like everyone else here, I check this forum and my email... well.... saying CONSTANTLY would be an extreme understatement.

[gatsby]

I emailed them and asked if they had any info on when SMART or ASEE extended their notification deadline to... for some reason the next couple of weeks wasn't specific enough for me

So I would presume that you haven't gotten a response yet, right? Cause now that you've mentioned it, you're totally on the hook for letting us know what they say.