2012 Applicants

[Student]

P.a.t.i.e.n.c.e. ^_^

[NDSEG]

I'm assuming this relative silence means no one's heard from NDSEG either...

NDSEG has already sent out their announcement

[AZGeologist]

I am assuming by the silence that everyone is either past the point in caring, already taken the high road of assuming they did not receive the award, or have gone crazy and are unable to use the internet presently.

[gatsby]

I am assuming by the silence that everyone is either past the point in caring, already taken the high road of assuming they did not receive the award, or have gone crazy and are unable to use the internet presently.

Or we've run out of things to talk about... there's only so many times and ways that you can say "waiting sucks" and "hurry up already, geez!"

[Crickets]

I am assuming by the silence that everyone is either past the point in caring, already taken the high road of assuming they did not receive the award, or have gone crazy and are unable to use the internet presently.

Or we've run out of things to talk about... there's only so many times and ways that you can say "waiting sucks" and "hurry up already, geez!"

Since I've kept my mouth shut this whole time-
Waiting sucks!
Hurry up already, geez!

[ORgirl]

I am assuming by the silence that everyone is either past the point in caring, already taken the high road of assuming they did not receive the award, or have gone crazy and are unable to use the internet presently.

Or we've run out of things to talk about... there's only so many times and ways that you can say "waiting sucks" and "hurry up already, geez!"

I think we should start a running bet now :D :D :D I know someone mentioned it before with their mom...

[InFlux]

So I am a Master's applicant who is not currently in school and is only able to go if I get SMART. I recieved a scholarship worth more than $5000 (but less than necessary for me to quit my job and go to school) from one of the schools I applied to. I have had to extend their deadline for accepting or declining it about 3 times now, which is getting very old for me and the school. I was asked by the school today if I am able to accept the scholarship and SMART if I get it. So I called ASEE...

According to the person at ASEE they are rewriting the Outside Funding Policy and the DoD is reviewing it. They have no time frame for completition of this process. It seems, at least according to the rep, they have no new information or ETA from the DoD about anything regarding this years scholarships. Thought I would pass that on, still no end in site.

For the record, this is f*ckn ridiculous that they are continuing to hold us hostage like this and its not only us its our schools as well.

[Guest]

So I am a Master's applicant who is not currently in school and is only able to go if I get SMART. I recieved a scholarship worth more than $5000 (but less than necessary for me to quit my job and go to school) from one of the schools I applied to. I have had to extend their deadline for accepting or declining it about 3 times now, which is getting very old for me and the school. I was asked by the school today if I am able to accept the scholarship and SMART if I get it. So I called ASEE...

According to the person at ASEE they are rewriting the Outside Funding Policy and the DoD is reviewing it. They have no time frame for completition of this process. It seems, at least according to the rep, they have no new information or ETA from the DoD about anything regarding this years scholarships. Thought I would pass that on, still no end in site.

For the record, this is f*ckn ridiculous that they are continuing to hold us hostage like this and its not only us its our schools as well.

Wow...

I suppose they want to figure this out before they have folks sign agreements. However, they are impacting plenty of people, even non-SMART people and the universities by not letting people who are rejected know so that applicants can decline admissions to schools. Given how competitive admissions was this year, at least for Computer Science, I think this is just cruel to everyone

[StudyAbroad]

This is getting ridiculous. I need them to get this in gear and tell us by the end of next week, or else I'm completely screwed. I'm leaving the country and will have limited email for 6 weeks. So even if I got it, I wouldn't know or wouldn't be able to fill out all the necessary forms.
And I know there are lots of other people in similar situations, albeit with different things.

[Trying2Relax]

Just on the off-chance that someone in a decision-making position ever reads this board (or more likely just to vent). One of my biggest fears was just realized. I was just offered one of the jobs I was looking into, but this job was always my plan B if I didn't get SMART. They've aggreed to hold it for now, but any day they might come back and demand I either accept or decline. As a retention candidate I can't just accept the new job and quit if I get selected for SMART. Grrrr.....Argh.....

[guest for today]

Just on the off-chance that someone in a decision-making position ever reads this board (or more likely just to vent). One of my biggest fears was just realized. I was just offered one of the jobs I was looking into, but this job was always my plan B if I didn't get SMART. They've aggreed to hold it for now, but any day they might come back and demand I either accept or decline. As a retention candidate I can't just accept the new job and quit if I get selected for SMART. Grrrr.....Argh.....

Have you spoken with the SMART coordinator/POC at your facility. He/she may be able to give you a better idea of where you are on their priority list.

[Welp_2012]

So I am a Master's applicant who is not currently in school and is only able to go if I get SMART. I recieved a scholarship worth more than $5000 (but less than necessary for me to quit my job and go to school) from one of the schools I applied to. I have had to extend their deadline for accepting or declining it about 3 times now, which is getting very old for me and the school. I was asked by the school today if I am able to accept the scholarship and SMART if I get it. So I called ASEE...

According to the person at ASEE they are rewriting the Outside Funding Policy and the DoD is reviewing it. They have no time frame for completition of this process. It seems, at least according to the rep, they have no new information or ETA from the DoD about anything regarding this years scholarships. Thought I would pass that on, still no end in site.

For the record, this is f*ckn ridiculous that they are continuing to hold us hostage like this and its not only us its our schools as well.

Welp, this ruined my week. I can't believe they're operating so much without deadlines.

[Trying2Relax]

Just on the off-chance that someone in a decision-making position ever reads this board (or more likely just to vent). One of my biggest fears was just realized. I was just offered one of the jobs I was looking into, but this job was always my plan B if I didn't get SMART. They've aggreed to hold it for now, but any day they might come back and demand I either accept or decline. As a retention candidate I can't just accept the new job and quit if I get selected for SMART. Grrrr.....Argh.....

Have you spoken with the SMART coordinator/POC at your facility. He/she may be able to give you a better idea of where you are on their priority list.

Thanks for the suggestion, and yes I have done that. They wouldn't tell me exactly where I fell on the priority list, but only that it was a priority they would normally expect to be funded. However they caveated that by saying SMART can rearrange the priority list at-will according to budget constraints. I realize that somewhat contradicts what others have said on this board, but that is what I was told. With everything that has went on who can say for certain how things will fall out?

[GT 2012]

So, I contacted my SF and what they're hearing is exactly along the lines of what InFlux said. This is the email some got last week:

"Good afternoon and happy Friday. As of today the offers for our 2012 SMART
Scholars have not gone out. The delay at this time is the review of the
contract and student handbook by OGC at OSD. I will be on leave on Monday
and Tuesday but will be in contact with the other liaisons and if I hear any
word on the offers going out to our students I will let you know.

I apologize for the delay and I hope our selected students stay loyal to us.
Thank you for your support and you could reach me via cell if you have
something important that needs my immediate attention. Take care and safe
weekend."

Here's to hoping things are resolved within the week. Good luck, guys.

[Guest]

Is there some kind of notification if we are selected by a SF?

[WaitingIsFun]

Is there some kind of notification if we are selected by a SF?

Some SFs contacted their applicants to inform them if they had been recommended. It is a courtesy and not mandatory by any means. If you didn't hear from a SF you shouldn't worry.

[Will_Die_Waiting]

Current status of award notifications:

"Dear -------,

We have no updates at this time and will notify applicants when we receive information from the DoD."

[WaitingIsFun]

Current status of award notifications:

"Dear -------,

We have no updates at this time and will notify applicants when we receive information from the DoD."

To try and be positive... which is hard. The longer this takes the more people will be remove themselves from the running for one reason or another. So your chances are slowly and gradually improving by some almost infinitesimally small measure.

[WestToEast]

That's what I figured SMART was doing, dragging it out so that people with other offers would take those, and that would shorten the short list.
The problem is, if first round notifications go out whenever, how much later (June?July?) will the second round notifications go out?

[WaitingIsFun]

That's what I figured SMART was doing, dragging it out so that people with other offers would take those, and that would shorten the short list.
The problem is, if first round notifications go out whenever, how much later (June?July?) will the second round notifications go out?

I really don't think SMART is purposely dargging their feet. They know they are losing out on some of the best and brightest applicants as they wait. They really are dependant on outside entities to perform certain actions before they can make scholarship offers. I think whatever happens they still send out as many scholarships as they fiscally can and hope that they can still attract high level talent with all the missed deadlines and waiting.

[Guest]

The delay at this time is the review of the
contract and student handbook by OGC at OSD.

To me that sound like OGC is trying to figure out if they are going to have to give this years applicants the ISD or not. Even though we have not yet signed a contract, we are far enough into an application process that a good lawyer could argue that a contractual relationship has been formed with the signing of the actual paperwork to happen at orientation. If they took the ISD for this years applicants it might cause problems as many have given up other options for funding on the understanding that they were in the final selection process for this scholarship. When we all started this application the offer was on the table with X amount paid per degree level and Y amount added during internship.

An example I know was won by a person had to do with relocation costs. Person was offered a position with an agreed wage and relocation costs to be reimbursed. He gave his two week notice and left the first job, moved to new state and signed employment contract. Later after submitting receipts for moving expenses he was told they were not going to pay for relocation as it wasn't in his contract, as they had decided not to offer relocation for the position during the time between when they last talked and when the man actually got to the company. The online job listing for the position had been changed to show that there would be no relocation reimbursement, but nobody had notified him about the change. The judge ruled relocation had to be paid as it had been part of the offer at the time the man started the application process.

[dubious]

The delay at this time is the review of the
contract and student handbook by OGC at OSD.

To me that sound like OGC is trying to figure out if they are going to have to give this years applicants the ISD or not. Even though we have not yet signed a contract, we are far enough into an application process that a good lawyer could argue that a contractual relationship has been formed with the signing of the actual paperwork to happen at orientation. If they took the ISD for this years applicants it might cause problems as many have given up other options for funding on the understanding that they were in the final selection process for this scholarship. When we all started this application the offer was on the table with X amount paid per degree level and Y amount added during internship.

An example I know was won by a person had to do with relocation costs. Person was offered a position with an agreed wage and relocation costs to be reimbursed. He gave his two week notice and left the first job, moved to new state and signed employment contract. Later after submitting receipts for moving expenses he was told they were not going to pay for relocation as it wasn't in his contract, as they had decided not to offer relocation for the position during the time between when they last talked and when the man actually got to the company. The online job listing for the position had been changed to show that there would be no relocation reimbursement, but nobody had notified him about the change. The judge ruled relocation had to be paid as it had been part of the offer at the time the man started the application process.

I don't know about that. Changing terms during the final selection process is 100% different than the terms changing after an award has actually be offered. In your example, the person was actually offered relocation as part of the terms of his offer. In this case, no one has been offered anything, yet.

That being said, I don't know why OGC is taking so long... but I'm not a lawyer.

[Cali_Asshole]

Not to be an asshole, but I'm hopeful that at most the only thing that may be adjusted is the ISP. The SF's I picked are within 50 miles of my home, so I won't receive any ISP whether or not it's included in other offers. So, unless they change the stipend amounts, I would be getting what I applied for if selected.

[Guest]

Not to be an asshole, but I'm hopeful that at most the only thing that may be adjusted is the ISP. The SF's I picked are within 50 miles of my home, so I won't receive any ISP whether or not it's included in other offers. So, unless they change the stipend amounts, I would be getting what I applied for if selected.

I'm outside the 50 mi. radius and I still agree. The 25k/yr in stipend payments is about 2.5x what I make from taking off every other semester to save up rent money. I could definitely budget that out well enough to support summers out-of-state.

[2012_UMD]

Not to be an asshole, but I'm hopeful that at most the only thing that may be adjusted is the ISP. The SF's I picked are within 50 miles of my home, so I won't receive any ISP whether or not it's included in other offers. So, unless they change the stipend amounts, I would be getting what I applied for if selected.

Agreed. I just want them to leave the stipends alone.