Pre-emptive SMART Interview E-Mail Discussion

[Guest]

Just got the email 3 mins ago for wednesday - 9am. Looks like rolling emails for the interview period which is the whole week. Anyone have their interview today? Administrative only?

Did you get an email previously saying on March 19th is when you were supposed to hear back?

[Guest]

I also just got an email. My interview is for Thursday and my last name starts with S.

[Archimedes]

They are probably not going in alphabetical order, more likely they are going by facility.

[Guest]

I agree I think they are going more so by facility. I just got my email and Im scheduled for an interview on Friday. Definitely keep hope alive because its not over until the end of the month. Good luck to everyone.

[Matthew]

I also got my email at 4pm central, my interview is set for Thursday afternoon. Good luck evryone

[Guest]

I just had my interview with the SMART Program Office, I got the email on Friday. The interview was fairly simple, all they did was ask whether or not I still wanted to be considered for the SMART scholarship, so it isn't much to worry about.

Now for something very interesting. During my interview, the question about facilities was brought up. The lady who interviewed me said that facilities either have not yet submitted their recommendations, or SMART hasn't compiled them yet. This is interesting because the email said that we were "Recommended Finalists". If someone else has an interview soon, I would greatly appreciate it if someone could ask a similar question regarding facilities, just to make sure she wasn't just out of the loop.

Thanks a lot.

[Guest]

Since there is a possibility that they are going in order of agency, would anyone that has gotten the e-mail for the phone interview post what agencies they were applying for? If you don't mind. Just so the rest of us who have not gotten the e-mail have some idea what to expect.

[Guest]

Funny Story I thought I would share.

I didn't receive an email Friday so I was not expecting anything today. So I'm sitting in class and I feel my phone vibrate and look down and it says it is a California number so I am freaking out. I live in Florida with no California ties and I see this number and I'm thinking oh crap what if they missed my email and now I can't answer so I google the number to see where it came from and..... Telemarketer!! Hows that to add insult to injury of all the days of the year it was today that I got a call from a telemarketer in California. I thought it was hilarious but disheartening because I have not received an email yet so.....

Congrats to those of you in this second wave.

[Matthew]

I also got my email at 4pm central, my interview is set for Thursday afternoon. Good luck evryone

My 3 choices were
1) Redstone Arsenal, Al
2) Eglin AFB, Fl
3) navy base, orlando, fl....can't remember facility name

However I received an interview from Robins AFB in Ga.

[Guest]

Funny Story I thought I would share.

I didn't receive an email Friday so I was not expecting anything today. So I'm sitting in class and I feel my phone vibrate and look down and it says it is a California number so I am freaking out. I live in Florida with no California ties and I see this number and I'm thinking oh crap what if they missed my email and now I can't answer so I google the number to see where it came from and..... Telemarketer!! Hows that to add insult to injury of all the days of the year it was today that I got a call from a telemarketer in California. I thought it was hilarious but disheartening because I have not received an email yet so.....

Congrats to those of you in this second wave.

Great story! Just got an email with scheduled interview for 12:30 PM on Friday. Last name: Y. Looks like I indeed might have been last in line. It also seems that there are essentially three reasons to conduct a phone interview:

1. Do you really want a SMART scholarship? (YES! YES! YES!)
2. Which of the two facilities that picked you would you prefer? (Tough one)
3. Clear up any security clearance questions--this seems unlikely for most of us.

[Me]

Just got the email 3 mins ago for wednesday - 9am. Looks like rolling emails for the interview period which is the whole week. Anyone have their interview today? Administrative only?

USACE - Sacremento, Alaska, Tulsa Districs.

[Guest]

has anyone that got the email Friday not heard about an interview schedule for this week?

[Guest]

One of the posters above stated that, in their interview, the person interviewing said that SMART had not yet received recommendations yet. Can anyone who had an interview today confirm this?

[ericwass]

I just had a phone interview a few minutes ago. Like someone said before it was pointless. Your basically just agreeing to what you already agreed to on your application. With regards to recommended semi-finalists. My interviewer said that every semi-finalist gets a phone interview no matter what. She also asked me if a particular site contacted me, so the interviews are different.

[guest]

has anyone that got the email Friday not heard about an interview schedule for this week?

I haven't gotten an interview yet and got the email friday. However a poster also said that the interviewer mentioned that all semi-finalists will get an interview...

[Guest]

I just had a phone interview a few minutes ago. Like someone said before it was pointless. Your basically just agreeing to what you already agreed to on your application. With regards to recommended semi-finalists. My interviewer said that every semi-finalist gets a phone interview no matter what. She also asked me if a particular site contacted me, so the interviews are different.

Thank you. This makes me feel better because I still haven't gotten an email. Although interviewing all 1300 semi-finalists is a large order...

[Guest]

has anyone that got the email Friday not heard about an interview schedule for this week?

I haven't gotten an interview yet and got the email friday. However a poster also said that the interviewer mentioned that all semi-finalists will get an interview...

How is this possible? I thought the latest round of emails that started going out on Friday had interview times included in them?

[Guest]

I did not receive the initial email that said SMART would be conducting interviews and expect and email in the coming days. I did, however, receive an interview request at 5:00 EDT today.

[Guest]

Wow, okay. I don't know if there is any sort of rhyme or reason to the way things are being handled. I don't know if that makes me feel better or worse. Thank you for the clarification!

[Guest]

Ok, so they told me that this round of interviews are those that were recommended by some facility, and that this list is down to 400 ish. Also they said they still plan to award 300 or so awards. As for multiple facility selections that is all handled behind the scenes, we wont get a choice that's what the preference list is for. If you are selected for the award it will state which facility you are assigned to. Beyond that it was all legal, and eligibility crap.

[Guest]

Ok, so they told me that this round of interviews are those that were recommended by some facility, and that this list is down to 400 ish. Also they said they still plan to award 300 or so awards. As for multiple facility selections that is all handled behind the scenes, we wont get a choice that's what the preference list is for. If you are selected for the award it will state which facility you are assigned to. Beyond that it was all legal, and eligibility crap.

Are you sure about this? The guy who interviewed me said that SMART hadn't processed any recommendations yet and that these were given to everyone. I hope he was wrong, but it looks like some other people have gotten similar responses.

[Guest]

I had the interview today as well, and the lady told me she didn't have the information of who recommended me, but that ASEE did have the list of recommended semifinalists, and they were interviewing all recommended semifinalists. So I think the recommendations are in, but they haven't sorted out who is going to which facility for the cases of multiple recommendations.

And like the others said, the interview was very painless. All questions were simply yes or no, it was nothing like a typical job interview.

[Guest]

Yes they said this interview is only for those 400(or so) that were picked by at least one facility. Hence "selected semi-finalist".

[Guest]

To those that have been scheduled to interview so far -- please report if you are a graduate student or undergrad. Thanks!

[Guest]

So if we have not received word on an interview is it now safe to assume we are in the bottom half of th 1300 semi-finalists?