Historic Acceptance Email Dates

[Tacos123]

Hi everyone,

The historic acceptance email dates have been, from what I've gathered on posts on this forum:

2010 April 01
2011 April 01
2012 June 08
2013 July 02
2014 April 17
2015 April 17
2016 April 07

(Feel free to tell me to correct any dates)

I feel as though the first two dates come from when the program was smaller and the next two come from problems during the sequestration. Since the program is now more stable, I would imagine that it would be somewhere in early to mid April.

[New Facilities]

We should also take into account the fact that the program grew this year. I got interviews from a couple of facilities who just got approved for SMART scholars so it seems like the program is growing a bit compared to previous years.

[Guest]

I wouldn't be surprised if they started the "phone interviews" for those recommended by multiple SFs on monday and released awards Friday (or sometime next week). Just seems like that's the trend from the past two years, but if the program did grow maybe it will take them a little longer. Hopefully not though!

[GuestAgain]

Hi everyone,

The historic acceptance email dates have been, from what I've gathered on posts on this forum:

2010 April 01
2011 April 01
2012 June 08
2013 July 02
2014 April 17
2015 April 17
2016 April 07

(Feel free to tell me to correct any dates)

I feel as though the first two dates come from when the program was smaller and the next two come from problems during the sequestration. Since the program is now more stable, I would imagine that it would be somewhere in early to mid April.

In 2014, I received my acceptance email around May 1st. That year, SMART was running extremely slow/late. Interviews didn't happen until mid to late April, if I remember correctly. I do remember being interviewed twice in the same week, then getting my award email within 1-2 weeks.

[tacos123]

I swear I saw someone say that they got the award for the year on the April 17th. Some years people claim multiple dates.

[Guest]

I applied for the scholarship last year and we got the notification on April 7th at 2:45 pm.

I think that the awards will not go out until much later this year. I interviewed with an SF last year and put them on my preferred list again this year. I have had one interview so far this year, but not with that same SF I put down. I had the guys' email who did the interview last year so I emailed him and asked if they had already done SMART interviews. He said they still had not received the annual packet they get from SMART. To me that either seems like they are taking way longer or that SF isn't given funding by SMART anymore.

Either way I don't think awards will come out today. Hopefully by the end of the week, but based on that email it could be quite a bit longer. :(

[Guest]

I applied for the scholarship last year and we got the notification on April 7th at 2:45 pm.

I think that the awards will not go out until much later this year. I interviewed with an SF last year and put them on my preferred list again this year. I have had one interview so far this year, but not with that same SF I put down. I had the guys' email who did the interview last year so I emailed him and asked if they had already done SMART interviews. He said they still had not received the annual packet they get from SMART. To me that either seems like they are taking way longer or that SF isn't given funding by SMART anymore.

Either way I don't think awards will come out today. Hopefully by the end of the week, but based on that email it could be quite a bit longer. :(

The thing I question is if there are visits in June they're going to have to start planning those ASAP or flights will be full. As well as in my phone interview, he said he was sending in his recommendations by the end of the week and that was the last week in February.

[Guest]

I applied for the scholarship last year and we got the notification on April 7th at 2:45 pm.

I think that the awards will not go out until much later this year. I interviewed with an SF last year and put them on my preferred list again this year. I have had one interview so far this year, but not with that same SF I put down. I had the guys' email who did the interview last year so I emailed him and asked if they had already done SMART interviews. He said they still had not received the annual packet they get from SMART. To me that either seems like they are taking way longer or that SF isn't given funding by SMART anymore.

Either way I don't think awards will come out today. Hopefully by the end of the week, but based on that email it could be quite a bit longer. :(

I have a feeling that SF isn't getting funding anymore, I was told in interviews that they had until a date in mid march (don't remember exactly what day) to make recommendations to SMART. There's no way a SF still hasn't done interviews at this point.

[Guest]

Agreed, the final interview I had said that all recommendations must be turned in by March 23rd

[New Guest]

Maybe it'd be a good idea to call/email SMART and see if they have a tentative date?

I wish a representative would be on this forum to give us information such as this.

[Guest]

Going off the March 23rd date and an April 7th release date, that gives SMART roughly two weeks to sort through all the recommendations and contact any applicants needed to finalize the process. It would be nice for them to send an update email since we haven't formally heard from SMART since February.

[Meme2]

Quick, someone email SMART and ask if it's going to be early, mid or late april.

[Guest]

it's my 22nd birthday tomorrow and notifications would be a great gift. So I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed.

[eliosharg]

It appears that NDSEG awards have not yet been announced. Both that and SMART are managed by ASEE. The NDSEG is more prestigious and many people apply for both. It stands to reason that SMART will likely not be announced until after NDSEG.

[SMART017]

I applied for quite a few fellowships. I have already been rejected from a lot of fellowships and I feel like I will get more rejections in this week :(

[Guest]

It appears that NDSEG awards have not yet been announced. Both that and SMART are managed by ASEE. The NDSEG is more prestigious and many people apply for both. It stands to reason that SMART will likely not be announced until after NDSEG.

Are the NDSEG awards typically announced before SMART?

[eruwaedhiel]

Briefly looking back at previous years, it seems sometimes NDSEG has been released first, and other years SMART has.

[Guest]

It's potentially worth noting that every single April date was either a Thursday or a Friday. Statistical coincidence, or intentional? *shrug*

[guest]

I am going with intentional. They likely work a 9/80 schedule. Thus, send it on the last workday of the week and you don't have to immediately deal with the swarm of email responses that you are likely to receive afterward until Monday. Mondays already suck, so the rest of the week isn't disrupted.

[Guest]

I am going with intentional. They likely work a 9/80 schedule. Thus, send it on the last workday of the week and you don't have to immediately deal with the swarm of email responses that you are likely to receive afterward until Monday. Mondays already suck, so the rest of the week isn't disrupted.

9/80 is the best thing in the universe. They are smart. It also gives them more time at the backend to have a computer organize what spots signed off and what spots didn't before they could send out a second round of notifications on a 2 weeks later Monday.

[guest]

9/80 is great, but I actually prefer 4/10. I don't mind long work days at all; especially if the work is enjoyable. So, having 3 day weekends every week is better, for me, than every other week. However, 4/10 can be rough if you have to commute more than 30 minutes each way.

To get back on topic, I agree that it is a smart move to send out the notifications on the last day of the work week. By the time they come in Monday, they will already have a good idea of how many people are accepting the first wave. Perhaps we will hear something tomorrow or Friday?

[Guest]

Ok so I just called the SMART help desk and asked about the award date. I was told
"We plan on starting to send out award notices early April unfortunately we do not have any set dates currently."
They also could not give me a better estimate then that so I would not expect anything this week.

[Guest]

Ok so I just called the SMART help desk and asked about the award date. I was told
"We plan on starting to send out award notices early April unfortunately we do not have any set dates currently."
They also could not give me a better estimate then that so I would not expect anything this week.

Nah; I'm pretty sure they aren't allowed to give us exact days or close estimates. They were probably just being non-committal about it. All I think we can assume from that is that they will probably be released next Friday at the latest. And even that is stretching the definition of "early." My money is definitely on the 7th. In fact, I think that answer makes it MORE likely to be the 7th. If it was going to be next week they could've said "in a week or two." But the fact that they weren't willing to commit to anything makes me think it's imminent.

[gUEST]

I'll bet my scholarship it comes out on 4/7.

Probz around 2:45.

[Callister]

Is there no one here that has gotten a call from SMART at all? I know it was suggested that maybe they won't be calling applicants for that final phone interview this year but I find it somewhat unlikely. I feel like they would want to speak with any applicant that has multiple nominations. If that hasn't happened yet, I would be somewhat worried that Guest might be right and that they're a bit behind schedule this year.