gatsby wrote:Anybody else notice the SMART website is down?
Possibly a good sign?!?
Maybe it's a terrible sign! Maybe they decided to cancel the program entirely, and erased the webpage so no one would believe it existed in the first place.
gatsby wrote:Anybody else notice the SMART website is down?
Possibly a good sign?!?
Maybe it's a terrible sign! Maybe they decided to cancel the program entirely, and erased the webpage so no one would believe it existed in the first place.
ASEE Headquarters offices, sites, and services are closed on Thursday, May 31 and Friday, June 1 because of utility outages caused by a water main break. Staff should not report to work.
...
We hope to be operational, not later than Monday, June 4"
Well, I guess the guy with a "friend" involved in the program was right. I highly doubt we'll see any movement today if the offices are closed. Hopefully this doesn't further delay the notifications, though.
I can't remember a time....when I wasn't waiting for a notification....
My friends and family are starting to think I'm just a sore loser when I say I don't know if I'm a recipient yet because the notifications have been delayed almost two months.
"Did you get that scholarship??"
"Don't know yet, the notifications have been delayed."
"Yeah, you've been saying that since a previous epoch, better luck next year buddy."
"NOSRSLY THEY REALLY HAVEN'T NOTIFIED ANYONE YET."
father_time wrote:I can't remember a time....when I wasn't waiting for a notification....
My friends and family are starting to think I'm just a sore loser when I say I don't know if I'm a recipient yet because the notifications have been delayed almost two months.
"Did you get that scholarship??"
"Don't know yet, the notifications have been delayed."
"Yeah, you've been saying that since a previous epoch, better luck next year buddy."
"NOSRSLY THEY REALLY HAVEN'T NOTIFIED ANYONE YET."
sigh... :(
Agreed. Don't forget about the look of pity they give you when you try to explain that you aren't delusional.
father_time wrote:I can't remember a time....when I wasn't waiting for a notification....
My friends and family are starting to think I'm just a sore loser when I say I don't know if I'm a recipient yet because the notifications have been delayed almost two months.
"Did you get that scholarship??"
"Don't know yet, the notifications have been delayed."
"Yeah, you've been saying that since a previous epoch, better luck next year buddy."
"NOSRSLY THEY REALLY HAVEN'T NOTIFIED ANYONE YET."
sigh...
I'm in the exact same boat. Co-workers and friends of mine keep telling me that it'll be easier on me if I just admit I've been denied and quit lying to everyone about this 2 month delay.
But hey, that wine and scotch that I bought for this notification has now had the chance to age another 2 months! So now the celebration will be that much better, or the loss will be that much easier to forget about (at least for that night).
Hopefully, next week is the week, I can honestly say I'm not as desperate to find out anymore as I was, I just want to know. I was even recommended by a facility, but these two months have made it a lot easier to accept a loss if it happens which has an even greater chance now it seems.
I hope you all have better luck that I seem to be having. I have heard from 2 of the 3 organizations that during the interview process told me they were recommending me for the award have called me in the past 2 days to inform me that the recent cuts have gotten rid of their spot(s) in the program. I am still holding out hope for the last organization, but am coming to the realization that these cuts are in fact real and bad. Again, best of luck to everyone else.
I'm sorry to hear that, and I hope the third possibility works out for you.
Out of curiosity, what were the two organizations that contacted you with the bad news? I know you might not want to be specific, but maybe you could tell us what their general fields were (life science, aerospace, etc) and what branch they were (Army, Air Force, DIA, etc)?
If nothing else, it would be interesting to see if there are any common denominators.
Recently I have also been told that the cuts are "real and bad" I spoke someone on the selection board at my top choice organization. They said that usually they get about 12 SMART Scholars for the organization. This year they got 1. By the way she was talking, I am not that one. I hope other organization were not hit as hard. Good luck and have a good weekend
badnewsbears wrote:Recently I have also been told that the cuts are "real and bad" I spoke someone on the selection board at my top choice organization. They said that usually they get about 12 SMART Scholars for the organization. This year they got 1. By the way she was talking, I am not that one. I hope other organization were not hit as hard. Good luck and have a good weekend
These kind of updates tick me off, because either the DOD is bypassing SMART to tell this to the facilities (not likely), SMART is making cuts before it hears anything more from the DOD (also not likely), or the SMART office has heard from the DOD and hasn't told us anything.
badnewsbears wrote:Recently I have also been told that the cuts are "real and bad" I spoke someone on the selection board at my top choice organization. They said that usually they get about 12 SMART Scholars for the organization. This year they got 1. By the way she was talking, I am not that one. I hope other organization were not hit as hard. Good luck and have a good weekend
These kind of updates tick me off, because either the DOD is bypassing SMART to tell this to the facilities (not likely), SMART is making cuts before it hears anything more from the DOD (also not likely), or the SMART office has heard from the DOD and hasn't told us anything.
Or (and the real reason) SMART and the facilities are lateral organizations underneath DoD. DoD has told SMART "This is how much $$$ you get." SMART then contacts the facilities and tells them which finalists have been funded. SMART has not yet contacted the finalists because of other unfinished business (handbook, etc.). The facilities seem to be leaking the word prematurely.
SMART and the facilities are lateral organizations. One is not in charge of the other. That allows for things like facilities leaking the word before SMART announcements.
badnewsbears wrote:Recently I have also been told that the cuts are "real and bad" I spoke someone on the selection board at my top choice organization. They said that usually they get about 12 SMART Scholars for the organization. This year they got 1. By the way she was talking, I am not that one. I hope other organization were not hit as hard. Good luck and have a good weekend
These kind of updates tick me off, because either the DOD is bypassing SMART to tell this to the facilities (not likely), SMART is making cuts before it hears anything more from the DOD (also not likely), or the SMART office has heard from the DOD and hasn't told us anything.
Or (and the real reason) SMART and the facilities are lateral organizations underneath DoD. DoD has told SMART "This is how much $$$ you get." SMART then contacts the facilities and tells them which finalists have been funded. SMART has not yet contacted the finalists because of other unfinished business (handbook, etc.). The facilities seem to be leaking the word prematurely.
SMART and the facilities are lateral organizations. One is not in charge of the other. That allows for things like facilities leaking the word before SMART announcements.
But if they've heard anything, we deserve an update. Every form letter response from SMART says that we'll hear as soon as they get any word from the DOD.
In_Stitches wrote:But if they've heard anything, we deserve an update. Every form letter response from SMART says that we'll hear as soon as they get any word from the DOD.
My guess is the facilities are leaking unofficial information. Their information holds about as much water as the guy with the buddy on this site. Take it all as pieces of info, but don't take anything as 100% accurate until it comes from ASEE or the SMART Program Office.
In_Stitches wrote:But if they've heard anything, we deserve an update. Every form letter response from SMART says that we'll hear as soon as they get any word from the DOD.
Exactly. If it weren't for this forum, right now we'd be fifty-three days with no word whatsoever from SMART, fifty-five days past their published deadline for notifications, and looking at a website that spent the last two days vanished from the internet. Arguably a full 40% of the five sentences in their last email have proved to be wrong. On the recipient side, people with active SMART fellowships have had their livelihoods threatened with unilateral salary cuts in violation of their black-letter contracts. I've seen Nigerian scams run more professionally.
Is this a polite way to talk about an organization that might be giving me or any of us tens of thousands of dollars? I guess not. Now I have nothing but good to say about the professionalism of the SF that interviewed me, and I'd dearly love to work for them. But it's impossible to deny that this year the program itself has been an unmitigated debacle.
Not to alarm anyone, but my Spidey-sense is going nuts today. I think this week is it. I can feel it. Or maybe I ate some bad pizza yesterday. I guess time will tell.
I think this week is a genuine possibility. Our "inside source" seems to have a pretty good track record, the SFs have clearly been told something by now, and there has been recent contact by the SFs to at least some of the applicants. I wouldn't stake anything on this being the week, but at least there's signs of movement.
I feel a little guilty about unloading on SMART in my previous post. While it's true that the program has been a mess this year, it seems pretty clear that most of the blame belongs to congress. So if y'all SMART bigwigs are reading this, please don't take my venting personally.
