** UPDATED ** My Experience with the Application Process

[nick]

from what i understand they dont take many freshman applicants, im a freshman at the moment, i have a 4.0 and did very well in high school and on my ACT and SAT....what do u think my chances are of making it being a freshman?

[Chris Moulder]

from what i understand they dont take many freshman applicants, im a freshman at the moment, i have a 4.0 and did very well in high school and on my ACT and SAT....what do u think my chances are of making it being a freshman?

If you have a long history of great academics, then you have a better chance then most. However, I still wouldn't get your hopes up. A lot depends on how much your facilities need someone of your background. I wouldn't worry about it too much though, not much you can do now but wait.

[jlamato]

First off, I would like to thank you for posting this information. I have been looking for stories from previous SMART scholars for a long time, but I wasn't able to find anything good until now.

I am applying as a Sophomore at WPI. I have a 3.94 GPA, have been a mentor for FIRST Team 190 for the past 2 years, was the lead designer for my High School's Inventeam group, and had a great letter of recommendation written by my advisor who was a Colonel in the Air Force. I am worried however about my major. I am currently enrolled as a Robotics Engineer, a discipline which is only offered by WPI, though many schools are creating their own robotics programs. Because there are so few schools that offer it, there was no option for Robotics Engineering in the major selection form. My advisor suggested that I put Systems Engineer instead, as Robotics Engineering closely related to it in the sense that it involves the unification of multiple disciplines. I did however note that I was a Robotics major later on in the form.

I do not know if you will be able to answer this question, but do you think that the fact that Robotics Engineering wasn't on the list of disciplines hurt my chances of getting accepted into this program? Furthermore, given what you know about other applicants and their qualifications, that is other aspects besides their GPA, do you think that I will have a decent shot of getting accepted into this program?

Thank you for your time,
-Joseph Amato

[Chris Moulder]

I do not know if you will be able to answer this question, but do you think that the fact that Robotics Engineering wasn't on the list of disciplines hurt my chances of getting accepted into this program? Furthermore, given what you know about other applicants and their qualifications, that is other aspects besides their GPA, do you think that I will have a decent shot of getting accepted into this program?

Based on qualifications, you are a perfect candidate. If SMART notices the discrepancy in your degree and thinks that it is a problem, there's a good chance that they will contact you. I wouldn't say they would spend time calling anyone when there's a conflict, but I'm sure you're ranked high enough to warrant it. Ultimately, what may end up happening is you'll be award the scholarship for Systems Engineering, then you'll have to contact your facility to confirm that this is okay. They will have three choices. a) ignore it and not care. This happened with me. My award was aerospace and astronautics, but my degree is aeronautical. b) ask smart to re-issue the award c) turn you down.

[Phys Guy]

Hi,

I applied to the SMART Scholarship program this year as a Sophomore attending a top 40 University. I've been looking through your site trying to get some information on the program. I do have a few questions.

I did indicate both on my essay and in my facility selections an interest in a specific program. Was this a good choice or should I have kept my selections more broad? It doesn't hurt to know if I have to try again next year.

I'm a physics major (if you couldn't tell from my name), but I did a significant amount of research in Neurology laboratory over the past two summers (even got my name as the bajillionth author on a paper) and got a letter of rec from the physician I worked with. Will this look poorly on my application since the research I did (before I decided to be a Phys major) wasn't in my current field of choice?

Lastly, the question we all want to know. What do you think my chances are? I have a 3.91 GPA, with a 4.0 within my major (1 B in a freshmen writing class). I would also have to say I've taken a rather rigorous course load, including Honors introductory Physics (Mechanics and E&M) as well as Linear Algebra and just finished up Differential Equations this past semester. My letters of rec came from the professor who instructed my laboratory course this past semester and the physician as mentioned before.

Again, thank you for time and effort. This forum is truly terrific.

~PhysGuy

[Chris Moulder]

PhysGuy-

Indicating a specific interest was probably a good idea. It won't exclude you nearly as much as you may think, but it is a significant boost if someone associated with the program sees your application

I certainly will not hurt to have research in another field. Any research is always a plus, because it shows that you have initiative and reflects on the type of student you are.

Your chances are pretty good. Please see the the response from the SMART team in this thread. http://thesmartforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=8

[administrator]

Thread Locked

This thread has achieved everything that I had hoped it would since starting this forum. Because more people are now posting and accessing the site, it is necessary to keep the threads relevant to their topic titles. Everyone, including Guests, has full posting privileges, so if you do not see a thread discussing your issue, please create a new one.

If you have previously posted in this thread, and do not see your post, odds are that I moved it to a new thread more relevant to your topic.

I will keep the initial post updated as new numbers come out.

-Chris