The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

I had the same issue, I wanted to change my rankings of SF after my interview, and made this clear to everyone I could. I was called in early April with an opportunity to rearrange my preferences, though I was interviewed by all 3 of my choices and all three expressed much interest. You will likely not be able to pick different SF, though you may be able to rearrange your original ranking. Also, you could try calling/emailing other SF that you are interested in to get on their radar, though this may prove difficult to find anyone who is in charge of hiring smart scholars.

Cheers!

[quote="ByeByeLilSebastian"]You cannot change these preferences to my knowledge. You definitely cannot change facilities after you are awarded. The award is based on you fulfilling a need at a facility for the DoD, and when you accept the award you agree to work at the facility they assign you. Lots of people have tried to switch facilities and failed, and those who do switch are extremely rare and lucky.

However, when I was awarded we got an email that said we made it to a “finalist” round of sorts. From here SFs could interview us (including facilities not listed in our preferences) and we could accept the interview or decline it. I was interviewed by two facilities outside of my preferences and the facilities I’m assigned to now was one not listed on my application.

Good luck![/quote]

Ok, that’s good to know. Yea I feel like I sort of rush the facility choices. Anyway, how are you liking the program overall so far? What kind of work are you doing at your SF and how do you like it?

You cannot change these preferences to my knowledge. You definitely cannot change facilities after you are awarded. The award is based on you fulfilling a need at a facility for the DoD, and when you accept the award you agree to work at the facility they assign you. Lots of people have tried to switch facilities and failed, and those who do switch are extremely rare and lucky.

However, when I was awarded we got an email that said we made it to a “finalist” round of sorts. From here SFs could interview us (including facilities not listed in our preferences) and we could accept the interview or decline it. I was interviewed by two facilities outside of my preferences and the facilities I’m assigned to now was one not listed on my application.

Good luck!

Hi,

I didn’t do a crazy amount of research into my sponsoring facility preferences, as I am not sure if I’ll be picked up on this scholarship. So my question is, are these preferences flexible? Will I have another opportunity to re-examine the list and pick before (if picked up) I go into the first internship and/or graduate ?