by ccain » Fri Jan 15, 2010 7:10 pm
As someone with a background similar to yours (intern as an undergrad with DoE contractor, post-graduation employment for DoD contractor - EE/CS areas), I can tell you that the answer is: it depends. If you have relevant work experience in an area that is of direct application to your proposed study plan/career goals, then I say yes absolutely. The entire goal of this is to recruit quality young talent and retain them long-term. Having defense-related experience, and a desire to work directly for one of the labs will put you a leg up over others.
If you have an active clearance I think is irrelevant in this case: normally it always matters to private companies as they have to foot the bill to the gov't (in some cases nearly 10k), so anyone having a clearance (someone else paid for) will be hired over the person who does not (yet). The DoD themselves have such a massive budget, I don't think they really are concerned. In general though, holding a clearance is always a good thing in the marketability end of things.
Personally speaking, anyone interested in this program for the scholarship funding are in it for the wrong reasons and will probably be weeded out. The DoD is looking for researchers and top-notch engineers, most preferrably with advanced degrees. They do not pay as much as the private market for similar jobs (in my field and level, starting salaries lag up to 10-15k, and only a few dept's implement pay for performance review systems), so the people who end up there truly want to be.
As a sophomore I think you have a decent shot against people at your level. But I really feel that this program's research focus is no-doubt more graduate-student oriented, so I think that puts undergrads in general at a disadvantage.
Good luck!
As someone with a background similar to yours (intern as an undergrad with DoE contractor, post-graduation employment for DoD contractor - EE/CS areas), I can tell you that the answer is: it depends. If you have relevant work experience in an area that is of direct application to your proposed study plan/career goals, then I say yes absolutely. The entire goal of this is to recruit quality young talent and retain them long-term. Having defense-related experience, and a desire to work directly for one of the labs will put you a leg up over others.
If you have an active clearance I think is irrelevant in this case: normally it always matters to private companies as they have to foot the bill to the gov't (in some cases nearly 10k), so anyone having a clearance (someone else paid for) will be hired over the person who does not (yet). The DoD themselves have such a massive budget, I don't think they really are concerned. In general though, holding a clearance is always a good thing in the marketability end of things.
Personally speaking, anyone interested in this program for the scholarship funding are in it for the wrong reasons and will probably be weeded out. The DoD is looking for researchers and top-notch engineers, most preferrably with advanced degrees. They do not pay as much as the private market for similar jobs (in my field and level, starting salaries lag up to 10-15k, and only a few dept's implement pay for performance review systems), so the people who end up there truly want to be.
As a sophomore I think you have a decent shot against people at your level. But I really feel that this program's research focus is no-doubt more graduate-student oriented, so I think that puts undergrads in general at a disadvantage.
Good luck!