by scholar » Wed Aug 03, 2022 3:18 pm
From my understanding, you can push during the hiring process itself for step 2 or 3 if you have competitive traits like if you graduate with honors or are part of a prestigious org for your major, got some research published, that sort of thing, but even that does not guarantee you anything. Think about it, your SF knows the DoD is paying for your college, and that you either HAVE to work for them or pay it all back, so you can make your case but they don't have to do anything, from what I have heard is they might do step 2 or 3 to keep you happy if they think you're really good and like you when you intern for them, and then after your payback is up they might offer you a higher GS grade or NH as an incentive to stay there if they think you're a fit, but that only happens really AFTER the period, since before that you're essentially stuck. Also, to be honest, steps 5 or 10 are not really reasonable expectations, I don't think even scholars coming from Ivy's get that. For an undergraduate SMART scholar, the highest I have heard of actually getting approved successfully for GS-07 is step 3. Just focus on keeping a competitive resume and making sure you're a hard worker and that they like you when you work over the summer, and step 3 shouldn't be too farfetched.
From my understanding, you can push during the hiring process itself for step 2 or 3 if you have competitive traits like if you graduate with honors or are part of a prestigious org for your major, got some research published, that sort of thing, but even that does not guarantee you anything. Think about it, your SF knows the DoD is paying for your college, and that you either HAVE to work for them or pay it all back, so you can make your case but they don't have to do anything, from what I have heard is they might do step 2 or 3 to keep you happy if they think you're really good and like you when you intern for them, and then after your payback is up they might offer you a higher GS grade or NH as an incentive to stay there if they think you're a fit, but that only happens really AFTER the period, since before that you're essentially stuck. Also, to be honest, steps 5 or 10 are not really reasonable expectations, I don't think even scholars coming from Ivy's get that. For an undergraduate SMART scholar, the highest I have heard of actually getting approved successfully for GS-07 is step 3. Just focus on keeping a competitive resume and making sure you're a hard worker and that they like you when you work over the summer, and step 3 shouldn't be too farfetched.