The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

Hi everyone! I figured I would start this thread so that we can all chitchat and keep up with everything during the process.

To start:

I am pursuing a Bachelor’s degree and am in my second year. I have gotten one interview and that’s pretty much it. Gnawing my fingernails till April!

I am in a joint MA/PhD program in the cognitive, neural, and behavioral sciences. I have a publication and mostly academic research experience. I have an NREIP internship this summer but was unable to put that on my SMART application since I had already submitted my application by the time I found out

I am a semi-finalist with 0 interviews... does anyone know of any facilities looking for a student getting a doctorate in Human Factors? At this point I am about to make some cold calls

Semifinalist PhD Biochemistry/Chemistry. No interviews yet. Rocknroll how long ago was your interview? What was it like?

PhD Materials Science/Chemistry - No interviews yet, going for DTRA/ECBC but no clue what the likelihood is yet

ME freshman, ARL interest. Strong academics, little to no experience.

No interviews yet, but I’m staying hopeful. I’m sure this pandemic has facilities focused elsewhere right now.

I forgot to add, I am in the geosciences and my interview was with ERDC. Best of luck to everyone! We should be getting calls from the SMART program office if we are being considered as a finalist between March 15th (today) and whenever they release the scholarship announcement in April. If anyone gets a call, please update!

Nerdy1 wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 15, 2020 9:24 pm

Semifinalist PhD Biochemistry/Chemistry. No interviews yet. Rocknroll how long ago was your interview? What was it like?

Hey there, my interview was two weeks ago, and over the phone. It was a conference call that lasted about an hour and a half, and was very casual. They wanted to know about my skills and past research experience, as well as future plans regarding a PhD. I would say it went well, but who knows!

2nd year PhD student in Materials Science and Engineering here. No notifications or calls for interviews yet! But to assure some people, one of my colleagues, who got the scholarship last year, said she had a quick phone interview on the first day and then didn't hear anything from anyone until the last week or so, at which point she got, like, 2-3 interviews in rapid succession (one of which was from the SF she eventually decided to work with). Hope remains until the last day!

Jakey wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 16, 2020 11:59 am

2nd year PhD student in Materials Science and Engineering here. No notifications or calls for interviews yet! But to assure some people, one of my colleagues, who got the scholarship last year, said she had a quick phone interview on the first day and then didn't hear anything from anyone until the last week or so, at which point she got, like, 2-3 interviews in rapid succession (one of which was from the SF she eventually decided to work with). Hope remains until the last day!

When is the last week?

I'm a 3rd year MechE. I applied to areas around MD. Semi-finalist w/ 0 interviews

Guest wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 16, 2020 12:05 pm

Jakey wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 16, 2020 11:59 am

2nd year PhD student in Materials Science and Engineering here. No notifications or calls for interviews yet! But to assure some people, one of my colleagues, who got the scholarship last year, said she had a quick phone interview on the first day and then didn't hear anything from anyone until the last week or so, at which point she got, like, 2-3 interviews in rapid succession (one of which was from the SF she eventually decided to work with). Hope remains until the last day!

When is the last week?

Last week of March. It is my understanding that the first week of April is when finalists are notified (much like first week of February was when semi-finalists were notified).

2nd year CS Major Math minor; two interviews both went well i feel!

How do they schedule an interview?

PhD in Molecular, Evolutionary, and Systems Biology. 0 interviews.

Does anybody know the chances of being awarded the SMART scholarship if you haven't been contacted for an interview?

Bookworm1225 wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 17, 2020 1:54 pm

PhD in Molecular, Evolutionary, and Systems Biology. 0 interviews.

Does anybody know the chances of being awarded the SMART scholarship if you haven't been contacted for an interview?

I'd also like this information.

aqzws wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 17, 2020 1:59 pm

Bookworm1225 wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 17, 2020 1:54 pm

PhD in Molecular, Evolutionary, and Systems Biology. 0 interviews.

Does anybody know the chances of being awarded the SMART scholarship if you haven't been contacted for an interview?

I'd also like this information.

So there’s no definitive answer to this, but if you read older posts on the forum there are scholars who got the scholarship without being interviewed. It IS possible, and you shouldn’t rule yourself out if you haven’t been interviewed. But again, no one will be able to give you a number on the amount of scholars who got an interview versus those who don’t.

Mechanical Engineering sophomore requesting 2.5 years of funding.

Semi-finalist with one interview.

Freshmen CS/Physics with one interview. The problem is that I'm Canadian so there might be problems with security clearances. Does anyone know the chanced for International Students (Canada, UK, Newzealand, Australia).

Jakey wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 16, 2020 1:25 pm

Guest wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 16, 2020 12:05 pm

Jakey wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 16, 2020 11:59 am

2nd year PhD student in Materials Science and Engineering here. No notifications or calls for interviews yet! But to assure some people, one of my colleagues, who got the scholarship last year, said she had a quick phone interview on the first day and then didn't hear anything from anyone until the last week or so, at which point she got, like, 2-3 interviews in rapid succession (one of which was from the SF she eventually decided to work with). Hope remains until the last day!

When is the last week?

Last week of March. It is my understanding that the first week of April is when finalists are notified (much like first week of February was when semi-finalists were notified).

I was told the last day that SFs had to make their selections was today March 18. Unless that has changed due to corona? I had one early interview in February and another first week of March. Both were casual 30 min interviews- one by a SF that I didn't select in my application, and another by my top 3. I'm a 2nd yr CS student. I actually applied last year and got no interviews so things are looking up!

shyboy wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 18, 2020 5:48 pm

Jakey wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 16, 2020 1:25 pm

Guest wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 16, 2020 12:05 pm

When is the last week?

Last week of March. It is my understanding that the first week of April is when finalists are notified (much like first week of February was when semi-finalists were notified).

I was told the last day that SFs had to make their selections was today March 18. Unless that has changed due to corona? I had one early interview in February and another first week of March. Both were casual 30 min interviews- one by a SF that I didn't select in my application, and another by my top 3. I'm a 2nd yr CS student. I actually applied last year and got no interviews so things are looking up!

Shit, I hope that means someone picked me without an interview!

if that’s true, yikes.... no interviews and the army point of contact forwarded an updated resume and statement of interest to my top facilities like two weeks ago.

Not feeling good about my chances. I guess I’ll apply next year.

I found out I will be participating in a NREIP internship this year AFTER submitting my SMART application.. so if I do not get it this year I like my chances next year. I was unable to mention my NREIP internship on my application

shyboy wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 18, 2020 5:48 pm

Jakey wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 16, 2020 1:25 pm

Guest wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 16, 2020 12:05 pm

When is the last week?

Last week of March. It is my understanding that the first week of April is when finalists are notified (much like first week of February was when semi-finalists were notified).

I was told the last day that SFs had to make their selections was today March 18. Unless that has changed due to corona? I had one early interview in February and another first week of March. Both were casual 30 min interviews- one by a SF that I didn't select in my application, and another by my top 3. I'm a 2nd yr CS student. I actually applied last year and got no interviews so things are looking up!

I also heard March 18th from my interview! That’s wild.

I wonder how Coronavirus will affect the decision timeline. I’ve heard that the severity of the virus is supposed to peak in the US in June, and that April is going to be worse than March. Hopefully that doesn’t delay us too badly, and if we can get some decisive policy and quarantines going it’s supposed to be much, much better than the aforementioned scenario. I hope you guys are all holding up well with school, mine is online now! Stay safe y’all.