2023 Semifinalist Notification and Interviews

[poorphd]

Hi folks,

Just wanted to start a thread for those waiting to hear back.

I got notified on Feb 1st I was a semifinalist, now just waiting around for any interviews

[lookinforinfo]

Semi-finalist! Yes, please post if you get an interview. Just so everyone knows that interviews are happening!

[happytobehere]

wondering if anyone else doesn't have access to the application portal anymore? i just have access to my user profile...

[bwatson]

Has everyone received an email? Not sure if everyone receives correspondence regardless of selection... I haven't heard anything back, but on Jan 30 when I logged into my portal my status said semi-finalist (can't access application portal anymore)

[bwatson]

Email was in junk folder… check your junk folder!

[KatieLR]

I got the semi finalist notification email on Feb 1. Today I got an email from a facility that was not one of my top 3 choices. I initially thought the email was just a generic recruiting email, I was thinking of contacting SMART and asking if this was through the scholarship application?

[KatieLR]

Will we get notified from ALL facilities that choose us or will we only be able to accept/decline 1 facility offer? Could interviewing with this facility affect my chances of getting my top choices?

[Phase 2 Scholar]

Katie LR,
I don't know how it works now, but when I was a semifinalist in 2017, SMART gave you one offer, not multiple. Preferences listed on your application were taken into account, but at least to my knowledge, you couldn't change them after the application was submitted.

I did have a couple of sponsoring facilities reach out to see if I was interested in working there, but when I was awarded the scholarship, I didn't have a choice on where to go (it ended up being the facility I listed as my first preference). In order to be selected for the scholarship, you need a sponsoring facility to want you, but if multiple facilities are interested, SMART chooses where you end up.

[Guest]

Just sounding off that I received an interview call. It was a bridged call from multiple facilities I had listed on my application.
Seems to have gone well.

In any case, earlier somebody asked for people to mention when it happened.

[Guest]

thanks so much for the update! I sill haven't heard anything. Hopefully this week

[Guest]

hi so interesting update. I was getting panic-y because I haven't heard back for any interviews. So I was looking at some recent published research from a sponsoring facility and emailed the lead author just to let them know I like their work and that I current semi-finalist in the SMART. They then set me up an interview for next week!

I think the lesson here is: be the master of your own destiny

[Guest]

hi so interesting update. I was getting panic-y because I haven't heard back for any interviews. So I was looking at some recent published research from a sponsoring facility and emailed the lead author just to let them know I like their work and that I current semi-finalist in the SMART. They then set me up an interview for next week!

I think the lesson here is: be the master of your own destiny

Hi, congratulations! Are you able to share how you found research published by your SF? Was it located on the SF's website, or did you have to do some digging through different journals?

[Guest]

Yah so first I did a google scholar search with publications that had the affiliation of the SF of interest.

Additionally, you can search for your SF's affiliated reports at the Defense Technical Information Center website: https://discover.dtic.mil/

[leejv2]

So I am a semi-finalist and I tried to get back into the application portal just to see if that had any additional information for this stage of the process, and I was unable to get in. This was more or less expected, but what wasn't expected was that it let me log in and then just had a ball bounce break the blocks game with the block forming a 404. Does anyone have any idea what that's about? Just some cs guy having a good time at work and throwing that in there?

[wysdem]

Semi-Finalist (3rd times the charm), I've been contacted and interviewed so far by the two independent divisions of the same SF. Both were a week a apart and neither was aware that the other had reached out. Thought that was unique enough to comment on.

[Guest]

Hi just a note to say I was contacted on Monday for a short (only 25 min) interview this Friday with the NGA!

25 minutes just doesnt seem like a lot of time.

Also! has anyone else found it hard to prepare for interviews given that a lot of these government websites are so vague lol

[guest23984]

hi so interesting update. I was getting panic-y because I haven't heard back for any interviews. So I was looking at some recent published research from a sponsoring facility and emailed the lead author just to let them know I like their work and that I current semi-finalist in the SMART. They then set me up an interview for next week!

I think the lesson here is: be the master of your own destiny

This was probably the best advice I have read. I emailed one of the branch leaders for a sponsoring facility that I was interested in, and we just had an interview. The interview was incredible, and they said they are planning on recommending me to work for their facility. They said that the facility was new to SMART so they didn't really know how the process works, and if I didn't contact them, they probably wouldn't have even seen my application.

THANK YOU FOR THIS POST!!!!!!

[Guestsh]

hi so interesting update. I was getting panic-y because I haven't heard back for any interviews. So I was looking at some recent published research from a sponsoring facility and emailed the lead author just to let them know I like their work and that I current semi-finalist in the SMART. They then set me up an interview for next week!

I think the lesson here is: be the master of your own destiny

This was probably the best advice I have read. I emailed one of the branch leaders for a sponsoring facility that I was interested in, and we just had an interview. The interview was incredible, and they said they are planning on recommending me to work for their facility. They said that the facility was new to SMART so they didn't really know how the process works, and if I didn't contact them, they probably wouldn't have even seen my application.

THANK YOU FOR THIS POST!!!!!!

How did you find the contact information of the branch leaders?

[smart_guest_1234]

I just want to say that reaching out to facilities is not suggested by SMART. SMART frowns upon bias and if they think the facility has any bias towards you then SMART will deny your application even if a facility selects you. You reaching out to the facility could put bias on your name and SMART does not want to be associated with that. This came from a SMART liaison.

[Guest]

I just want to say that reaching out to facilities is not suggested by SMART. SMART frowns upon bias and if they think the facility has any bias towards you then SMART will deny your application even if a facility selects you. You reaching out to the facility could put bias on your name and SMART does not want to be associated with that. This came from a SMART liaison.

That doesn't make sense. People with previous internship experiences at a DoD facility appear to have a much higher chance of getting the award. Additionally, if contact (i.e. sharing of personal or professional information outside of the application) was considered bias, then the facilities shouldn't be allowed to interview anyone. To be clear: I'm not saying you're lying, but there is no logic to that whatsoever.

[phdhopefully]

I just want to say that reaching out to facilities is not suggested by SMART. SMART frowns upon bias and if they think the facility has any bias towards you then SMART will deny your application even if a facility selects you. You reaching out to the facility could put bias on your name and SMART does not want to be associated with that. This came from a SMART liaison.

That doesn't make sense. People with previous internship experiences at a DoD facility appear to have a much higher chance of getting the award. Additionally, if contact (i.e. sharing of personal or professional information outside of the application) was considered bias, then the facilities shouldn't be allowed to interview anyone. To be clear: I'm not saying you're lying, but there is no logic to that whatsoever.

I would also like to say that during the semi-finalist webinar the SMART people did encourage us to reach out to SF's

[formerscholar-2010]

Did any former scholars receive an email? I was in the 2010 cohort and received an email today stating I’m a semi finalist. This is an obvious error.

[forgotpassword]

Did any former scholars receive an email? I was in the 2010 cohort and received an email today stating I’m a semi finalist. This is an obvious error.

2012 cohort here, and yeah also got the email. They probably just used the wrong distro list. Maybe just emailed everyone in phase III.

[jasongm123]

So, are SF's done choosing since the selection portal is over? If so, too bad I didn't get interviewed

[ihatewaiting]

So I got this email on Friday:

Subject: SMART Scholarship Application-Follow-up requested

Hello SMART semifinalist-

The SMART Program is in the process of reviewing and validating semifinalist application information. We will be attempting to contact you via the telephone number listed on your application either Monday-Wednesday (20-22 March), to clarify some of your application information. If we do not connect on the first attempt we will leave a voicemail message on how to return our call. We will also follow up with another email if we do not reach you by 5PM Eastern, Wednesday 22 March.

Please note - this email and eventual phone call are in no way an offer of an award with SMART. That said, we look forward to connecting soon to further discuss your application packet.

Thank you!

I know I'll find out exactly what this means soon, but just curious if others got this or previous SMART people can tell me if this is a good sign?