knightforum

I will be an undergraduate freshman this fall majoring in Computer Science.

Do you know exactly what they look for in applicants? What is the major factor in choosing an applicant?

Also, does the school you go to make a difference? Three students were chosen from my school last year - University of Central Florida.

Kickback

knightforum-
They are looking for people who are dedicated to the DoD, and wanting a career in defense research. Career- not just the required service time. Also having a great fit with a certain lab would help. The only project that I wanted to work on was the Future Force Warrior (Part of Future Combat Systems), and it looks like they're cutting funding to that as of recently.

Also, they want people who can get and keep a secret clearance.

I doubt that the school that you attends matters that much, aside from knowing the quality of education that you are receiving, and any possible connections you may have with the program.

Even if I get this scholarship (I am currently an alternate), I will probably turn it down. They specifically said to me over the phone that they do not want people that are going to attend medical school, and I really want to go into an MD/PhD program. I am concentrating on having as good of an application as possible for that right now.

knightforum

Thank you for the information Kickback. A government job, such as the DoD, has been something that I have extremely interested in. Hopefully it will work out for me.

mcrawfo1

I just want to wish everybody the best of luck on whatever happens, I see so many post and what everybody wants to do, and I respect everyone for their comments... so GOOD LUCK!!

CindyWC

Has anyone received any updates on their status yet?

And thanks mcrawfo for the wishes! Good luck to everyone as well, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for all of us!!

AdamJW

nothing as of yet, but it was monday last week that we all got notified, so maybe tomorrow people will start to hear back.

grex

"From a competitive field of over 1500 applicants, approximately 200-300 awards will be made."

That was from this year (2009) in the Letter of Acceptance they sent out. It looks like they're giving out more awards every year.

The fact that they used the word "will" suggests that they haven't given out all the awards yet, so good luck

mcrawfo1

thanks grex for that post...I am relying heavenly on those percentages, and I hope they give the alternates a great deal of consideration within those percentages.

awgreenarrow08

Well, there are only 4 more days until April 17th, so I'm hoping to hear something real soon about this. If anyone finds out about any more information regarding the consideration of Alternates please post! I'm sweating bullets here, I'm really hoping to actually get this!

blackbishop

Being patient is hard. I know someone heard about being a finalist 4/2 so it might be a wait until the 17th this time around.

CindyWC

Yeah, and unfortunately patience really isn't my strong suit. Ah well - just two days to go!

AdamJW

Seems they were a little more serious about the hear back date this time around waiting until the last second and all.

CindyWC

Yeah no kidding. Has anyone heard back from them yet? I still haven't received anything, and I'm getting super antsy.

awgreenarrow08

This was the e-mail I just received from the SMART Scholarship program. Did anyone else get this e-mail???

"Thank you for applying for the SMART Scholarship for Service Program. Although we had hoped to provide a final update on your status on this date we are currently unable to do so. The SMART Program Office is working with the Resource Sponsor on final determination of the SMART program budgets for fiscal year 2010 and beyond.



Final determination is expected shortly and the notice of additional selections is expected by Wednesday, April 22nd. We will update you by that date on your status. We appreciate your patience.





Thank you,



The ASEE SMART Scholarship Team"

Sloth

argggh...REALLY??