So, someone on this site told me about the SMART scholarship, sponsored by the Department of Defense. It awards full tuition, but it says that for every year using the scholarship, you have to work with them for a year.
Working with them doesn’t sound bad, they say they’ll pay for all the living expenses and then a stipend.
My questions are:
- How is the work like for the DoD? Can I still do some personal stuff for me? (Like vacation, family etc)
- Can I drop out of the scholarship if I find a different one?
- I might be in school for quite a while to get my Ph.D. (7 years from this point). Is a 7-year contract worth it?
What is your field of study?
Why are you in a PhD program that didn’t offer you full funding? If they didn’t give you full funding, they are telling you that they think you are second rate.
I’m in computer science, and I’m still a freshman. I would use the scholarship to get my bachelors and if I didn’t get funding for the PhD. If I do, then I would only need the scholarship for 2 years probably
I know a mom of someone who used the smart scholarship for CS. After working for the DOD for 2 years they sent him on for his masters. He loves his work, but I assume that could be luck of the draw. On a different note, I’ve heard that the security clearance you get when you work for the DOD will help you get a job in industry when you decide to get out. When my D worked in a bio lab one of the workers there said she gets $20k more in base salary because she has that security clearance and can work on some government contract work.
@TomatoSmoothie - The financial aid and scholarship office at your college should be able to put you in touch with any current students or recent graduates who have held this scholarship. So go have a chat with them. If you do complete an undergraduate degree in CS, and go on to grad school, you can expect to be fully funded by the grad program for a PhD. Depending on the grad program, you might even have decent funding for a masters degree. You don’t need to worry about money for that just yet. What you do need to investigate relative to this scholarship, is what would happen if you change your major, and what GPA you would need to maintain in order to keep the scholarship from one year to the next.
God no, especially not for cs.
I can think of worse ways of paying for an undergrad degree. Working for the DOD wouldn’t be a bad first job, but there are things to keep in mind as future considerations. You’re probably looking at a hideous commute, depending on which part of the DOD you’re assigned to. As mentioned above, having a security clearance is mighty handy, but working for the DOD isn’t the only way you can get one. The DOD will pay for any graduate work, but so will a lot of other companies (particularly if you can hook up for a UARC). It really should be noted that you can make a lot (sometimes a whole lot) more money working in industry. You’ll need to figure out what’s important to you.
OP, to answer some of your other questions: A job in the DoD is much like one in industry. You get pay, time off (usually more than industry), medical and dental benefits, a 401K equivalent. CS work can be widely different across the DoD from providing oversight of a major software build by a manufacturer to doing modeling and simulation of weapon systems.
My child had an offer (FJO) from an agency within the DOD. It had better educational benefits than most (full year off, with pay, to pursue higher ed!), but pay was 50% lower than private sector, private sector had better benefits, too. So, I think if your goal is to work for the DOD, the scholarship is a good move, if not, you might want to leave your options open. You can still work for the government, even if you didn’t take the scholarship.
Thanks for your help everyone! I didn’t know there were so many cons to it. What if I go to like a really expensive school, will it be worth it then?