This is for students considering the SMART Scholarship Program. I felt it necessary to advise students to heavily consider what they are doing should they take the offer for the scholarship. You will be locked into a contract to a job you hardly know much about. The purpose of the scholarship is to retain students but most of the time govt. work is not as appealing to students especially when you factor in the wage you’ll start at. The scholarship program is nice at first but once it comes to placement timeline, wages, and what you’ll be doing is where things get a little rough. If you are performing at the level of what the scholarship requires and are considered then you are doing pretty well for yourself and personally feel that you should try keep your options open. This is my opinion and i’m giving feedback to students who need it.
Everything is a trade off. Sure the pay may be lower, but if there’s an assurance of a job immediately after graduation, then that’s a plus.
If doing SMART means few/no loans are needed, then that alone can be worth $10k+ per year.
For the student who needs funding, this is an excellent choice. 4 years of funding requires 4 years of working commitment. If that sounds too much, then do 2 years at a CC and then 2 years with SMART…and then only have to put in 2 years of post-grad work commitment. For the student who doesn’t have parent to pay, this is a sound option for an eng’g/STEM student.
Oh, I completely agree. The funding is a great support option. The only concern is placement. If you end up doing something you are not passionate about or want to do for 2+ years you may find yourself having some trouble transitioning from that type of work into something more applicable. 2-4 years sounds simple but 2 years as an entry-level scientist or engineer is the foundation on where your career will drive to.
So, it’s somewhat difficult for scholars to find out after they signed a contract that they really don’t want to do that type of work. The initial introduction to what you’ll be doing is a 2-day visit to your sponsoring facility. After that you have to make a decision with only experiencing a 2-day visit and not even working. You mainly find out what you are really doing once you start your first internship which is well past the point of no return. If you do default on your contract you owe every single penny back. I feel a good way to mitigate this would be to have options to work at different sponsoring facilities. In fact, that was a recommendation made last year by the IDA in their evaluation report of the program which is available online.
The program is great if you are 100% certain that you want to do exactly what the sponsoring facility that selects you does. If for some reason you are not certain or find out you don’t well, that’s going to be a long 2-4 years.
@Prandtl That doesn’t sound very different from a decision many have to make to pay off loans across undergrad and grad school disciplines. Many law students, eg, go into Big Law because those loans need to get paid and they leave as soon as the loans are paid off and move into an area they are more interested in. I think you’re making a much bigger deal about it than it deserves. Youthful optimism rather than practicality.
I don’t think it’s a big deal to really consider your options before committing to a contract. In fact, I think it’s important to consider all options. The cost of law school compared to a 4 year engineering degree is a bit different. There are many options in the STEM industry and a majority are feasible to pay off student loan debt. Which is nowhere near what it would cost to get an undergrad degree then law school. It is practical to consider all avenues rather than be optimistic because a small amount of money is provided… Go look at the wage differences. An entry-level engineer for the Govt. starts at a GS-7 pay grade which is $36,356.00 - $47,264.00 annually. Most engineers start between 80-85k. Your next bump in pay is to the GS-9 pay grade $44,471.00 - $57,809.00… then after a third year you reach a GS-12 $64,490.00 - $83,840.00. So again, optimism for a temporary solution when you will sacrifice plenty of wages, job options, and other opportunities doesn’t seem practical…
I have not heard that SMART grads get placed into jobs that won’t transition to other and better jobs elsewhere.
government jobs aren’t all bad. Good benefits, sick time, vacation time, overtime… My daughter is a second year engineer and yes, she gets a higher salary than a GS7, but she has to bill 2000 hours per year so her vacation/holiday time is really limited. Right now she’d trade salary for vacation time. She also has to use a little bit of that salary for student loan payments. Her 401k match doesn’t vest for 5 years. Private life isn’t always so rosy.
I disagree that MOST engineers start at $80k.
Those GS7 salaries are before COL adjustments, so the salaries could be higher, and not by just a little. I think in SF the adjustment is 38%, and in the northeast about 30%.
Students make these kinds of decisions all the time. ROTC commitment? Service academy? New York STEM scholarship?
I actually strongly agree with OP and would HEAVILY advise students to think twice for sure.
The students that SMART is actually likely to be interested in… probably also have stats that can command high merit awards at schools. Choose one of those schools instead of SMART. Freedom is everything.
My secretary’s son received a SMART scholarship and it worked out extremely well for him. There is definitely the issue that the department of defense can assign you where they want. But, he was assigned some very interesting work that he thought he would not be able to get in the private sector. He also said that once he received his security clearance he was significantly more marketable to the private sector that engages in government contracts since that security clearance takes months to complete and costs companies a lot of money. Finally, the DOD ended up sending him to grad school on their dime, and although he had to extend his commitment, he thought that he was earning a strong salary at the time and doing interesting work and increasing his marketability.
Here is the evaluation report from 2018. I think it’s necessary to look at some of the key recommendations. Examples, scholars were not paid at the level of their peers even though they are of high caliber and part of a very selective program. Another is the lack of placing a scholar in a position best fit for them.
@melvin123 That’s great to hear because a lot of the Scholars i’ve worked with can’t wait to leave the program. It all depends on the sponsoring facility and it is very difficult to tell if it’s a good fit because you only get to tour the location for 2 days. You don’t really get a feel for the job etc… The private sector does want people with clearances and yes they are fairly pricey. But, typically most program contracts factor in recruitment expenses and clearance needs for their workforce. May I ask what branch of the DoD he is working for?
He was working with aerospace, so I assume Air Force. He’s finished with his commitment and is now in the private sector.
Does anyone know any public sample essays/applications for SMART. I am a current graduate student trying to apply the first time to this scholarship