This is the first installment of a series covering prestigious scholarships offered to a wide variety of majors. Every other week a scholarship will be chosen for which there is still enough time left to apply. Details of how to apply and information about the reasons why the scholarships are important will be discussed in the article.
This week’s featured scholarship is the Department of Defense [DoD] SMART scholarship, which stands for Science Mathematics and Research for Transformation scholarship. Applications are accepted during the month of September.
The program was first put in effect in 2005 in hopes of addressing the growing gap between the United States and the rest of the world in STEM fields. It creates an environment for students accepted into the program to excel in their studies and alleviate monetary struggle.
Like many national scholarships in this series the applicant must be a U.S. citizen, older than 18, be in good standing with a minimum GPA of 3.0 or higher, and pursuing a STEM degree. Requirements more specific to SMART are the ability to work for the DoD and hold a security clearance, and willingness to accept post-graduate employment in the DoD.
If these requirements are met, the applicant may fill out an extensive application form. Areas like academic background, area of study, goals, research interests, volunteer work, leadership and others will be covered. After the application is submitted it will be reviewed by a panel of researchers at accredited DoD laboratories. This is the first phase and will match students with laboratories that are interested in their specific set of skills. Once this is complete a second application will be made and the final recipients will be decided.
Once in the program SMART scholars receive full tuition and related fees, minus meal plans and housing, a stipend of $25,000 – $38,000, a paid summer internship, a health insurance allowance, a book allowance, a personal mentor and employment placement upon graduation. After receiving the scholarship for the first time there is no need to apply for additional years, the scholarship will continue each year until graduation. However, if recipients wish to go on to a Master’s or Doctoral program they may simply apply for a second time and ask their sponsoring laboratory for permission to pursue a higher degree.
A few tips from current students/organizers:
“Many students can get caught up in the idea of getting money out of the program, and end up writing most of the essays about how they could use it or how it would benefit their education”, says Kaila Pietila, Michigan Tech’s on campus DoD representative. “The main thing they want to see is that you are looking to improve yourself, you show potential, and you want to work in a research field.”
“For the application process it really helps if you find a lab that you want to work for and gear the entire application towards them”, says Andrew Groeneveld, current MTU SMART recipient and Civil Engineering Major. “Make sure to use some of the wordage that they use on their sites to describe what they do.”
The SMART scholarship is a prestigious scholarship that has the ability to kick-start a career. Anyone who is part of a STEM field and is genuinely interested in a research field should consider applying.