I'm a SMART scholarship selectee. Sweet deal. Tuition is

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Anonymous
2016-07-18 23:51:59 Post No. 17370189
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Anonymous 2016-07-18 23:51:59 Post No. 17370189 [Report]

I'm a SMART scholarship selectee. Sweet deal. Tuition is paid. $25k a year, cash. Guaranteed employment after I graduate for a # of years = the length of the scholarship (two years, for me). Includes a summer internship. Pay is low at first, but steps up drastically on a fixed schedule over two years (how the government makes some of its money back for paying for my education). Work isn't very exciting (troubleshooting jet engines for the Air Force), but not awful. Pretty cool.

I *also* got accepted into the NSA co-op program. Yeah, that NSA. It'll extend my graduation by a year, but pay starts high, comes with a TS/SCI security clearance, and is a world class organization doing work that matters. Will have to be there for 52 weeks over three semesters to complete the program. Pays while I work, but not other times, and doesn't pay tuition so money in the short term is inferior to SMART.

These are mutually exclusive. I have until August 1st to decide.

Complications/details: Married with three kids: 2, 4, and 9. When I'm gone, wife (who works) will be alone with them, plus help from grandma.

Worked in intelligence in the military, been my dream to make a full career of it since I was 18. I'm 33. This shot at NSA is probably my last chance, ever, before I'm too old.

There is a chance that if I go to work at NSA, I can be stationed in my home state, where cost of living is lower than Ft. Meade and wife can still work, be near friends and family, etc. But this isn't for sure.

SMART installation is outside my home state, but not far and still low cost of living.

My current discipline is electrical engineering, but I also have background in intelligence (like I mentioned), Arabic and the Middle East, and law.

So... safer, more lucrative SMART and give up my dream, but be able to practice patent law later? Or take my last chance, harder on my family, for a permanent and fulfilling career that pays less?

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Anonymous 2016-07-19 00:01:30 Post No.17370219
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Anonymous 2016-07-19 00:01:30 Post No.17370219 [Report]

Tough choice. If you were younger I'd say the SMART choice is a no brainer, but if being in the NSA is truly your dream, and you think the window has an expiration date, I say go for it.

But I don't think that is a decision anyone but you can make.

You definitely have your shit together and you are obviously smart, so you should be able to come to a decision. If you go to the NSA and it sucks and you don't have the SMART scholarship, it won't be the end of the world. If you go to the SMART program and it works out, you will always have that what if in the back of your mind.

I say NSA, but that's only because those opportunities are rare, and you seem more than qualified.

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Anonymous 2016-07-19 00:46:39 Post No.17370337
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Anonymous 2016-07-19 00:46:39 Post No.17370337 [Report]

>>17370219
Thank you for your level-headed assessment. I appreciate the effort you put into your answer.

Also, bump.

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Anonymous 2016-07-19 00:56:23 Post No.17370376
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Anonymous 2016-07-19 00:56:23 Post No.17370376 [Report]

>There is a chance that if I go to work at NSA, I can be stationed in my home state, where cost of living is lower than Ft. Meade and wife can still work, be near friends and family, etc. But this isn't for sure.
>When I'm gone, wife (who works) will be alone with them
Talk to your wife about these and about any financial hardships this path will bring. Be realistic about the work/home balance and how it will affect your family.

Once you two come to a conclusion about that, then weigh the other stuff involving your choices. But as it is those are the most serious issues because they will change your family dynamics.

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Anonymous 2016-07-19 01:44:22 Post No.17370564
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Anonymous 2016-07-19 01:44:22 Post No.17370564 [Report]

>>17370189
One more bump.

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Anonymous 2016-07-19 01:48:43 Post No.17370576
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Anonymous 2016-07-19 01:48:43 Post No.17370576 [Report]

Isn't SMART more restrictive?

IDK. I've also wanted to work for the NSA. Applied for a program there and for some fucking reason told them I smoked pot in an interview because I knew I'd have to take a polygraph later anyways.

REGARDLESS:

safer lucrative <<<< fulfilling

always

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Inquisitor Pegasus (ID: !!y4/4Hsb6ELC) 2016-07-19 01:50:38 Post No.17370581
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Inquisitor Pegasus (ID: !!y4/4Hsb6ELC) 2016-07-19 01:50:38 Post No.17370581 [Report]

>>17370576
I can think of 20 reasons alone from this post that you'd never ever even be remotely considered for the NSA

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Anonymous 2016-07-19 01:55:35 Post No.17370604
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Anonymous 2016-07-19 01:55:35 Post No.17370604 [Report]

>>17370576
>Isn't SMART more restrictive?

I'm not sure what you mean. There's a code of conduct that requires full-time enrollment, no breaking the law, graduating on time, etc., but nothing more than what you'd expect from working in a government agency.