DSTA Undergraduate Scholarship

If you are nominated to apply for the DSTA Scholarship early, you must submit your application before the mid-December early cycle deadline in 2009. Once you’ve filled up the form on the Brightsparks Portal, which I've wrote about extensively in earlier posts, you should mail to the scholarship office all your transcripts, certificates, etc.

If you applied early, you will be called for interviews around early January. If you submit after the early cycle closing dateline, even on 01 January 2010, you will be called in March as you are considered a regular deadline applicant. DSTA gives around 50-70 people per year, depending on the quality of applicants and yield rate (% of successful applicants who accept the scholarship). About 75% of scholars do electrical and electronic engineering; the other 25% study the sciences and other fields of engineering. If you want to do Physics, you will be called to DSO to work, that much I can say. As you can see, DSTA is heavy on the physical sciences, so that's where many of the Math, Physics, and Chemistry people apply to.

There are three rounds of selection, all conducted at the headquarters. Dress like you are going to work but don't overdo it. Guys try to get of of army uniform if possible and change but I guess they will understand if you can't book out in time.

First round is with some department heads who will give some general questions about yourself – you’ve seen it all before. Read the DSTA Horizons publication if you can get hold if it; its a journal on what DSTA has achieved in technology. You need to take some sort of personality and motivating test there, it's a very long set of questions about what motivates you. Just answer honestly, as in, honestly, since psychometric tests tend to repeat questions to make sure unscrupulous candidates are not faking their personality. Can't remember if you need to write an essay; it was required for the JC Scholarship, topics will be a bit like filling up the scholarship application form, along the lines of what you want to be a defence scientist. You've seen it all before also. If you want examples of how you could possible write your essay, go read the DSTA scholars featured in the annual Brightsparks magazine. If you’ve applied for the scholarship for, even the Junior College one, the scholarship officers will have to reset your account for you to repeat the test.

Second round – the assessment center, is the interesting and stressful one. The assessment center will last at least half a day. Basically, they put you in a mock situation where you are an employee of DSTA. You’ll be put into some scenarios to test how you react and interact with people in real life. I think they give out same few topics every year. Watch your words and behavior, and don’t worry if you can’t finish doing everything you are given; most people find the time very tight. Just do a good job on what you can, answer what you feel is right. Remember to check the DSTA website about what research they are doing, and read up about the organizational culture in DSTA if possible, weeks ahead and the night before. That’s all I’m going to say.

Third round. By the time you’ve got here, you’ll get to fill in the G50 form. It’s a form for people going into government service. You'll need two referees for them to contact to check your background. Don’t get complacent though, you still get some people kicked out in the third round. The Chief Defence Scientist was the person who chaired my interview, but I think you might get any one of the board members. You'll get some questions based on what you wrote in your application form, and might be asked to talk a bit about yourself and your goals for your future. You get time to ask him about one question.

What else can I say? I think the selection process can be quite stressful, but not as stressful as the PSC interviews, from what I can tell. Oh, and they offer food to candidates while waiting for your turn with ther interviewer, though no one seemed to be eating - all too stressed perhaps? And demonstrate you know when it is appropriate to keep secrets. Defence Science and Technology Agency, see? No use having some wonderful strategy if the enemy knows all about it.

Once the interviews start, expect the next ones to come very soon, like within two weeks of each other, or faster. When the final interview concludes, the notification of success comes quickly. If you didn’t hear back from them after three weeks or more – sorry, you probably didn’t get it. They will eventually mail you a letter informing you of your status, regardless of the outcome. Its the same as with the universities, a small, thin envelope for rejects and a large one for admits.

If you want to do a Ph.D, you must apply again for a Ph.D award, or apply for a graduate school and ask DSTA to put your bond on hold until you return to serve when you have your Ph.D. Whether you get to do a Ph.D. will also depend on whether the department you are working in wants a Ph.D holder or not - check with DSTA on the minutes of this one.

Once you get the scholarship, you only have a couple of weeks to think through what you really want for the next ten years of your life, before you are obliged to sign the contract. Sponsorship for studies is for four years. Most scholars take 3 years to do their Bachelor's and 1 to do their Masters. Attachment during one of your summers included.

If you missed applying during your undergraduate years and went to a local university, you can apply for the DSTA Academic Exchange scholarship to go on an exchange programme overseas. There will be 3 years bond for this. I saw quite a few candidates going for this programme at my interview.