Gets the job done

Grace G

Assistant Director of Education and Leadership Initiatives

Education Management, 51-200 employees

1-2 years

Review Date: 09/19/2022

Overall
Ease of Use
Customer Service
Features
Value for Money

Likelihood to Recommend - 6/10

6/10

Gets the job done

Pros

The evaluation of applications is a useful feature

Cons

Changing and updating programs and forms is not always intuitive. Assigning evaluators can be confusing and the program logic doesn't always work on the first try setting it up.

SmarterSelect has taken our Foundation to a new level

Great Scholarship Management System

It works for scholarships, grants and more

SWOT analysis of SmarterSelect

Great for the value - cumbersome to learn.

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Not user friendly

Nadine P

Development Coordinator

Museums and Institutions, 1-10 employees

1-2 years

Review Date: 09/19/2022

Overall
Ease of Use
Customer Service
Features
Value for Money

Likelihood to Recommend - 2/10

2/10

Not user friendly

Pros

I can't say I liked too much. It is not user friendly to our staff or the applicants that were filling it out for an awards ceremony we do once a year.

Cons

There was not enough training. Staff that was here when we originally started using the program are no longer here. I was told they only do one training session, had to beg for another. Customer service was very good because I had no idea how to do reports.

SmarterSelect has taken our Foundation to a new level

Chris S

Executive Director

Non-Profit Organization Management, 1-10 employees

2+ years

Review Date: 09/19/2022

Overall
Ease of Use
Customer Service
Features
Value for Money

Likelihood to Recommend - 10/10

10/10

SmarterSelect has taken our Foundation to a new level

SPSEF manages over 30 unique scholarship funds, and another six individual grant funds. WE are a small shop with only 1.5 FTE. SmarterSelect allows us to manage and process over 800 applications annually. When we made the decision to migrate over to Smarter Select, we found that we spend muck less time in the management process, which allowed us to spend more time fundraising and working with recipients and donors.

Pros

The software allows me to easily create a new scholarship application that is unique and reflective of the donors desires. The fact that I can continue to access data from previous years allows me to remain in contact with our recipients.

Cons

The integration inner business was not difficult. Right out of the box, there is a steep learning curve. However, the customer support is very responsive and helpful. I have suggested a few enhancements over the years and have found that SmarterSelect was eager to listen to my concerns and If they could not provide a workaround they will often fix the issue in a subsequent update.

Great Scholarship Management System

Alyssa P

Program Director

Non-Profit Organization Management, 1-10 employees

2+ years

Review Date: 09/19/2022

Overall
Ease of Use
Customer Service
Features
Value for Money

Likelihood to Recommend - 10/10

10/10

Great Scholarship Management System

Not only is this easy for our applicants, but has made reviewing and scoring the applications simple as well.

Pros

It is very user friendly and customizable to meet the needs of our scholarship application and reviewers.

Cons

I would like it to be a little easier to quickly view an application or see which sections they have completed.

It works for scholarships, grants and more

David F

Professor of Marketing

Education Management, 201-500 employees

2+ years

Review Date: 09/19/2022

Overall
Ease of Use
Customer Service
Features
Value for Money

Likelihood to Recommend - 8/10

8/10

It works for scholarships, grants and more

We use SmarterSelect in conjunction with our parent organization who uses it for scholarships. We use it to track conference submissions. While it is more designed for scholarship and grant use, it serves well for what we do.

Pros

The best part is the ability to download PDFs of all submissions to work with offline.

Cons

Menu system is clunky until you get very comfortable navigating it.

SWOT analysis of SmarterSelect

Florence O

Country Representative

Education Management, 11-50 employees

1-2 years

Review Date: 09/20/2022

Overall
Ease of Use
Customer Service
Features
Value for Money

Likelihood to Recommend - 7/10

7/10

SWOT analysis of SmarterSelect

We are able to store applicants data for reference. Applicants can use it in any part of the world. It has made life easier.

Pros

The data storage. The importing and exporting of applicant details.

Cons

It is a cumbersome process. It takes about 3 to 4 hours for some one to fill.

Great for the value - cumbersome to learn.

Tressa S

Foundation Director

Education Management, 51-200 employees

2+ years

Review Date: 09/21/2022

Overall
Ease of Use
Customer Service
Features
Value for Money

Likelihood to Recommend - 7/10

7/10

Great for the value - cumbersome to learn.

SmarterSelect has been an effective tool for scholarship management and tracking. The online training forums move very quickly. I can usually find posts of similar issues when troubleshooting which is nice to resolve and move on.

Pros

I have no basis for comparison with other software. I feel SmarterSelect is a great value, especially for smaller organizations. It provides all of the functions needed.

Cons

I'm not sure that I've learned all of the many tools available in this software. I dislike the long pause in between changing from one option to another. I wish once you left a record, it didn't leave a separate tab open. Ideally, it would so convenient to be able to have multiple views at one time.

Gets the job done