Today, National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) announced over 3,000 winners of National Merit Scholarships financed by U.S. colleges and universities. Officials of each sponsor college selected their scholarship winners from among the Finalists.

Nine Cobb graduates were among the winners and represent Harrison, Hillgrove, Kennesaw Mountain, Walton, and Wheeler High Schools. They will pursue fields as diverse as Astrophysics, Bioinformatics, Computer Science, Finance, and Mechanical Engineering. Each of the nine winners will receive a scholarship at their university, including Brigham Young, Emory, RIT, UGA, Vanderbilt, and Washington and Lee. These awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the institution financing the scholarship. 

This year, 153 higher education institutions are underwriting Merit Scholarship awards through the National Merit Scholarship Program. Sponsor colleges and universities include 81 private and 72 public institutions in 42 states and the District of Columbia.

College-sponsored Merit Scholarship winners announced today are a part of the distinguished group of more than 7,140 high school seniors who will receive National Merit Scholarships for college undergraduate study worth nearly $28 million. Earlier this spring, NMSC announced winners of corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards and National Merit $2500 Scholarships.

Here are the nine Cobb Schools’ graduates that won a University-based Merit Scholarship:

Austin Smith, Harrison HS, Probable career field: Physics
NATIONAL MERIT VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP

Tyler M. Clement, Hillgrove HS, Probable career field: Astrophysics
NATIONAL MERIT BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP

Lucas D. Kim, Kennesaw Mountain HS, Probable career field: Computer Programming
NATIONAL MERIT WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP

Peter Fink, Walton HS, Probable career field: Computer Science
NATIONAL MERIT UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA SCHOLARSHIP

Ethan T. Liu, Walton HS, Probable career field: Kinesiology
NATIONAL MERIT UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA SCHOLARSHIP

Ashley Kay Rice, Walton HS, Probable career field: Bioinformatics
NATIONAL MERIT EMORY UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP

Madison P. Bohm, Wheeler HS, Probable career field: Mechanical Engineering
NATIONAL MERIT ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY SCHOLARSHIP

Misha S. Gupta, Wheeler HS, Probable career field: Finance
NATIONAL MERIT EMORY UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP

Hanif A. Zaman, Wheeler, Probable career field: Cell Biology
NATIONAL MERIT UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA SCHOLARSHIP

Congratulations to these nine outstanding soon-to-be college students! You have represented your high schools and District well, and we can’t wait to see what comes next for each of you!

2023 National Merit Scholarship Competition

High school juniors entered the 2023 National Merit Scholarship Program when they took the 2021 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. Last fall, more than 16,000 Semifinalists were named on a state-representational basis in numbers proportional to each state’s percentage of the national total of graduating high school seniors. Semifinalists were the highest-scoring program entrants in each state, representing less than one percent of the nation’s seniors.

To compete for Merit Scholarship awards, Semifinalists first had to advance to the Finalist level of the competition by fulfilling additional requirements. Each Semifinalist was asked to submit a detailed scholarship application, which included writing an essay and providing information about extracurricular activities, awards, and leadership positions. Semifinalists also had to have an outstanding academic record, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, and earn SAT® or ACT® scores that confirmed the qualifying test performance. From the Semifinalist group, over 15,000 met the requirements for Finalist standing, and about half of the Finalists will be Merit Scholarship winners in 2023.

NMSC, a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance, was established in 1955 to conduct the National Merit Scholarship Program. The majority of National Merit Scholarships provided each year are made possible by the support of approximately 340 independent corporate and college sponsors. These sponsors join NMSC in its efforts to enhance educational opportunities for America’s scholastically talented youth and to encourage the pursuit of academic excellence.