These Atlanta students have each won $2,500 National Merit Scholarships

Georgia has no shortage of scholars, and the dozens of students who won the 2021 National Merit Scholarship show just that.

Last week, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced the winners of the $2,500 scholarship. A press release said 2,500 Merit Scholars were chosen from some 16,000 finalists in this year’s National Merit Scholarship Program.

“National Merit $2500 Scholarship winners are the Finalists in each state judged to have the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills, and potential for success in rigorous college studies. The number of winners named in each state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the nation’s graduating high school seniors,” the press release said.

In Georgia, Patch reported 73 Georgia high schoolers received the scholarship. Nine of those students are Atlanta high school seniors:

The scholars were chosen from a panel of college admissions officers and high school counselors. The committee appraised ample information submitted by finalists and their high schools. It included their academic record, Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) test scores, participation and leadership in school and community activities, a finalist essay and a recommendation from a high school administrator.

Beginning in October 2019, more than 1.5 million juniors in about 21,000 high schools took the PSAT/NMSQT. This served as an initial screen of program entrants.

From there, the highest-scoring participants in each state were named semifinalists last fall. Around 17,000 semifinalists could continue in the competition. Ultimately, the 2021 program had around 7,500 finalists who can earn the “Merit Scholar” title. In total, they can receive almost $30 million in college scholarships.