National Merit Scholars Announced

NMSC named recipients of corporate-sponsored awards on April 20 and winners of National Merit® $2500 Scholarships on May 4. Additional recipients of college-sponsored awards will be announced on July 11. By the conclusion of this year’s competition, about 8,300 academic champions will have won National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $35 million.

College-sponsored Merit Scholarship Winners Named

More than 2,900 winners of National Merit Scholarships financed by U.S. colleges and universities were announced today by National Merit Scholarship Corporation. Officials of each sponsor college selected their scholarship winners from among Finalists in the 2011 National Merit Scholarship Program who plan to attend their institution. These awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the institution financing the scholarship. Another group of Scholars will be announced in July, bringing the total number of college-sponsored Merit Scholarship recipients in the 2011 competition to approximately 4,800.

This year, 198 higher education institutions are underwriting Merit Scholarship awards through the National Merit Scholarship Program. Sponsor colleges and universities include 118 private and 80 public institutions located in 45 states and the District of Columbia.

College-sponsored Merit Scholarship winners announced today are a part of the distinguished group of about 8,300 high school seniors of 2011 who will receive National Merit Scholarships for college undergraduate study worth nearly $35 million. Announced earlier this spring were winners of two other types of National Merit Scholarships — corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards and National Merit® $2500 Scholarships.

2011 National Merit Scholarship Competition

About 1.5 million juniors in some 22,000 high schools entered the 2011 National Merit Scholarship competition when they took the 2009 Preliminary sat/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. Last fall, some 16,000 Semifinalists were named on a state representational basis, in numbers proportional to each state’s percentage of the nation’s high school graduating seniors. Semifinalists were the highest-scoring program entrants in each state and represented less than one percent of a state’s seniors.

To compete for Merit Scholarship awards, Semifinalists had to advance to the Finalist level of the competition by fulfilling additional requirements. Each Semifinalist submitted a scholarship application that included presenting an outstanding academic record, being endorsed and recommended by a school official, and earning sat scores that confirmed the qualifying test performance. The Semifinalist also wrote an essay and provided information about extracurricular activities, awards, and leadership positions. From the Semifinalist group, some 15,000 met requirements for Finalist standing, and more than half of the Finalists will be Merit Scholarship winners in 2011.

Here is the list of Northeast Cobb National Merit Scholars:

Jeffrey S. Allen, Lassiter High School, received the National Merit Georgia Institute of Technology Scholarship. Probable career field: Engineering.

Christopher R. Hauser, Lassiter High School, received the National Merit Georgia Institute of Technology Scholarship. Probable career field: Materials Science/Engineering.

Georgia Institute of Technology is a state-supported institution located near the heart of Atlanta. With a total enrollment of approximately 13,000 students, 3,500 are in graduate programs. Over 25 different degree programs are offered for undergraduates in Engineering, Science, Architecture, and Industrial Management. Most of these fields also offer the graduate degree. Students come from all 50 states and over 50 foreign countries.

John W. Landers, Lassiter High School, received the National Merit University of Georgia Scholarship. Probable career field: Undecided.

Founded in 1785, the University of Georgia is the oldest chartered state university in the country. The university is located in Athens, Georgia, on a campus extending over 3,500 acres. Enrollment is over 28,000. There are thirteen schools and colleges which offer the Bachelor's and Master's degrees in more than a hundred fields, and the Doctor's degree in some forty disciplines.

John M. Williams, Carlton J. Kell High School, received the National Merit Vanderbilt University Scholarship. Probable career field: Education (Music).

Vanderbilt University is an independent, privately supported university located in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1873 and is named after Cornelius Vanderbilt who provided funds to establish the university. The university offers undergraduate programs in Liberal Arts, Music, Engineering, Education, and Human Development. Graduate programs are offered in the Humanities, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, Business, Engineering, Nursing, Divinity, Law, Medicine, and Public Policy.

The list of Georgia scholars is available in the PDF file accompanying this article.