Student From Madison Awarded $2,500 Merit Scholarship

MADISON, CT — Out of an pool of 16,000 finalists nationwide, just 2,500 were awarded the 2021 National Merit Scholarship.

Seoyoun R. Kim of Madison is one of them.

Kim, who is expected to have a career in economics after college graduation, was awarded a $2,500 scholarship.

The winners are the finalists in each state judged to have the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills, and potential for success in rigorous college studies, according to a news release. The number of winners named in each state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the nation’s graduating high school seniors, it's noted.

The scholars were selected by a committee of college admissions officers and high school counselors, who appraised a substantial amount of information submitted by both the finalists and their high schools: the academic record, including difficulty level of subjects studied and grades earned; scores from the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test ; contributions and leadership in school and community activities; an essay written by the finalist; and a recommendation written by a high school official.

This year’s National Merit Scholarship Program began in October 2019 when over 1.5 million juniors in about 21,000 high schools took the PSAT/NMSQT, which served as an initial screen of program entrants. Last fall, the highest-scoring participants in each state, representing less than one percent of the nation’s high school seniors, were named semifinalists on a state representational basis. Only these approximately 17,000 semifinalists had an opportunity to continue in the competition.

From the Semifinalist group, some 16,000 students met the very high academic standards and other requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition. By the conclusion of the 2021 program, about 7,500 Finalists will have earned the “Merit Scholar” title and received a total of nearly $30 million in college scholarships.