Cherry Hill Student Wins College-Sponsored Merit Scholarship

CHERRY HILL, NJ — A Cherry Hill High School East student is among the third round of 2021 National Merit Scholarship winners who were announced on Wednesday.

Akash H. Patel received a National Merit Indiana University Bloomington Scholarship. Patel will pursue a career in finance.

Patel is among more than 3,100 winners receiving National Merit Scholarships sponsored by U.S. colleges or universities they plan to attend.

The scholarships provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the higher education institution.

Sponsor colleges and universities include 85 private and 75 public institutions in 42 states and D.C.

Indiana University Bloomington, one of America's great teaching and research universities, is known worldwide for outstanding programs in the arts, business, sciences, humanities, social sciences, education, journalism, informatics, nursing, optometry, public and environmental
affairs, health, physical education and recreation, according to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

Students bring diverse beliefs and backgrounds from all 50 states and 136 countries. Time Magazine has recognized Indiana University as having excellent programs to help students' transition to college.

The first announcement of college-sponsored awards comes after winners of corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards were announced in April and National Merit Scholarship Corporation's own $2,500 Scholarships were announced in May.

More college-sponsored award winners will be announced on July 12, bringing the total of college-sponsored awards to about 4,000.

To be entered for the National Merit Scholarship competition, over 1.5 million students were entered as juniors taking the PSAT in 2019.

In fall 2020, around 17,000 semifinalists were named based on each state's proportion of graduating seniors. Semifinalists were the top scoring entrants in their states and represent less than 1 percent of seniors in the U.S.

To be considered for finalist status, semifinalists had to submit a detailed scholarship application with an essay and details on extracurricular activities, awards, and leadership positions as well as demonstrate an outstanding academic record and have an endorsement from a high school official.

Around 16,000 finalists met requirements for finalists status and were eligible to be chosen for corporate-sponsored, National Merit Scholarship-sponsored and college-sponsored awards.
In all, about 7,500 students will win National Merit Scholarships worth $30 million in 2021.