In July, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMCS) announced that six Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) students won college-sponsored scholarships in the latest round. These students joined the three LCPS students announced in the first round of college-sponsored NMSC scholarships in June. These nine students are among the more than 2,900 winners of National Merit Scholarships financed by U.S. colleges and universities.
Officials at each sponsor college selected their scholarship winners from among the finalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program who will attend their institution. College-sponsored awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the institution financing the scholarship.
The students in the latest round of college-sponsored Merit scholarships are:
Laya N. Andripalli, of Briar Woods High School, received a National Merit Virginia Commonwealth University Scholarship and intends to study biomedical engineering.
Luke Chen, of Freedom High School, received a National Merit Case Western Reserve University Scholarship and intends to study biomedical engineering.
Shashank Vardhan Cheruvu, of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, received a National Merit University of Maryland Scholarship and intends to study computer science.
Allison A. Kim, of Rock Ridge High School, received a National Merit Virginia Commonwealth University Scholarship and intends to study medicine.
Alexandra Toporowicz, of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, received a National Merit Virginia Commonwealth University Scholarship and intends to study medicine.
Pranav K. Vadde, of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, received a National Merit Purdue University Scholarship and intends to study aerospace engineering.
In total, 20 LCPS students won National Merit Scholarships during the 2023/24 school year. In addition to the nine students who won college-sponsored scholarships, eight LCPS students were named National Merit $2,500 Scholarship winners and three LCPS students received corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholarships.
High school juniors entered the 2024 National Merit Scholarship Program when they took the 2022 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) 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 submitted 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.
Published August 1, 2024