Morgan Hill resident Bryant K. Wong, who plans to pursue a career in pharmaceutical science, has been named a National Merit Scholarship finalist, according to the organization that selects and awards the annual scholars.
Wong is a student at Valley Christian High School in San Jose. As a National Merit finalist, Wong will receive a $2,500 scholarship, says a press release from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC).
The NMSC on May 9 announced a list of Merit Scholar winners who were chosen from a talent pool of more than 15,000 finalists in the 2023 program, says the press release. The $2,500 scholarship winners are the finalists in each state, who were judged to have the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills and potential for success in college studies.
The scholars were selected by a committee of college admissions officers and high school counselors, who evaluated information submitted by the finalists and their high schools—including their academic record, difficulty level of subjects studied, grades earned, scores from their Preliminary Preliminary SAT and 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.
The scholarships are funded by the NMSC as well as corporations and company foundations that sponsor awards through the program, says the press release.
This year’s National Merit Scholarship Program competition began in October 2021. Last fall, the highest-scoring participants in each state—representing less than 1% of the nation’s high school seniors—were named semifinalists, the press release continues. More than 16,000 semifinalists had an opportunity to continue in the competition.
From the semifinalist group, more than 15,000 students met the very high academic standards and other requirements to advance to the finalist level of the competition, according to NMSC. By the conclusion of the 2023 program, more than 7,140 finalists will have earned the Merit Scholar title and received a total of nearly $28 million in college scholarships.
