IUSD Students Receive Most National Merit Scholarships in County, Second in State

high school students

National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) released the names of the first group of winners in the 63rd annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Approximately 1,000 distinguished high school seniors have won corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholarship awards financed by about 200 corporations, company foundations, and other business organizations.

Seven IUSD students have received this prestigious designation – the most students of any school district in Orange County and the second most in the state. See below for the list of IUSD students and their scholarship information.

Scholars were selected from students who advanced to the finalist level in the National Merit Scholarship competition and met criteria of their scholarship sponsors. In September 2017, it was announced that IUSD had the most Merit Scholarship Semifinalists. Click here to read more.

More than 1.6 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2018 National Merit Scholarship Program when they took the 2016 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. In September 2017, approximately 16,000 semifinalists were designated 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 and represented less than one percent of the nation’s seniors.

To be considered for a National Merit Scholarship, semifinalists had to fulfill requirements to advance to finalist standing. Each semifinalist was asked to complete 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® scores that confirmed their qualifying test performance. From the semifinalist group, some 15,000 met finalist requirements. 

By the conclusion of the 2018 competition, about 7,500 finalists will have been selected to receive National Merit Scholarships totaling more than $31 million. Winners are the finalist candidates judged to have the strongest combination of academic skills and achievements, extracurricular accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies.

Most of these awards are renewable for up to four years of college undergraduate study and provide annual stipends that range from $500 to $10,000 per year. Some provide a single payment between $2,500 and $5,000.

Avadh S. Patel
Probable career field: Computer Science
Irvine High School
NATIONAL MERIT – SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC NORTH AMERICA FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIP

Irene L. Fu
Probable career field: Consulting
Northwood High School
NATIONAL MERIT – AEROJET ROCKETDYNE FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIP

Claire Li
Probable career field: Business
Northwood High School
NATIONAL MERIT – ALLERGAN FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIP

Minu Choi
Probable career field: Psychology
University High School
NATIONAL MERIT – THE PWC CHARITABLE FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIP

Hartejas Dhindsa
Probable career field: Law
University High School
NATIONAL MERIT – BASF CORPORATION SCHOLARSHIP

Patryk T. Kozlowski
Probable career field: Mechanical Engineering
University High School
NATIONAL MERIT – ALLERGAN FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIP

Shivakrish Vasireddy
Probable career field: Computer Science
University High School
NATIONAL MERIT – ADP HENRY TAUB MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP