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6-05-2024 4:51am
3 Local Students Named Among 27 in MA to Receive College/University Sponsored National Merit Scholarships
Darlene Cancell
Editor
Three local students are among a total of 27 from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts who have been designated recipients of U.S. college and university sponsored National Merit Scholarship awards, said the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) in an announcement released to the public on June 5, 2024. In this cycle of National Merit Scholarship awards, 2,900 awards are being granted nationwide.
In the previous cycle of awards announced in early May, 56 students from MA (including Jason Guo of Westwood) received corporate-sponsored scholarships that numbered 2,500 nationwide.
In the current cycle of announced awards, the nation’s colleges and universities appear particularly interested in supporting students who are likely to pursue careers in science/applied science, and engineering in particular. Of the 27 Massachusetts students whom the nation’s colleges and universities have chosen to honor, 15 award designees have indicated plans to pursue careers in engineering, 3 plan to enter medicine, 1 plans for a career in neurosurgery, 2 plan for careers in computer science, 1 is interested in chemistry, and 1 is interested in physics. Only 4 of the scholarship award designees anticipate pursuing careers outside of science. They indicate their areas of career interest to be investment banking, international business, law, and the classics.
Kevin. M. Tolan of Canton, student at Xaverian Brothers High School in Westwood, is recipient of the National Merit Tufts University Scholarship. He has indicated that his probable career field is chemical engineering.
Yasu. P. Patel of Needham, a student at Needham High School in Needham, is being awarded the National Merit Florida State University Scholarship. Yasu’s probable career field is neurosurgery.
Jackson N. Moss of Wellesley attends Wellesley High School and is the recipient of the National Merit Texas A&M University Scholarship. He lists his probable career field as mechanical engineering.
Officials of each sponsor college selected their scholarship winners from among the Finalists in the 2024 National Merit Scholarship Program who plan to attend their institution. These awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the sponsoring educational institution.
An additional group of Scholars will be announced in July, bringing the total number of college-sponsored Merit Scholarship recipients in the 2024 competition to more than 3,600.
High school juniors entered the 2024 National Merit Scholarship Program when they took the 2022 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. Semifinalists were the highest-scoring program entrants in each state and represented less than one percent of the nation’s seniors.
Each Semifinalist was asked to submit a detailed scholarship application describing their 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 qualifying SAT or ACT scores. From the Semifinalist group, over 15,000 met requirements for Finalist standing, and about half of the Finalists will be Merit Scholarship winners in 2024.
The majority of National Merit Scholarships are provided each year with the support of approximately 320 independent corporate and college sponsors. Along with NMSC, the scholarship sponsors seek to enhance educational opportunities for America’s scholastically talented youth and to encourage the pursuit of academic excellence.
Thanks to National Merit Scholarship Corporation for sharing this news with Westwood Minute.
