In the last week, a select group of students were awarded the Merit Scholarship Awards. Scholarship recipient, Sage Porter ’24 sheds light on the application process.

“There’s an application process for the semi-finalists,” Porter said. “So we have to apply through the scholarship website. And then we write like an essay, send our SAT scores and send out the application. And then we pretty much just wait.”
Porter didn’t expect to be selected, so when she was notified of the award, she was pleasantly surprised.

“For the National Merit Scholarship, the results are based on the PSAT, which we took at the beginning of the junior year,” Porter said. “I didn’t know it was this important or had any real repercussions, so I didn’t prepare much for that. But for the SAT, I used resources like Khan Academy to study.”
Porter also emphasized the importance of students being informed about the Merit Scholarship beforehand.
“I didn’t know that it was a thing until I found out just a few weeks ago that I was eligible for it,” Porter said. “But had I known beforehand, I definitely would have done more.”