College Board Recognition at SOCES

By: Anya Vaiman '26

On September 19th, information was released on the winners of the College Board National Merit Scholarships and SOCES students were proud to claim the prize. The requirements to apply for the scholarship were to be in the 1% of the nation’s PSAT takers, as well as having an excellent academic performance and a written, personal essay. One SOCES student and winner of this scholarship, Sunny C, says… “I feel pretty lucky, to be honest…since California is one of the biggest and most competitive states.”

But what exactly is College Board? And how can we, as students, apply for the Merit Scholarship next year? Well, here are the answers to all of these questions. College Board is an organization that works to prepare students for college. It administers AP (Advanced Placement) classes, PSAT and SATS, and includes the free, online resource BigFuture, which allows students to learn more about college education and job opportunities. Students who will be eligible for the Merit Scholarship must do well on the PSAT in 11th grade. Approximately 50,000 students out of more than a million test-takers are selected. After this, it is required that you take the SAT, and if you do well, your score may help you become a finalist. It will not, however, determine if you’ve won the scholarship.

You must also maintain an excellent academic performance by having high and consistent grades. Additionally, a letter of recommendation for the finalist is usually written by a principal or other school administrator. The last step in order to qualify for the College Board Merit Scholarship is to write a personal essay that answers a certain prompt (they vary every year.)

When asked about how Sunny worked towards her success and recognition, she answered “I would definitely recommend doing Khan Academy…I think that’s really helpful… I also recommend trying to relax the day before, and don’t take it too seriously. Stressing about it makes your scores worse… just make sure to read everything carefully.”

It’s also important to acknowledge and applaud the awardees of the CollegeBoard National Recognition Program: Damian Moreno, Diego Hernandez, Isabella Gibson, Marie Figueroa-Posadas, Oscar Orellana, Robert Milstead, and Sarah Michaels. Congratulations to all of our Scholarship semi-finalists and winners!

College Board also gives out AP Scholar awards to students who passed/took AP exams, and our AP Scholars got recently got recognition for it. If a student has an average of a 3.25 score on their AP exams, they receive the AP Scholar with Honor award. If a student got 3's or higher on 5 or more exams, they receive the highest AP Scholar award, the AP Scholar with Distinction award. Students who were awarded this distinction received a free lunch that culinary cooked for them.