Darien High School 2020 Grad Sophia Talwalkar is College-Sponsored Merit Scholarship Winner

Today, National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) announced over 650 additional winners of National Merit Scholarships financed by colleges and universities. These Merit Scholar designees join more than 3,300 other college-sponsored award recipients who were announced in June.

Among them is Darien resident and Darien High School 2020 graduate, Sophia C. Talwalkar who received National Merit Northwestern University Scholarship. 

This final group of winners brings the number of 2020 National Merit Scholars to about 7,600. These distinguished high school graduates will receive scholarships for undergraduate study worth a total of over $30 million. In addition to college-sponsored awards, two other types of National Merit Scholarships were offered—2,500 National Merit $2500 Scholarships, for which all Finalists competed, and more than 1,000 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards for Finalists who met criteria specified by their grantor organizations.

NMSC, a not-for-profit corporation that operates without government assistance, was founded in 1955 to conduct the National Merit Scholarship Program. Over the past 65 years, more than 353,000 outstanding young individuals have won National Merit Scholarships worth over $1.2 billion. The majority of awards offered each year are underwritten by approximately 400 independent corporate and college sponsors that support NMSC’s efforts to recognize scholastically talented youth and encourage the pursuit of academic excellence.