The Coca Cola Scholars Foundation annually offers a wide variety of scholarships to high school seniors. Scholarships offered by the Foundation program are some of the most sought after scholarships each year, largely due to the fact that they are so generous; 50 National Scholars will receive $20,000, and 200 Regional Scholars will receive $10,000. Another interesting aspect of these scholarships are that they do not only go to students attending the very top schools of the country, but are fairly distributed based on achievement (rather than academic achievement).
Their scholarship program works in two rounds. First, approximately 2,200 applicants will be selected as semifinalists and notified by mail and email around December 1. Semifinalists must then complete a secondary application, which includes essays, official transcripts, and 2 letters of recommendation. Applications for semifinalists are due by mid-January. The Program Review Committee will then select 250 Finalists to advance to the final interview phase. Notifications are sent mid-February. In April, the 250 Finalists are invited to Atlanta (where Coca Cola’s HQ is located) for personal interviews. The finalists are interviewed by a National Selection Committee representing outstanding leaders in business, government, education and the arts. 50 students are then designated as National Scholars and receive awards of $20,000 for college; 200 students are designated as Regional Scholars and receive awards of $10,000 for college.
To get a vague idea of what type of students win this scholarship, check out profiles of winners from previous years. The application for this scholarship is not out yet, but will be available from August until October 31st. The subsequent semifinalist and finalist process will take until April (or it could end earlier for you, but hopefully not!).
As always, best of luck!
