Two seniors were named recipients of $2,500 National Merit Scholarships May 6. Out of a pool of more than 15,000 finalists, 7,500 students nationwide received scholarships.

The seniors honored with award are Talia Brenner, who intends to study history at Brown, and Lauren Phillips, who intends to study medicine at University of Southern California.

In order to qualify as a National Merit Semifinalist, seniors must score in the 99th percentile on the PSAT, scoring at least a 221 out of 240. Twelve Whitman seniors qualified as semifinalists in the fall.

After students were declared semifinalists based on their PSAT score, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation looked at resumés submitted by the applicants in order to select finalists.

“They considered the GPA, extracurriculars and other standardized test scores on our resume when determining winners,” Brenner said.

Once the NMSC selected finalists, participants submitted essays to apply for the scholarship.

“The essay I used was essentially a shorter version of my Common Application essay,” Phillips said. “I wrote about my experience volunteering in Tanzania where I spent about three weeks tutoring children in local orphanages.”

Both Brenner and Phillips will be given $2,500 towards their college tuitions from the National Merit program, but Phillips’ finalist award will be especially helpful because she is attending USC.

“At USC, they have a policy where any student who is a National Merit Scholar automatically gets half tuition,” Phillips said. “So in addition to the $2,500 that NMSC gives out, I also get around $24,000 a year from USC.”

Brenners and Phillip continue a streak of Whitman students earning impressive academic achievement, succeeding last year’s recipients Carson Lystad and Ben Talisman.

“It’s definitely an honor to be chosen,” Phillips said. “But I’m surprised that more people from Whitman weren’t chosen because we have such a smart and talented senior class.”