Every year, 150 students out of a pool of more than 91,000 applicants are selected as Coca-Cola Scholars and receive a $20,000 academic scholarship. Over the past 34 years, the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation has provided more than $78 million to over 6,600 scholars.

Before these 150 finalists are selected, around 1,500 students are selected as Semifinalists. These students compete in the next phase of the scholarship application; among them, 250 are selected as regional finalists. Among the 1,557 semifinalists, this year are seniors Stuti Agarwal and Nidhi Mathihalli.

Both Agarwal and Mathihalli first heard about the scholarship after talking to alumni who applied to the Coca-Cola Scholars Program. Class of ‘22 alumni Vignav Ramesh and Anouk Yeh both advanced to be named 2022 regional finalists. Yeh ended up receiving the $20,000 academic scholarship.

As semifinalists, both Mathihalli and Agarwal must now complete a second application where they answer prompts in a free format essay pertaining to activities that they participated in during their time as high school students.

Both students are excited to move on to the next phase of the scholarship application process.

“I am pretty surprised that I was selected as a semifinalist, but I am super grateful and excited for the next phase regardless of the outcome,” Agarwal said.