Overview of Scholar Selection

The most important thing to know is the Coca-Cola Scholars applicants, Semifinalists, and Regional Finalists are considered within one of 10 Selection Districts (SDs). SDs are groupings of states that have the same approximate number of high school students based on federal data. This is the map of our SDs.

PHASE 1 (August 1 - September 30) | Open Application

• High school seniors who meet the required criteria may submit an online application. Each year, approximately 250,000 begin an application, and approximately 100,000 submit a full application.
• Following the deadline, scores are assigned to each application based on grades, course rigor, school activities (leadership roles, duration), community activities (leadership roles, duration), self-reported service hours, work, and awards and accomplishments.
• The ~500 top-scoring applicants in each SD are considered to determine which ~130 advance as Semifinalists.

PHASE 2 (October - December) | Semifinalists

• The ~1300 Semifinalists (~130 in each of 10 SDs) are invited to complete a second-round application to share more detail about their school and community leadership, service, and involvement; submit a recommendation and transcript; and reply to essay prompts.
• Once Semifinalist (SF) applications are complete, they are read and reviewed by 10, 3-person teams. These reading teams are comprised of experienced professionals who work in college admissions, either from the university side or the secondary school world. Here, the candidates' academic qualifications are considered.
• These teams make recommendations of the top candidates to advance to the interview stage as Regional Finalists.
• The CCSF takes into consideration these recommendations along with consideration for Bottler, state, and community representation to determine which 25 in each SD advance to the interview stage as Regional Finalists.

PHASE 3 (January - February) | Regional Finalists

• The 250 Regional Finalists (25 in each of 10 SDs) are invited to participate in ~20-minute interviews.
• Regional Interview Committees (RICs) are comprised of one CCSF staff and 2-3 older Coca-Cola Scholars.
• Following interviews, RICs recommend which 15 of the 25 RFs to be named Coca-Cola Scholars
• Following final valiation of these recommendations by CCSF, these 150 RFs (15 in each of the 10 SDs) are notified of their status and invited to Coca-Cola Scholars Weekend in Atlanta to have their selection confirmed through participation in Scholars Weekend leadership and service activities.