The Coca-Cola Scholarship is a merit-based scholarship program, designed for high school students entering college, funded through the Coca-Cola Foundation.https://www.coca-colascholars.org/cokeWeb/page.jsp?navigation=6 The program is offered to students who have exhibited exceptional academic and philanthropic skills, and who will be entering into an accredited post-secondary institution upon graduation.https://www.coca-colascholars.org/cokeWeb/faqs.jsp?navigation=14

Each year, the Coke Foundation awards 250 four-year scholarships to students nationwide, these include: scholarships worth $20,000, or $5,000 annually for four years, and 200 four-year awards worth $10,000, or $2,500 annually.https://www.coca-colascholars.org/cokeWeb/faqs.jsp?navigation=14

In order to qualify for one of the 250 scholarships offered by the Coca-Cola Foundation, a student must:

1. Be a high school senior, attending school within the United States
2. Expect to graduate the year the application is filed
3. Plan on attending and pursuing a degree at an accredited four-year institution.
4. Have a minimum grade point average of 3.00 at the end of their junior year in high schoolhttps://www.coca-colascholars.org/cokeWeb/page.jsp?navigation=15
5. Applicants are ineligible if they are the children or grandchildren of Coca-Cola employees, officers, or owners, or any of Coke’s subsidiary companies.

Applications must be filed each year, between August 1 and October 31. A preliminary application is submitted, from which the foundation selects approximately 2,200 semifinalists. Applicants are notified in November, by either mail or email, that they have been selected as a semifinalist, and are then required to submit the second part of the application, including an essay, official transcripts, and two letters of recommendation. This secondary portion of the application is due by mid-January.

From the pool of semifinalist applicants, 250 finalists are selected by the Program Review Committee to attend the final personal interview stage in Atlanta, Georgia. Once the interviews have been conducted, 50 students are selected as National Scholars, and receive an award of $20,000, while the remaining 200 students receive designations as Regional Scholars and receive $10,000.https://www.coca-colascholars.org/cokeWeb/page.jsp?navigation=15