Platteville High School senior Minjoo Son has been awarded a $2,500 National Merit Scholarship.

The 2,500 Merit Scholar designees, 44 from Wisconsin, were chosen from a talent pool of more than 15,000 finalists in the 2013 National Merit Scholarship Program.

National Merit $2,500 Scholarship winners are the finalists in each state judged to have the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills, and potential for success in rigorous college studies. The number of winners named in each state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the nation’s graduating high school seniors.

Son plans to go into psychiatry, according to a National Merit Scholarship Corp. news release.

The National Merit Scholars were selected by a committee of college admissions officers and high school counselors, who appraised a substantial amount of information submitted by both the Finalists and their high schools: the academic record, including difficulty level of subjects studied and grades earned; scores from two standardized tests; contributions and leadership in school and community activities; an essay written by the Finalist; and a recommendation written by a high school official.

This year’s competition for National Merit Scholarships began in October 2011 when approximately 1.5 million juniors in some 22,000 high schools took the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as an initial screen of program entrants.