Every year, more than 100,000 students apply for the Coca-Cola Scholarship.

Every year, only 150 students are accepted.

This year, seniors Sanjay Bohil and Reagan Graeme applied for the scholarship alongside 107,000 other  applicants. Winners receive $20,000 to fund any form of education for the next 10 years.

“It’s the most applied to scholarship nationally, and it’s a scholarship (that is) big on leadership and merit,” Bohil said. “So you have your academics and you have your community impact, along with any sort of merit through national or international awards. It’s really just a scholarship on everything, like an accumulative scholarship on leadership.”

The first part of the process starts from Aug. 1 and the cut-off date for their application is on Sept. 30. To be considered, students must submit a report on their activities, extracurriculars and accomplishments.

“You have to list all school and academic activities, along with your involvement in each from various different categories,” Bohil said. “Then you have your publications, student media or performing arts. And then you list your community activities.”

Semifinalists are notified during October with their acceptances or rejections from the second section, during which the number of applicants is cut from 100,000 applicants to just 1,000 students across the country. These 1,000 students are then given until the end of November to complete their second application.

“The second round had six essays, a bit more extracurricular information and then a recommendation letter,” Graeme said.

The number of students will drop further to 250 in late January to early February after another meticulous application process, and then finally, in April, regional finalists are invited to Atlanta to confirm their selection as Coca-Cola Scholars. Aside from the prize money, many Coke Scholars have gone on to be extremely successful in their respective fields.

“Obviously, (the scholarship) is going to be very helpful towards any college, but the Coca-Cola alum ni network is incredible,” Graeme said. “And the people and the connections you have are truly so important. I think that these 150 or so finalists who meet at the official Coca Cola summit will be friends and stay connected forever.”

The entire process of becoming a Coke scholar takes around nine months, and in the end, there really is no major disadvantage to applying.

“For college acceptances, there’s a huge happiness factor if I get (a college scholarship), and I’d probably be sad or upset if I didn’t. But (the Coca-Cola scholarship) is different because it’s not determining where you’re going to spend the next four years,” Graeme said. “It’s just a huge monetary help (that connects you) to a big network and great group of people, so I’m not too nervous about it.”