Interviews with Class of 2026 National Merit Students Part 4 (National Merit Finalist!)

About this episode

Dr. Riley interviews National Merit finalist Dharshan about the impact of a liberal arts education on academic success.

Over the years, College App 101 podcasts have provided many tips on taking the Preliminary SAT, also known as the PSAT. Elite performance on the PSAT during junior year can result in arguably the most prestigious academic honor for high school students: National Merit status. In the present episode, Dr. Riley interviews Dharshan, a National Merit finalist from the high school class of 2026, giving special emphasis to the role of a classical, great books, liberal arts education in preparing te...

People in this episode

Host: Dr. Riley

Guest: Dharshan

Topics covered

• National Merit
• PSAT
• education
• interview
• liberal arts

Keywords

• National Merit
• PSAT
• interview
• education
• liberal arts
• Class of 2026

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: National Merit, PSAT

Places: Class of 2026

More episodes of College App 101

• Interviews with Class of 2026 National Merit Students Part 5 · June 10, 2026 · 18 min
• Interviews with Class of 2026 National Merit Students Part 3 · May 9, 2026 · 23 min
• Interviews with Class of 2026 National Merit Students Part 2 · April 20, 2026 · 24 min
• Interviews with Class of 2026 National Merit Students Part 1 · April 11, 2026 · 20 min
• Developing a Love for Learning Part 3 · March 15, 2026 · 23 min
• Interview with a College Student about Major · February 14, 2026 · 17 min