photos by Alison Green and Chris Caselli
reported by Laura Ross, Director of College Counseling

The National Merit Scholarship Program is an academic scholarship competition for recognition and college scholarships administered by National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), a privately funded, not-for-profit organization. The program began in 1955, and each year a total of approximately 10,500 scholarships are awarded.

Of the 1.4 million entrants, about 50,000 qualify for recognition. Two-thirds of those qualified receive Letters of Commendation; the remainder become Semifinalists, about 94% of whom go on to become Finalists.

Over half of the Finalists are selected to receive scholarships underwritten by corporations and business organizations, colleges and universities, and by NMSC with its own funds.

In late September, more than two-thirds or about 34,000 of the approximately 50,000 high scorers on the PSAT/NMSQT receive Letters of Commendation in recognition of their outstanding academic promise. Commended Students are named on the basis of a nationally applied Selection Index score that may vary from year to year and is below the level required for participants to be named Semifinalists in their respective states. Although Commended Students do not continue in the competition for National Merit Scholarships, some of these students do become candidates for special scholarships sponsored by corporations and businesses.

(Back row): Elizabeth Tyson, Keenan McDonald, Gus Kilgore, Rachel Celniker, Wesley Patterson, Cici McMullen, Max Daniller-Varghese, and Thomas Cochran (Front row): Jake Nevola, Nicholas Ellis, Carlotta Garza, and Taylor Nelson (Not pictured): Joshua Ellis, and Arthur Sillers

The National Merit Scholarship Corp. has selected eight St. Stephen’s Episcopal School students as Semifinalists in the competition for Merit Scholarship awards. The National Merit Semifinalists at St. Stephen’s include:

The Spartans were among 16,000 Semifinalists selected from more than 1.3 million student competitors. The nationwide pool of Semifinalists represents less than 1 percent of U.S. high school seniors.

National Merit Finalists are announced in February; winners of National Merit Scholarship Awards are chosen from the group of 16,000 Finalists.