On September 14, 2016 officials of National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) will announce the names of approximately 16, 000 Seminfinalists in the 62nd annual National Merit Scholarship Program. These acadmically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in competition for some 7, 500 National Merit Scholarships worth about $33 million to be offered next spring. To be considered for a Merit Scholarship award, Semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of competition.
NMSC, a not-for-profit organization, was established in 1955. Approximately 420 business organizations and higher education institutions also contribute to NMSC's goals of honoring the nation's scholastic champions and and to encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence.
About 1.6 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2017 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2015 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Test (PSAT/NMSQT), which serves as the initial screening for qualification. The number of Semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state's percentage of the national total of graduating seniors. A Semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record, write an essay, earn SAT scores that confirm PSAT performance, and receive school endorsement. From the approximately 16,000 Semifinalists, about 15,000 are expected to advance to the Finalist level; in February they will be notified of this designation. All National Merit Scholarship winners will be selected from the Finalist group.
Three types of National Merit Scholarships will be offered in the spring of 2017:
We are very proud to have several River Hill High School students who have been selected as Semifinalists. Nicholas Baronowsky, Paige Caine, Iris Hu, Natalie Kelley, Nicholas Kim, Nicholas Torre, Renee Tung, Alice Wei, Benjamin Xu.