National Merit Scholarship Program

The National Merit Scholarship Program is a United States academic scholarship competition for recognition and university scholarships administered by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), a privately funded, not-for-profit organization based in Evanston, Illinois. The program began in 1955.

NMSC conducts two annual competitions for recognition and scholarships: the National Merit Scholarship Program, which is open to all students who meet entry requirements, and (until 2015) the National Achievement Scholarship Program (est. 1964) reserved for African-American students. The highest-achieving students in the National Merit Scholarship Program are designated as National Merit Scholars. Finalists and semi-finalists are also given recognition for their academic and extracurricular achievements. Commended Students are named on the basis of a nationally applied Selection Index score, which may vary from year to year and is typically below the level required for participants to be named Semi-finalists in their respective states. Each year's Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®) is the qualifying test for a student's entry to a particular year's competitions.

About 1.5 million students in some 22,000 high schools enter the National Merit Scholarship competition annually when they take the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®). This serves to screen program entrants, measuring critical reading ability, mathematics problem-solving ability, and writing ability, rather than existing knowledge. Semifinalists are designated on a state representational basis, contingent on the total number of entrants and in proportion to each state’s percentage of the nation’s high school graduating seniors. Semifinalists are the highest-scoring program entrants in each state and represent the top 0.5% percent of the state’s senior students.

To be considered for a National Merit Scholarship, Semifinalists have to fulfill requirements to advance to Finalist standing. Each Semifinalist submits a detailed scholarship application, which includes essays and information about extracurricular achievements, awards, and leadership positions. Semifinalists also have to have an outstanding academic record, be endorsed and recommended by a school official, and earn SAT scores that confirm their qualifying test performance. From the Semifinalist group, a certain number of students, varying from year to year, advance to Finalist standing depending on the above criteria. By the conclusion of the competition, a select group of Finalists are chosen to receive prestigious National Merit Scholarships totaling nearly $35 million. Winners are the Finalist candidates judged to have the strongest combination of academic skills and achievements, extracurricular accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous university studies. Scholarship winners represent fewer than 1% of the initial pool of student entrants, based on official statistics released by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

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