The names of approximately 16,000 semifinalists in the 52nd annual National Merit Scholarship Program were announced recently by officials of the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. Two members of the Class of 2007 at Chelmsford High School, Harrison Chen and Nathaniel Ledwith, were among those named. These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 8,200 Merit Scholarship awards, worth $33 million, that will be offered next spring. To be considered for a Merit Scholarship award, semifinalists must advance to the finalist level of the competition by fulfilling several requirements. About 90 percent of the semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and approximately half of the finalists will be selected as merit scholarship winners, earning the Merit Scholar title.

More than 1.4 million juniors in nearly 21,000 high schools entered the 2007 National Merit Program by taking the 2005 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), which served as a initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of semifinalists, which represents less than 1 percent of the United States high school seniors, includes the highest scoring entrants in each state. The number of semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.

To become a finalist, a semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by the school principal, and earn SAT scores that confirm the student’s earlier qualifying test performance. The semifinalist and a school official must submit a detailed scholarship application, which includes the student’s self-descriptive essay and information about the semifinalist’s participation and leadership in school and community activities.

Approximately 15,000 semifinalists will advance to the finalist level and it is from this group that all Merit Scholarship winners will be chosen. Merit Scholar designees are selected on the basis of their skills, accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies, without regard to gender, race, ethnic origin, or religious preference.

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 23rd, 2006 at 8:04 pm and is filed under Education, Scholarship. Tags: College, Scholarship, Student. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.