Do National Merit Semifinalists get money?

Winners receive one of three types of awards—National Merit Scholarships, corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards, or college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards. Certain universities will also award sizable merit aid scholarships (up to full tuition), even for Semifinalists.

What are the benefits of being a National Merit Semifinalist?

National Merit Semifinalists

Gaining recognition as a National Merit Semifinalist is a prestigious achievement to include on college applications, and many colleges and corporate sponsors offer special scholarships to these students, even if they don't become finalists.

How much money does a National Merit semifinalist get?

The National Merit Scholarship awards $2,500 to each National Merit Scholar. Every year, around 7,500 high school juniors receive a National Merit Scholarship.

Do colleges care National Merit Semifinalists?

While being a National Merit semifinalist might be a nice thing to add to your achievements, it is not something that will necessarily get you into a college for sure. Colleges are more interested in your actual SAT or ACT score than they are your PSAT score.

What do you get for being a National Merit finalist?

National Merit^® $2500 Scholarships

All Finalists compete with all other Finalists in their state or other selection unit. Awards provide a one-time payment of $2,500.

How to Win a National Merit Scholarship | PSAT Tips

Do all National Merit finalists get money?

Ultimately, a National Merit finalist has about a 50% chance of being selected as a National Merit scholar. 7,250 finalists will become National Merit Scholars, receiving a National Merit Scholarship amount of $2,500 to help cover the cost of college.

Is National Merit Semifinalist a big deal?

This is considered a great honor that is documented in a Certificate of Merit. Around 15,000 semifinalists advance to this standing. Merit Scholars: About 7,500 seniors are notified in March that they received the designation of “Merit Scholar” and are awarded the $2,500 National Merit Scholarship.

How much money do you get for National Merit?

How Much Is the National Merit Scholarship Worth? The National Merit Scholarship awards $2,500 to each National Merit Scholar. Every year, around 7,500 high school juniors receive a National Merit Scholarship.

What happens if you are a National Merit semifinalist?

To compete for National Merit Scholarships, Semifinalists must advance to the Finalist level of the competition by fulfilling several additional requirements. A Semifinalist can become a Finalist and compete for a Merit Scholarship award in only one program year.

Is National Merit finalist worth it?

Scholarship Opportunities: National Merit Finalists are eligible for prestigious scholarships, including the National Merit Scholarship Program, corporate-sponsored scholarships, and college-sponsored scholarships. These scholarships can provide substantial financial support for higher education.

How hard is it to be a National Merit Semifinalist?

Regardless of the exact cutoff for your state, all of the students who qualify earn high scores—less than the top 1% of high school students advance to become Semifinalists. The College Board includes this on your PSAT score report if you're eligible.

What are the benefits of being a National Merit Scholar?

Does being a National Merit finalist help you get into college?

Look at any university's published statistics about their incoming freshman class. If they list the number of admitted students who are National Merit Scholars it is more likely being one will give you a boost in admissions.

How rare is a National Merit Scholar?

A specific number of students, which varies each year, advance to Finalist standing based on these criteria. At the end of the competition, a select group of Finalists are chosen to receive $2500 National Merit Scholarships. Scholarship winners represent less than 1% of the initial pool of student entrants.

Does Harvard accept National Merit?

Some colleges that do NOT sponsor scholarships for National Merit students include Harvard and other Ivy League schools, Middlebury College, MIT, Stanford, and Williams College. You must choose one of the sponsor colleges as your first-choice school on your application to be considered for a scholarship.

Are National Merit Scholars smart?

Assuming the lower bound is 131, the median National Merit Scholar (a student at the 50th percentile of the group) will have an IQ of 135.

Is it hard to become a National Merit finalist?

Yes, it is difficult to get to National Merit Scholar. It's quite an honor and opens doors to some very generous scholarship possibilities. If a student is not interested in any of the schools that offer these awards, there is still the one time $2500 grant.

How many people get National Merit Scholarship?

Approximately 7,140 National Merit Scholarships will be awarded. No student can receive more than one monetary award from NMSC. See Types of Scholarships for further details.

What percent of students get National Merit Semifinalist?

More than 16,000 of the high scorers, representing less than 1% of the nation's high school graduating seniors, will qualify as Semifinalists. Only Semifinalists will have an opportunity to advance in the competition for Merit Scholarship^® awards.

Is National Merit top 1%?

The top 1%, usually about 16,000 students, are named National Merit Semifinalists. Semifinalists may go on to apply for Finalist status and potentially win scholarship money. As I mentioned above, NMSC uses its own Selection Index along with state percentiles. Let's take a look at how your scores convert to this index.

What score is good enough for National Merit?

National Merit cutoff scores

You can see that a Selection Index score of 221 would qualify a student for National Merit Semifinalist status in most states, but some states required higher scores, including Massachusetts, with a cutoff of 222, and New Jersey, with a cutoff of 223.

Do Ivy Leagues care about National Merit?

Ivy League schools don't award any merit scholarships, which includes National Merit Scholarships. These schools have the highest achieving students applying to their institutions and would rather award need-based financial aid to assist the most students in a fair and equitable manner.

What is the difference between National Merit finalist and semifinalist?

To compete for National Merit Scholarships, Semifinalists must advance to the Finalist level of the competition by fulfilling several additional requirements. A Semifinalist can become a Finalist and compete for a Merit Scholarship award in only one program year.

What PSAT score do you need to be a National Merit Scholar?

The Selection Index ranges from 48-228 and is equal to the sum of your test scores for Math, Reading, and Writing and Language. For the 2022 scholarship cycle, 207 represented the national qualifying score cutoff.

Where does National Merit Scholarship money come from?

Who finances NMSC scholarships? National Merit Scholarship Corporation scholarships are supported by about 160 corporations, company foundations and businesses, and by NMSC's own funds. In addition, approximately 160 colleges and universities provide National Merit® Scholarships.