How many National Merit Scholars are there each year?

How many participants are honored annually in the National Merit Scholarship Program? A total of about 50,000 participants receive recognition in the National Merit^® Scholarship Program. In early September, over 16,000 of the 50,000 high scorers will be notified that they have qualified as Semifinalists.

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.

How many people get National Merit every year?

Winning a National Merit Scholarship is no easy task. Each year, approximately 50,000 students (out of 1.4 million juniors) qualify for recognition based on their high PSAT score . Around 34,000 of these students receive Letters of Commendation from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

How many National Merit finalists are there 2023?

The 2,500 Merit Scholar designees were chosen from a talent pool of more than 15,000 outstanding Finalists in the 2023 National Merit Scholarship Program.

Is being a National Merit Scholar a big deal?

Reaching the status of National Merit Commended Scholar or Semifinalist is a strong indicator of your academic excellence to include in your application and may enable you to apply for Special Scholarships. The best way to get yourself in the running for the National Merit Scholarship is to prepare for the PSAT/NMSQT.

National Merit Scholarship Program: What Is It and How It Works?

How impressive is National Merit?

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.

Was Bill Gates a National Merit Scholar?

He was a National Merit Scholar when he graduated from Lakeside School in 1973. He scored 1590 out of 1600 on the Scholastic Aptitude Tests (SAT) and enrolled at Harvard College in the autumn of 1973. He chose a pre-law major but took mathematics (including Math 55) and graduate level computer science courses.

How hard is it to become a National Merit finalist?

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.

How prestigious is National Merit finalist?

Recognition: Being a National Merit Finalist is a significant achievement and can be included on college applications, resumes, and other professional documents. Increased college admissions chances: Many colleges and universities give preferential treatment to National Merit Finalists in the admissions process.

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.

Is NHS a national merit?

National Merit Finalist and National Merit Scholar recognition are both appropriately designated as National honors. Since National Honor Society selection is done at the school level, you should designate it as a school honor.

How do I know if I am a National Merit Semifinalist?

National Merit Semifinalist Qualifying Scores

The NMSC uses its own Selection Index to determine which students qualify as Commended Students and Semifinalists. In general, students who score in the top 3-4% are named Commended Scholars, while students who score in the top 1% are deemed Semifinalists.

What is the average score of National Merit Scholars?

PSAT NMSQT Qualifying Scores for 2022

Selection Index cutoffs compare the scores of test takers in each state. You'll probably get national percentiles on your PSAT score report, but state percentiles are the ones NMSC uses to award students. The average of all the PSAT NMSQT qualifying scores is 215.

Which schools have the most National Merit finalists?

What is the difference between a semifinalist and a finalist in National Merit?

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.

How rare is National Merit Semifinalist?

Semifinalists. 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.

How many National Merit finalists get money?

How many Finalists win a 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.

How many National Merit finalists become scholars?

About 95 percent of the Semifinalists are expected to attain Finalist standing, and about half of the Finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar® title. The release is made available here to provide information about the National Merit Scholarship Program.

Does Harvard accept National Merit Scholarship?

Outside Awards

Like many of our students, you may receive scholarship funds from sources outside Harvard, such as secondary schools, civic organizations, your parental employers, corporations, the National Merit Scholarship Programs, and the ROTC.

What are the benefits of being a National Merit finalist?

Is National Merit hard to get?

The program is administered by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), a privately-funded non-profit organization. Winning a National Merit Scholarship is a fairly difficult undertaking. Each year, the NMSC screens approximately 1.5 million qualifying entrants.

Did Mark Zuckerberg finish college?

Mark Zuckerberg dropped out of college in 2004 to devote himself to Facebook, which he had founded at Harvard University with four fellow students there—Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes. Mark Zuckerberg (born May 14, 1984, White Plains, New York, U.S.)

What percent of people are National Merit Scholars?

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.

How many National Merit Scholars go to Harvard?

The following schools enrolled massive numbers of Merit Scholar awardees in one recent freshman class: Harvard University: 195. Stanford University: 157. MIT: 147.