How many people get the National Merit Scholarship?

Of the 15,000 Finalists, about 8,000 receive Merit Scholarship awards. All Finalists are considered for one of the 2,500 National Merit $2,500 Scholarships.

What is the chance of getting National Merit Scholarship?

Only about half of Finalists become National Merit Scholars and receive a National Merit Scholarship. There are three types of scholarships for Finalists, each with its own criteria. A student can only receive one type of scholarship.

How many people qualify for National Merit Scholarship?

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.

Is National Merit Scholarship prestigious?

Financial Need : While the National Merit Scholarship is a prestigious award, it is not need-based. This means that students from lower-income families may have a harder time affording college even if they do receive this scholarship.

How many National Merit finalists are there 2023?

(Evanston, Illinois) Today, National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC®) announced this year's National Merit $2500 Scholarship winners. 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.

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

How rare is National Merit finalist?

A finalist chances of winning

Of the 1.5 million applicants who submitted a PSAT score, there are only 7,250 National Merit Scholarship winners. This means you have a 0.5% chance of becoming a National Merit Scholar, making this one of the most competitive merit-based scholarships.

How prestigious is National Merit finalist?

The National Merit Scholarship Program is one of the most prestigious merit-based scholarship programs. And every year, over 1 million high school juniors enter the competition for a National Merit Scholarship.

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.

How rare is National Merit Semifinalist?

Unlike the national Commended cutoff, Semifinalist cutoffs are calculated state by state. NMSC allocates the 16,000 semifinalists among states based on the annual number of high school graduates. For example, California sees about 2,000 Semifinalists every year, Michigan 500, and Wyoming 25.

Is National Merit impressive?

As mentioned above, becoming a National Merit Semifinalist is an impressive achievement in itself, since just the top 1% of scorers in a given state receive that recognition.

How many people get the 2500 National Merit Scholarship?

Of the 15,000 Finalists, about 8,000 receive Merit Scholarship awards. All Finalists are considered for one of the 2,500 National Merit $2,500 Scholarships.

How many people get National Merit every year?

In each annual National Merit Scholarship Program, about 50,000 academically talented high school students are honored, but only some 16,000 of them are named Semifinalists.

Do National Merit finalists get money?

In the National Merit^® Scholarship Program, three types of Merit Scholarship^® awards are offered to Finalists: National Merit $2500 Scholarships, corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards, and college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards.

How do I know if I qualify for National Merit Scholarship?

United States high school students enter the National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the Preliminary S A T/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which serves as an initial screen of over 1.5 million entrants each year, and by meeting published program entry and participation requirements.

How hard is National Merit?

Each year, the NMSC screens approximately 1.5 million qualifying entrants. Of those entrants, only about 16,000 students will be named Semifinalists based on their PSAT scores and other achievements. If you reach Semifinalist status, your odds of becoming a Merit Scholar Finalist are extremely high.

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.

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 1400 enough for National Merit?

First, a 1400 is an excellent score on the PSAT, so congratulations on that achievement. However, whether it qualifies for National Merit does depend on the state you're in, as whether or not you're named a semifinalist depends on whether your score is within the top 1% of test-takers in your state.

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.

Do Ivy Leagues care about National Merit?

Universities have the option to sponsor a National Merit Scholarship in an effort to net freshmen who have earned this impressive distinction. However, many highly-selective schools like those in the Ivy League or Ivy-equivalent colleges choose not to participate in this merit-based scholarship program.

What percentage of National Merit finalists get scholarships?

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.

What score is good 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.

What percent of people are National Merit Scholars?

More than 16,000 of the high scorers, representing less than 1% of the nation's high school graduating seniors, will qualify as Semifinalists.

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.