Officials of National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC®) announced the names of more than 16,000 semifinalists in the 72nd annual National Merit Scholarship Program. These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to

continue in the competition for about 6,700 National Merit Scholarships worth approximately $24 million that will be offered in the spring. To be considered for a Merit Scholarship® award, semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the finalist level of the competition.

About 95% of the semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing and approximately half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar® title. 

NMSC, a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance, was established in 1955 specifically to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship Program.

Scholarships are underwritten by NMSC with its own funds and by about 260 business organizations, higher education institutions and individual donors that share NMSC’s goals of honoring the nation’s scholastic champions and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence.

Over 1.2 million juniors in about 20,000 high schools entered the 2027 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2025 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of semifinalists, representing less than 1% of U.S. 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, the semifinalist and a high school official must submit a detailed scholarship application in which information is provided about the semifinalist’s academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment and honors and awards received. A semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay and earn SAT® or ACT® scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test.

From over 16,000 semifinalists, more than 15,000 are expected to advance to the finalist level, and in February they will be notified of this designation. All National Merit Scholarship winners will be selected from this group of finalists. 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.

Three types of National Merit Scholarships will be offered in the spring of 2027. Every finalist will compete for one of 2,500 National Merit® $2500 scholarships that will be awarded on a state-representational basis. About 700 corporate-sponsored Merit scholarship awards will be provided by approximately 120 corporations and business organizations for finalists who meet their specified criteria, such as children of the grantor’s employees or residents of communities where

sponsor plants or offices are located. In addition, about 140 colleges and universities are expected to finance some 3,500 college-sponsored Merit scholarship awards for finalists who will attend the sponsor institution.

The scholarship recipients, who will be announced throughout April and concluding in July, will join over 395,000 other distinguished young people who have earned the Merit Scholar title.

Attending La Cañada Flintridge Preparatory School, earning a semifinalist spot are Ryan Fong, Ruth Liorsdottir, Katelyn Liu, Siying Lu, Evan Noh, Gabriel Shaw and Ella Wang; attending La Cañada High School, earning a semifinalist spot are Heath Chung, Rihan Cooray-Woods, Peter Kouz, Reid Shanas, Arshan Soltanzadeh, Irene Sung and Carlo Weinberg; attending St. Francis High School Ryan J. Chen earned a semifinalist spot.

From La Crescenta, attending Clark Magnet High School, Erik Antoshechkin,

David Mnatsakanyan earned semifinalist spots. Attending Crescenta Valley High School, Lauren Lee, Seol-Ah Park, Erica Seong and Alexander Wilson earned semifinalist spots.