THREE DONS NAMED NATIONAL MERIT SEMIFINALISTS

On September 14, seniors Andrew Barker, Paul Kinkopf, and Jacob McErlean were named semifinalists in the National Merit® Scholarship Program, sponsored by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC). Approximately 16,000 semifinalists were selected from a pool of about 1.6 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools for the 62nd Annual National Merit Scholarship Program. These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth about $33 million that will be offered next spring.

According to a press release from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, to be considered for a Merit Scholarship® award, semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the finalist level of the competition. About 90 percent of the semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and about half of the finalists go on to win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar® title.

To qualify for the 2017 National Merit Scholarship Program, students had to take the 2015 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. According to NMSC, the nationwide pool of semifinalists, representing less than one percent 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.
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