Congratulations to Ally Kim and Saman Suleman for being recognized as National Merit Scholars! This impressive recognition is a testimony to these students’ efforts and accomplishment throughout their high school years!
As National Merit Scholars, these three students join approximately 7,500 students from across the country as 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 2018 National Merit Scholarship Program.
These Scholars were selected by a committee of college admissions officers and high school counselors, who appraised a substantial amount of information submitted by both the Finalists and their high schools: the academic record, including difficulty level of subjects studied and grades earned; scores from two standardized tests; contributions and leadership in school and community activities; an essay written by the Finalist; and a recommendation written by a high school official. Scholars may use their awards at any regionally accredited U.S. college or university.
This year’s competition for National Merit Scholarships began in October 2016 when
over 1.5 million juniors in some 22,000 high schools took the PSAT, which served as an initial screen of program entrants. Last fall, the highest-scoring participants in each state, representing less than one percent of the nation’s high school seniors, were named Semifinalists on a state representational basis.
From the Semifinalist group, 15,000 students met the very high academic standards and other requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition. By the conclusion of the 2016 program, about 7,500 Finalists earned the “Merit Scholar” title and received a total of about $33 million in college scholarships.
