Seniors Sarah Shepard and Sam Hill have been named National Merit Semifinalists for 2015. This means that they are eligible for the scholarships that the National Merit Scholarship Corporation sponsors.
“When I found out I was really excited and happy about the scholarship opportunities that come with this,” Hill said.
For students to participate in the program, they must take the PSAT/NMSQT no later than their third year in high school, no matter what grade he is in. The student also must be enrolled in high school and will go to college the fall after their senior year, and be a citizen or lawful permanent resident.
Of the 1.5 million entrants, about 50,000 with the highs PSAT scores qualify for recognition in the National Merit Scholarship Program. The school notifies students in September if they have qualified as either a commended student or a finalist.
Of the 50,00 students, 16,000 are notified that he has qualified as a semifinalist. The Semifinalists are decided on a state-representational basis; they are the highest scoring entrants in each state.
“I was super stoked that I wouldn’t have to pay as much for college,” Shepard said. “I didn’t do much to prepare for it, but Mrs. Seale helped me out a lot with the essays. I was basically binge writing three essays, because my first two weren’t that good, and she helped me a lot. ”
Semifinalists have to advance into the finalist standing so then they could acquire a merit scholarship. Finalists must report to the NMSC that they have a sponsoring college as their first choice and have applied to the college without accepting any other National Merit Scholarships.
There are three different types of scholarships that the National Merit Scholarship Corporation sponsors. The National Merit $2500 scholarships are ones that every finalist competes for. They are awarded on a state-representational basis. There is also the Corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards, that certain corporations designate awards for their employer’s children or members, or finalists with career plans the sponsor desires to encourage. The last type of scholarship offered is the College-sponsored Merit Scholarship, where officials of each sponsor college select winners of their awards from finalists who have been accepted for admission at the college.
The semifinalists in Arkansas will compete for the National Merit scholarships.Finalists are named in February and scholarship winners are announced in the spring.
