National Merit Competition
The National Merit Scholarship Program is an academic competition for recognition and college scholarships that originated in 1955 (National Merit Student Program Guide). High School students enter the program by taking the Preliminary SAT® / National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT®/NMSQT). The PSAT®/NMSQT is an initial screening exam in which 1.6 million students will complete in October each school year. These students will have to meet stringent requirements to matriculate into advanced competition rounds. A student’s academic grade point average, academic courses, ACT®/SAT® confirming scores, and extracurricular activities are critical to keep advancing toward becoming a winner.
The NMSQT is an academic challenging contest and very few individuals will be capable of becoming winners. The contest begins with 1.6 million students witch is cut down to 7,500 winners. The probability of becoming a winner is .4%. You must take this into consideration when planning a study routine.
National Merit Flow Chart
The NMSQT (diagram to left) begins with 1.6 million students each October and these students will ultimately be differentiated into 7,500 winners. The National Merit Scholarship Counsel (NMSC) begins differentiating students based on the state selection index scores by doubling the sum of the Reading, Writing and Language, and Math Test scores of the PSAT®/NMSQT to identify 50,000 high-scoring students who qualify for the contest. The 50,000 will be differentiated into two groups; one group of 34,000 students who receive Letters of Commendations, and another group of 16,000 who become Semifinalists. The Semifinalists are the highest-scoring entrants in each state. The NMSC will notify the Semifinalists through their schools and provide scholarship application materials explaining additional requirements to advance in the competition. Fifteen thousand (15,000) Finalists will be chosen from the Semifinalists who meet academic and other requirements. All National Merit Scholarship winners will be chosen based on their abilities, skills, and accomplishments. From the Finalists 7500 winners and 1100 Special Scholarship recipients will emerge. The Special Scholarship recipients will be outstanding students who meet corporate eligibility criteria. The winners will be notified of three types of National Merit Scholarships: National Merit $2500 Scholarships, Corporate-sponsored scholarships, and College-sponsored scholarships.