Two local high school students were named as semifinalists in the 2018 National Merit Scholarship Program earlier this week.
Claire Murphy of Oakwood School and Amanda Jackson of Ann Sobrato High School were among 16,000 semifinalists in the 63rd annual National Merit Scholarship Program.
The selection allows the two Morgan Hill students the opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $32 million for next spring.
To become a finalist, the semifinalist and his or her high school must submit a detailed scholarship application, in which they provide information about the student’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 scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test.
About 15,000 semifinalists are expected to advance to the finalist level. They will be notified of this designation in February 2018. 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.
Approximately 1.6 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2018 program by taking the 2016 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of semifinalists, representing less than 1 percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state.
