This year’s National Merit Scholar Semifinalists were announced on Sept. 11. The semifinalists from PHS are seniors Samantha Lai, Daniel Hahn, Forest Wakeling, Maya Thomas, and Spencer Kim.
Of over one million students taking the PSAT, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation selects 50,000 students to be recognized in the National Merit program. Sixteen thousand of these students continue in the competition as semifinalists, and 15,000 of the 16,000 semifinalists will be announced as finalists in February 2014. Eight thousand students will receive National Merit Scholarships, according to www.nationalmerit.org.
In order to be a National Merit Scholar, one must score in the 99th percentile on the PSAT their junior year in high school.
“I think you have to score in the mid 200s on the PSAT to be a National Merit Scholar, but it’s different every year. I knew I would get National Merit when I saw my PSAT score,” Wakeling said.
Cutoff scores for previous National Merit Semifinalists are online, but they vary state to state. However, most scores stay within range.
“I was happy to get it but I’d already looked at cutoff scores from last year so I was pretty sure I’d made it and most of my anxiety was waiting for the score to come back after I took the test,” Lai said.
On the PSAT, because there are less possible points, there is more room for fluctuation, so just a few mistakes could really lower one’s score, Hahn said.
Hahn said he was very excited when he found out he was a semifinalist, and that this accomplishment was important to him.
“At this point, being a semifinalist might give me a little help on college admissions,” he said. “After that, of course, money is money! Tuition is really crazy expensive these days, so anything that takes a little of that burden off would be really nice.”
Semifinalists who wish to continue in the competition as finalists must show scores on the SAT that match their performance on the PSAT and complete an application that includes a personal essay.
Students who scored in the 96th percentile or higher will also receive National Merit recognition, though they will not be considered for the competition. These names will be released at the end of September.