The opportunity for organizations that help students here in the United States reach their maximum potential is always welcome. The National Merit Scholarship Program is a nonprofit, privately funded organization that had been established in 1955. It is a unique and well-recognized program by many universities across the country. Students that participate must be juniors in high school and have completed the PSAT as well as the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test no later than the month of October. It is estimated that around 1.5 million juniors will take the test every year as 50,000 with the highest scores will meet the requirement necessary to participate.
A procedure will follow in which the PSAT and NMSQT administration will take the time to contact approximately two-thirds of the students from the 50,000 who first qualified. The students will receive letters of commendation that will recognize the academic status. The remaining one-third of the 50,000 students will then become qualified as semifinalists in the program. It is at that point that the student that is qualified as a semi-finalist must complete the national merit scholarship application to move on to the next round of qualified students. The SAT must be taken no later than December of the senior year. By February of the following year, they will be notified as to which 8200 will be selected for merit scholarships.
Alex Potoczak Ohio took the SATs and scored 790 in Calculus BC and 790 in Biology, which were ten points off a perfect score. He received recommendations for the program while he was attending Lake Ridge Academy in Ohio. He now attends Hamilton College in pursuit of a bachelor’s degree in economics.
Alex Potoczak Ohio 