What is it?
The National Merit Scholarship Program is an annual academic competition where high school students around the nation compete for recognition and undergraduate scholarships. It is run by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance and was founded during the Cold War with the goal of identifying and recognizing high-achieving high school students and encouraging them to develop their skills to their fullest potential.
How do you qualify?
Attend high school in the United States or meet citizenship requirements for those attending high school outside the US
Be enrolled as a high school student, homeschooled or traditional, progressing normally and expected to graduate spring of your senior year
Plan to enroll in college no later than fall of your graduation year (i.e graduate in spring of 2026, enroll in college no later than fall of 2026)
Take the PSAT (which also serves as the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test) during your junior year
Steps in the Competition
In the spring of your junior year, a letter with a list of high-scoring participants from your school will be sent to your principal asking them to identify errors or changes in those students’ eligibility.
In the fall of your senior year most of the high scoring participants will have qualified as Commended Students. They will receive Letters of Commendation recognising their academic promise. Commended students will not continue in the competition for National Merit Scholarships but they may be candidates for Special Scholarships from corporate and business sponsors. The highest scoring participants in each state will be notified that they have qualified as semifinalists. These students will receive scholarship application materials explaining the requirements to advance in the competition for National Merit Scholarships to be offered in spring of their senior year.
In late fall of their senior year, certain Commended Students will be sent scholarship application materials through their schools to apply for Special Scholarships.
In winter of their senior year, semifinalists who meet academic and other requirements will be notified that they have advanced to the finals and will receive Certificates of Merit recognizing them in the program. All National Merit Scholarship winners will be chosen from this pool of finalists based on their skills, achievements, and abilities.
In spring of their senior year, both Special Scholarship recipients and winners of the three types of National Merit Scholarships, National Merit $2500 Scholarships, Corporate-Sponsored Scholarships, and College-Sponsored Scholarships, will be announced. Public announcement of Special Scholarship winners will be handled by sponsors and public announcement of Merit Scholars will occur during spring and summer.
Why Should You Apply?
It’s a good idea to take the PSAT anyways since it gives you an idea of what the SAT is like and can help you identify weak areas in your testing skills. The PSAT is also a factor in many other academic scholarships, so even if you don’t qualify for the National Merit Scholarship, you could qualify for others.
Applying gives you multiple avenues to earn scholarships. Even if you don’t qualify as a semifinalist, you can still win Special Scholarships.
It’s a chance to be academically recognized by a national corporation, which looks really nice on a college application.
Tips for applying
Start prepping for the PSAT early, especially if you aren’t a great test taker or get really nervous taking exams. Being prepared will make you more confident and you’ll have more strategies to help you do well.
Take the exam more than once if you can to ensure you get the best score possible as a junior. If you have the chance to take the PSAT as a sophomore, you’ll be more prepared when you take it as a junior.
Maintain a high GPA. While this isn’t a factor in the initial rounds, your grades and GPA will factor in if you progress through the competition, so it’s a good idea to keep them up just in case. Plus, a high GPA is needed for a lot of other scholarships and honors.
If you end up a semifinalist, make sure you write a really strong essay. The prompt usually gives applicants a lot of freedom when it comes to the topic of their essay, so you should really think about it. Then, I’d recommend annoying the heck out of everyone around you by asking them to read your essay. I’d also recommend getting an English teacher to read it and running it through a grammar and spelling checker a couple of times.
Take and ace the SAT or ACT. These scores become a factor when weighing semifinalist applications, so you should be studying for them just like you studied for the PSAT. You’ll need these scores to apply to a lot of other scholarships and colleges too, so this is just a good thing to do in general.
Find another hobby, club, or sport to excel in. Showing accomplishment both in the classroom and outside of it is important to succeeding in this competition. Being a well rounded student is also important for college applications in general.
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