National Merit Semifinalists Named

Twelve students from Edgemont High School and twenty eight students from Scarsdale High School are among the 16,000 named as semifinalists in the 68th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. These high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,250 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $28 million that will be offered next spring. To be considered for a Merit Scholarship® award, Semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition. About 95 percent of the Semifinalists are expected to attain Finalist standing, and approximately half of the Finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar® title.

The names are as follows:

Edgemont High School

Samika Agarwal
Justin P. Alexander
Skandan Gurumurthy
Julia Hu
Aarya J. Kumar
Chaemin Lim
David I. Litvack
Rajan S. Sandhu
Raj Savla
Andrew D. Shane
Vivien F. Wong
Maxwell F. Yang

Scarsdale High School

Matthew Barotz
Claire Chou
Cindy Y. Dedianous
David Diao
Thomas D. Dilorenzo
Ali El Moselhy
Jackson Fielding
Isabella Frank
Carly S. Gelles
Oliver S. Hong
Anushka Kumar
Mason Y. Lau
Hyunjin Lee
Amelia Liu
Olivia Liu
Emily-Jane Luo
Michael Marks
Colin H. Michael
Amanda D. Nudelman
Bryan Shi
Katherine Shi
Noa S. Shiloach
Steven C. Su
Emily Q. Wang
Hannah Y. Wang
Benjamin P. Yacoub
Maxwell Zhang
Matthew Zhao

Steps in the 2023 Competition

High school juniors entered the 2023 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2021 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of Semifinalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state. The number of Semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.

To become a Finalist, the Semifinalist and a high school official must submit a detailed scholarship application, in which they provide information about the Semifinalist’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® or ACT® scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test.

From over 16,000 Semifinalists, more than 15,000 are expected to advance to the Finalist level, and in February they will be notified of this designation. 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.

National Merit Scholarships

Three types of National Merit Scholarships will be offered in the spring of 2023. Every Finalist will compete for one of 2,500 National Merit® $2500 Scholarships that will be awarded
on a state-representational basis. About 950 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards will be provided by approximately 180 corporations and business organizations for Finalists who meet their specified criteria, such as children of the grantor’s employees or residents of communities where sponsor plants or offices are located. In addition, about 160 colleges and universities are expected to finance some 3,800 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards for Finalists who will attend the sponsor institution.