A National Merit Scholarship is a college scholarship awarded by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC). The scholarship is awarded based on a competition that includes taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. The program began in 1955. A scholarship is an award of access to an institution and/or a financial aid award for an individual (a scholar) for the purposes of furthering their education. ... Jump to: navigation, search The National Merit Scholarship Corporation or NMSC is a non-profit corporation operating in the United States. ... The PSAT/NMSQT, or Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, is a multiple choice standardized test generally taken by high school juniors, sophomores, and freshmen in the United States. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1955 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

As of 2005, of the 1.3 million entrants, about 50,000 qualify for recognition. Two-thirds of those qualified receive letters of commendation; the remainder become semifinalists, most of whom go on to become finalists. Over half of the finalists go on to receive scholarships sponsored by colleges or corporations.

Qualification

To qualify for a scholarship, a student must be

• either a Junior on a four-year high school program or in the second year of a three-year program,
• a U. S. citizen or a permanent resident who has applied for citizenship, and
• a graduate in the year two years after they take the test (i.e., for the 2006 exam the student must graduate in 2008). For graduates of three-year programs there is a slightly more complicated and ambiguous set of selection criteria.

// Possession of Citizenship U.S. citizens have the right to participate in the political system of the United States (with reservations for prisoners, ex-prisoners, and naturalized persons), are represented and protected abroad by the United States (through U.S. embassies and consulates), and are allowed to reside in the... A United States Green Card. ...

Levels

The first category of recognition is Commended Scholars; it comprises about 34,000 of the top 50,000 students. The highest scorers in this group are designated National Merit Semifinalists. This group numbers around 16,000, though designations factor in equitable state representation. Therefore, each state has different cutoff scores. California's cutoff score for 2004 tests was 217 out of a possible 240 points. Maryland's cutoff score was 220 out of a possible 240 points.

With the exception of about 1000 students, all Semifinalists advance to Finalist standings based on external (non PSAT score based) qualifications, which in the past have included items such as explicit application for finalist designation, principal recommendation, etc. Finalists are eligible to receive National Merit Scholarship awards.

To achieve National Merit Scholar recognition, the NMSC uses many detailed criteria which are outside the margin of test scores. These may include volunteer participation, teacher recommendations, and high school grades and the rigor of courses taken, among other qualifications.

For the 15,000 Finalists, there will be about 8,200 merit awards: about 2,500 finalists receive a $2,500 National Merit Scholarship from the NMSC for use at a college or university in the United States; these winners are awarded on a state-by-state basis. There are 4,600 scholarships awarded by colleges which the recipients have reported to NMSC as their first choice ("College-Sponsored Merit Awards"). Around another 2,700 scholarships are awarded to Finalists by corporate sponsors, who often have additional qualification criteria- usually that the Finalist is the son, daughter, or other close relative (e.g niece or nephew) of an employee of the sponsor. This List of colleges and universities in the United States includes colleges and universities in the U.S. that grant four-year baccalaureate and/or post-graduate masters and doctorate degrees. ...

Finalists who do not qualify will receive a certificate of recognition for their accomplishments. Around 1,600 participants who were not chosen as Finalists will receive Special Scholarships provided by corporate sponsors.

In a small number of cases, because the NMSC only awards scholarships to students attending colleges in the United States, a very small number of National Merit Scholars sometimes lose their scholarship awards. If this is the case the student is not given a scholarship but is instead designated an Honorary Merit Scholar, which acknowledges achievement without any financial assistance; similarly, students who qualify as both National Achievement or National Hispanic Scholars and also National Merit Scholars may only receive the monetary award from one scholarship but can still claim the other as an accomplishment.

National Achievement Scholarship Program

Black students who achieve high scores on their PSAT can also compete in a separate NMSC competition known as the National Achievement Scholarship Program. The subsequent designations are similar to that in the National Merit Scholarship Program.

Of 130,000 entrants, 3,000 students are referred to colleges for academic achievement. The 1,600 highest scorers in this group are designated as Semifinalists and are eligible for scholarships. Around 1,300 go on to be named Finalists and nearly 800 receive scholarships. These, like the National Merit Scholarship program, include $2500 scholarships from the Nation Merit Scholarship Corporation and corporate-sponsered scholarships. Required scores for participation in the National Achievement Scholarship Program are also selected on a state by state basis.

External link

• National Merit® Scholarship Program from the NMSC website