The National Merit Scholarship Program is an academic competition for recognition and scholarships. High school students enter the National Merit Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test which serves as the initial screen of around 1.6 million students every year.

In September of last year, around 16,000 students, or approximately one-third of the 50,000 high scorers, are notified that they have qualified as Semifinalists in the competition. They are the highest scoring entrants in each state. To be considered for a National Merit Scholarship, Semifinalists must advance to the Finalist ranking in the competition by meeting high academic standards.

About 34,000 of the approximately 50,000 high scorers receive Letters of Commendation in recognition of their excellent academic performance. Although Commended Students do not continue in the competition for National Merit Scholarships, some of these students do become candidates for other scholarships.

National Merit Commended Students:

Carlos Alvarez del Castillo
Caitlin Black
Arielle Boucher
Daniel Brunal
Abigail Butler
Alexander Hartono
Joshua Jung
Emran Khan
Michelle Khong
Logan Knudsen
Alison Kollmansberger
Amanda Kuan
Ankith Lakshman
Katie Li
Kevin Li
John Matheson
Seeta Morey
Benjamin Nguyen
Bailey Rogers
Siddarth Srikumar
Nicole Sweet
Jeanie Xu
Michelle Yang
Justin Zhang