The Associate Head of School, Owen McGowan, of Oratory Preparatory High School announced today that Peter Finn of Basking Ridge, Isaac Russell of Morris Plains, and Frederick Tang of Berkeley Heights, have been named Semifinalists in the 63rd annual National Merit Scholarship Program. These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $32 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 1.6 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2018 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2016 Preliminary SAT/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. About 16,000 Semifinalists are throughout the nation are being recognized for their exceptional academic promise.
To become a Finalist, the Semifinalist and his or her high school 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 scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test. Finalists will be announced in February, and scholarship winners will be selected from this group of Finalists. Those scholarship winners will be announced starting in April and concluding in July.