National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) has announced the Scholarship Winners in their 62nd National Merit Scholarship Program, which is arguably one of the most prestigious academic high school competitions in the United States. Scholarship Winners are current high school seniors who took the PSAT in October of 2015. In addition to the very brag-worthy title, winners generally receive a $2,500 cash prize.
Steps to Becoming a National Merit Scholarship Winner
- Participate in the National Merit Scholarship Competition by taking the PSAT (1.6 million students)
- Become a “Semifinalist” by scoring in the top 1% of students in your state (16,000 students)
- Become a “Finalist” by (15,000 students) –
- Being fully endorsed by their high school
- Demonstrate a record of consistently very high academic performance from grades 9 – 12
- Score in about the top 1% on the SAT to ensure the PSAT scores weren’t a fluke
- Submit an application
- Be a US citizen or lawful permanent resident
- Submit a holistic application for evaluation by a panel of high school and college counselors, which might include (7,500 students) –
- Academic record
- School’s curriculum
- Multiple test scores
- School recommendation
- Activities and leadership
- Essay
Given all the steps involved, the National Merit Scholarship Winners are very impressive students indeed. They represent less than 0.5% (half of a percent) of high school juniors in the United States.
- For a list of the 2017 National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists, click here.
- To download the original press release from National Merit Scholarship Corporation, click here.
(Photo Caption – At 6 National Merit Scholarship Winners and 4% of the senior class, St. John’s School took top honors in Houston)
List of 2017 Houston-Area Scholarship Winners
This list includes Houston, Clear Lake, Cypress, Humble, Katy, Kingwood, Sugarland, and The Woodlands
- Anusha De
- Oren Pazgal
- Clarise E. Trinh
- Anna E. Jorgensen
- Michelle Tang
Carnegie Vanguard HS
- Amrith Lotlikar
Cinco Ranch HS
- Trisha N. Madhavan
Clear Lake HS
- Amanda Y. Hua
- Rahul V. Yesantharao
Cy-Fair HS
- Sophia N. Tang
Cypress Falls HS
- Sarah T. Vu
Cypress Ranch HS
- Nathaniel J. Miller
Cypress Woods HS
- Lauren E. Crandon
Dulles HS
- Shreyas Balaji
- Rahul Kilambi
Duchesne Academy
- Ariel E. Tarrand
Glenda Dawson HS
- Justin D. Feng
- Wendy Tao
High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA)
- Augustin D. Liebster
Homeschool
- Joshua C. Korb
Houston Christian HS
- Allison Couch
James E. Taylor HS
- Maria Sturzu
John Cooper School
- Gina Valderrama
Kingwood Park HS
- Gabriel C. Zolton
Kinkaid School
- John Henry Goettee
- Robert S. Lahourcade
Memorial HS
- Davis K. Kirchhofer
- Frank Yang
Michael E. De Bakey HS
- Jeong Woo Han
- Ray T. Wang
Obra D. Tompkins HS
- Lucy H. Chen
Seven Lakes HS
- Clio H. Sun
St. John’s School
- Laura Y. Huang
- Cameron M. Cook
- Shuning Liu
- Jason Souvaliotis
- Maria I. Vazquez
- Yuling Zhang
St. Thomas Episcopal
- Calvin Wong
Stephen F. Austin HS
- Alexander W. Zhao
Strake Jesuit
- William P. Ledig
- William A. Smith
Texas Christian School
- Morgan L. Kennon
William P. Clements HS
- Dhruva Karkada
- Kevin Rao
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