The following story was compiled from a press release.
Today, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation named five Wilton High School students as 2025 National Merit Semifinalists. Those five students, members of the Class of 2025, are Isaac D. Downs, Robert J. Eskenazi, Hannah L. Hsu, Caleb S. Sharp, and Annabelle X. Zheng.
These five academically talented WHS students were among the more than 16,000 highest-scoring entrants out of 1.3 million students nationwide who took the fall 2023 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) as juniors. The top-scoring entrants in each state were named National Merit Semifinalists as part of the program’s 70th year, representing less than 1.0% of this year’s U.S. high school seniors.
The number of semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.
These semifinalists have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 6,870 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $26 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% 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.
To become a finalist, the semifinalist and a high school official must submit a detailed scholarship application and 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 will be notified in February that they have advanced to the finalist level and achieved the finalist 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.
Three types of National Merit Scholarships will be offered in the spring of 2025. Every finalist will compete for one of 2,500 National Merit $2,500 Scholarships that will be awarded on a state-representational basis. About 770 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards will be provided by approximately 130 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 150 colleges and universities are expected to finance some 3,600 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards for Finalists who will attend the sponsor institution.
National Merit Scholarship winners of 2025 will be announced beginning in April. These scholarship recipients will join more than 382,000 other distinguished young people who have earned the Merit Scholar title.
NMSC, a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance, was established in 1955 specifically to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Scholarships are underwritten by NMSC with its own funds and by approximately 280 business organizations, higher education institutions, and individual donors that share NMSC’s goals of honoring the nation’s scholastic champions and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence.