National Merit Scholarship Program

Students of SIS, you have a very good reason to be proud to attend SIS because just recently, one of our seniors has become a National Merit Scholar! Say congratulations to Selena Leon Guerrero of the senior class of 2010!

The National Merit Scholarship Program is a United States academic scholarship competition for recognition and college scholarships administered by National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), a privately funded, non-profit organization. Headquarters are in Evanston, Illinois.

National Merit Scholarship Corporation manages two competitions every year for recognition and scholarships: the National Merit Scholarship Program, which is open to all students who meet entry requirements, and the National Achievement Scholarship Program which is only offered to African American students who wish to participate. Every year approximately 10,500 scholarships are awarded through National Merit Scholarship Corporation programs.

To enter the competition, a student must: be enrolled as a full time high school student advancing normally towards completing high school who plans to enroll full time in college in the fall after graduating from high school; a US citizen or heading towards becoming a US citizen at the earliest opportunity allowed by law; and take the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) in the thoroughly explained year of the high school program (usually the junior year at one’s own school).

There are a few complicated steps students must pass through to earn scholarships. They must first qualify to be a semifinalist through their PSAT and must then be chosen to move on. In August after the PSAT is taken, high school principals are mailed notifications about their Semifinalists. Principals communicate these results to their students. Those who are not chosen to be Semifinalists are "Commended", and receive a Letter of Commendation; they do not continue in the competition for Merit Scholarship awards. Semifinalists must meet the expectations of additional requirements and advance to the Finalist level to be considered for a scholarship.


About 15,000 of the 16,000 Semifinalists advance to Finalist standing by submitting SAT scores that confirm their PSAT/NMSQT performance, having an outstanding academic record, and being approved of and recommended by a high school official. They must also submit an application that includes high school courses and grades, extracurricular and volunteer activities, and a self-descriptive essay. The information that is collected about each Semifinalist is used later in the process to choose scholarship winners. All Finalists receive a Certificate of Merit in recognition of their outstanding performance in the competition.

Out of the 15,000 Finalists, about 8,200 receive Merit Scholarship awards. All Finalists are considered for one of the 2,500 National Merit $2,500 Scholarships. So, congratulations to Selena for her hard work and achievement.