This year two senior students were awarded the honor of National Merit Commended Scholar. Michael McDonald and Andrew Walters both will receive Letters of Commendation to recognize their high scores on the PSAT. This is an achievement that stands out in the college application process, but what exactly is the National Merit Scholarship Program?
This year BSM juniors are required to take either the PSAT or the PACT, which is a new policy implemented for 2023. If juniors decide to take the PSAT and get a high enough score they can qualify for The National Merit Scholarship program. Two thirds of the highest scores or 34,000 students will be recognised as designated commended students, which Andrew Walters and Michael McDonald both received. The other third or 16,000, the top one percent of high scorers, will be semifinalists qualifying to win one of the scholarships. However, the journey is not done there as students have to become finalists.
Any level of recognition–whether National Merit commended student, semifinalist or finalist– all create opportunities for scholarships. Even if students do not end up becoming finalists and winning the actual National Merit Scholarship, there are other corporate scholarships for commended scholars and semifinalists. “It means a lot to my bank account, that’s for sure,” Walters said.
Some students come into the test having studied and knowing about the scholarship program ready to perform their best. “I studied a little bit. I looked at the sheet we got [with a] few practice questions online,” McDonald said.
Others come into the test not studying but are still ready to give their all. Andrew Walters had not studied for the test when he took it but had high hopes he would get a good score. “Yeah, I just knew that if I did really good, I could get a lot of money. So I was pretty motivated coming in and I just gave it my best foot forward,” Walters said.