2025 National Merit Scholarship Program Semifinalists Announced

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC®) announced the names of more than 16,000 Semifinalists in the 70th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Three Sleepy Hollow High School students were on the list of those named. These academically talented high school seniors now have an opportunity to continue to compete for some 6,870 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $26 million, which will be offered next spring.

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.

To be considered for a Merit Scholarship® award, SHHS seniors Roxie Bloom, Jocelin Santocki and Ayaka Utsumi must fulfill several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition.

“We have to submit a detailed scholarship application. We need to write an essay, provide a list of activities such as clubs and sports we are in, along with leadership positions. We need a recommendation by a high school official and provide our SAT scores,” said Jocelin S.

About 95 percent 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.

“I’m excited to represent Sleepy Hollow. I think it’s awesome to have made it into the semifinals. I didn’t realize it was such a big part of taking the PSAT and I'm happy to be in such an elite group,” said Roxie B.

More than 1.3 million juniors in about 21,000 high schools entered the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2023 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/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. The number of Semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.

From over 16,000 Semifinalists, more than 15,000 are expected to advance to the Finalist level, and in February they will be notified of this 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.

“I'm nervous, but excited. I’m hopeful that I can make it to finalist status,” said Ayaka U. “I’m proud to have so many semifinalists come out of Sleepy Hollow. It’s nice that we are recognized for our work and scholarly achievements. It's rewarding.”

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® $2500 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 for 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 in four nationwide news releases beginning in April and concluding in July. These scholarship recipients will join more than 382,000 other distinguished young people who have earned the Merit Scholar title.