5 Stamford Students Named National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists – Patch
STAMFORD, CT — Officials with the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) last week announced the names of more than 16,000 semifinalists in the organization’s 71st annual scholarship program, and included are several students from Stamford.
The semifinalists from Stamford are:
Academy of Information Technology and Engineering
Bi-Cultural Hebrew Academy of Connecticut
King School
Westhill High School
Over 1.3 million juniors in about 20,000 high schools entered the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2024 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, according to the NMSC.
The number of semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.
To become a finalist, the semifinalist and a high school official must submit a detailed scholarship application that includes 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, the NMSC noted.
From over 16,000 semifinalists, more than 15,000 are expected to advance to the finalist level next February.
Three types of National Merit Scholarships will then be offered in spring 2026.
All finalists will compete for one of 2,500 National Merit $2500 Scholarships that will be awarded on a state-representational basis.
About 830 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards will be provided by approximately 150 corporations and business organizations for finalists who meet their specified criteria.
In addition, about 150 colleges and universities are expected to finance some 3,600 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards for Ffinalists who will attend the sponsor institution.
National Merit Scholarship winners of 2026 will be announced in four nationwide news releases beginning in April and concluding in July.
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