Congratulations to Bensalem High School senior Jason Liu, who will compete alongside 16,000 students for 7,500 National Merit Scholarship awards
The Times
Bensalem High School senior Jason Liu has been named a semifinalist in the 63rd annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Liu will join more than 16,000 academically talented high school seniors who will now compete for 7,500 National Merit Scholarship awards, worth more than $32 million that will be offered next spring.
About 1.6 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2018 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2016 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 United States high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state.
To become a finalist, the semifinalist and their high school must submit a detailed scholarship application in which they provide information about the semifinalist’s academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities and honor and awards received. They must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay and submit SAT scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test.
