Montgomery, Ala. – Forty-seven Alabama public school students have won college-sponsored National Merit Scholarships in the 55th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Alabama’s winners join more than 2,800 students nationwide receiving National Merit Scholarships financed by 201 colleges and universities in 45 states and the District of Columbia.
Scholarship recipients were selected from the 2010 National Merit Finalists who plan to attend the sponsoring institutions. Scholarships provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the financing institution.
To compete for Merit Scholarships, students qualified as Semifinalists, then advanced to National Merit Finalist standing, which is based upon:
· Outstanding academic record
· Endorsement and recommendation by a school official
· Earned SAT scores that confirmed the qualifying test performance
· Essay
· Information about extracurricular activities, awards and leadership positions
More than 1.5 million juniors in over 22,000 high schools entered the 2010 National Merit Scholarship competition by taking the 2008 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), which served as an initial screening of program entrants. Some 16,000 Semifinalists were named last fall. Semifinalists are the highest scorers in each state and represent less than 1 percent of the state’s high school seniors. More than 15,000 students advanced to Finalist standing.
Established in 1955 to conduct the National Merit Program, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) is a not-for-profit corporation that operates without government assistance. The NMSC seeks to enhance educational opportunities for America’s scholastically talented youth and to encourage the pursuit of academic excellence.
Previous National Merit Scholarship winners from Alabama were announced on April 21 and May 5. In July, the NMSC plans to announce one more group of college-sponsored scholarships awarded to National Merit Finalists. For more information, contact Eileen Artemakis at 847-866-5100 or mediainfo@nmerit.net.
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