The National Merit Scholarship Program announced that 288 students from Minnesota have been named semifinalists for 2021.
The Minnesota seniors are among about 16,000 semifinalists named as part of the annual academic competition. The students, who were selected based on scores on a PSAT qualifying test, will compete for some 7,600 scholarships worth more than $30 million, to be awarded this spring.
The number of semifinalists decreased this year from 326 Minnesotans named in 2020.
More than 1.5 million juniors from about 21,000 high schools entered the competition by taking the 2019 Preliminary SAT.
The nationwide pool of semifinalists represents less than 1 percent of U.S. high school seniors and includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state. These seniors, most of whom will advance to finalist status, must submit a scholarship application that includes an outstanding academic record, a recommendation from their schools, an essay, and SAT scores than confirm the results of the PSAT.
In addition to scholarships awarded by the non-profit National Merit organization, about 1,000 corporate-sponsored awards and an additional 4,100 college-sponsored awards will be awarded, according to the group. Some colleges award full-tuition (or more) scholarships to National Merit Semifinalists or National Merit Finalists.
If you have trouble seeing the document below, click for the complete Minnesota list, organized by city and high school.
