This past September, seniors Lukas Pluckhahn and Katya Velikanov were named National Merit Semifinalists after taking the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT) during their junior year.
Established in 1955, the primary goal of the National Merit Scholarship Program is to honor academically talented students through a highly selective scholarship competition. Taking the PSAT was the first step in the competition, with the chosen semifinalists making it to the next round of applications.
“I was really awaiting that day when I got my results back from the PSAT,” Pluckhahn said. “I was really excited [about] all the opportunities that stem from being named a semi finalist.”
Being named a semifinalist and making it further in the competition is a significant achievement and desired by many because of the possible financial benefits. Yet, this task becomes exceedingly difficult as students must have a score on the PSAT that is within the top 1% of test takers in that student’s state.
“It was a very big honor,” Velikanov said. “I got called down to Student Support and Mr. Kenney was there and he shook my hand, it was just a really great experience.”
Given that performance on one test alone determines any chance at all for a scholarship, being prepared for the PSAT was key.
“[Being a semifinalist] was definitely a goal of mine,” Velikanov said. “I’ve done a bunch of standardized tests in the past, so I think a lot of practice and knowing what types of questions are going to be on the test [is important].”
Aside from just the possibility of qualifying as a semifinalist, taking the PSAT has several other advantages. One of these advantages is having more experience for other tests down the line, such as the ACT or SAT, which typically have higher stakes.
“Even though the PSAT doesn’t translate extremely well over to the ACT or even the SAT, I do think that it improved my test taking skills,” Pluckhahn said. “At the very least, you get good experience and you can assess yourself and have a benchmark to put yourself up to when you actually take the standardized tests that matter.”
After being awarded Semifinalist students, students then have to apply to be a finalist. This application round moves away from PSAT results, and takes a more holistic approach to evaluating the student’s high school career.
“I’m hoping to be a finalist, that would be really great and a huge honor,” Velikanov said. “I submitted my application a month or two ago, where I had to submit [my] transcript, ACT scores, and an essay, so I just used my college essay.”
While around 15,000 of the 16,000 semifinalists are admitted to be finalists, only 2,500 students receive a Merit Scholarship, with the amount of scholarships given out per state proportional to each state’s population. With so many high achieving students competing against each other, a scholarship isn’t guaranteed, even for extremely qualified applicants.
“I wouldn’t say I’m expecting [to be a finalist] because I know that, especially nowadays in these college admissions and academic processes, nothing’s expected,” Pluckhahn said. “My academic trajectory, especially in my early years of high school definitely differed from where I’m at right now, so I’m hoping that they admit me to final status, but if they don’t I’m not going to be too disappointed about it.”