2023 National Merit Semi-Finalists: 10 Local Students Make the List

Ten students from Santa Clara and Sunnyvale schools found out this week that they are among a select few named National Merit Semi-Finalists.

High school students from Santa Clara and Sunnyvale have made the 2023 National Merit Semi-Finalists list.

According to the National Merit Scholarship Program, more than 16,000 students from across the country were named semi-finalists this year. They represent less than 1% of U.S. high school seniors.

Santa Clara Semi-Finalists

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Noah Woo – Homeschool
Ryan Co – Santa Clara High School
Aidan Liu – Santa Clara High School
Navneeth Krishna – Wilcox High School
Tavisha Patel – Wilcox High School

Sunnyvale Semi-Finalists

Rohan Rawat – Fremont High School
Landon Yang – Fremont High School
Natalie Kwak – The King’s Academy
Julianne Ma – The King’s Academy
Timothy Yang – The King’s Academy

The selection was based on the scores of over 1.3 million high school juniors on the 2022 Preliminary SAT (PSAT) or National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (NMSQT). The test serves as a prescreening process for the scholarship entrants.

The semi-finalists will now submit a scholarship application that includes an academic record, details on extracurricular activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment and honors and awards received. They will also have to write an essay and submit a letter of recommendation from a high school official.

Those applications will be used to select the Finalists for the scholarship competition. Finalists will be selected based on their “skills, accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies, without regard to gender, race, ethnic origin, or religious preference.”

From the finalists, scholarship recipients will be selected. There are approximately 7,140 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $28 million available.

Scholarships are awarded by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation as well as major corporations and higher education institutions.

This is the 69th year the National Merit Scholarship Program has handed out scholarships to seniors based on their academic records and service to their communities.