Officials of National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) announced the names of more than 16,000 Semifinalists in the 70th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. High School students entered the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2023 PSAT/NMSQT. The 16,000 Semifinalists included in this list are the highest-scoring entrants in each state and represent less than 1% of each state's high school seniors. They are the only participants who qualify to continue in the competition for National Merit Scholarships to be awarded in the spring of 2025. Most Semifinalists are currently 12th graders who will enter college in the fall of 2025; some, however, have accelerated their high school programs and are already enrolled in their first year of college.
National Merit Scholarship winners of 2025 will be announced in four nationwide news releases beginning in April and concluding in July. These scholarship recipients will join more than 382,000 other distinguished young people who have earned the Merit Scholar title.
Congratulations to Cashen Shire and Shaun Worthen for earning this distinguished honor, and good luck on becoming a National Merit Scholar!