PSAT- National Merit Scholarships and Semifinalist State Cutoff Scores

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation conducts a nation-wide search for bright high school students every year. Those students who are lucky enough to become Semifinalists or Finalists find themselves with many new scholarship opportunities for college. In this hub, I will outline the National Merit process and discuss some excellent scholarship opportunities that are available.

In order to begin competing for National Merit recognition, you must take the PSAT during the fall of your junior year of high school. All students who take the test and are eligible participants are automatically entered into the competition.

In April, after taking the test in the fall, approximately 50,000 high scorers will be recognized. Typically, students must have scored above a 200 on the PSAT to qualify as a high scorer. CollegeBoard then offers these students the chance to name 2 colleges that CollegeBoard will recommend them to.

In September, nearly two-thirds of the high scorers receive letters of commendation. They are commended students, and are now out of the competition. The other one-third of the highest scoring participants in each state are recognized as semifinalists. Depending on what state you live in, this cutoff score could be as low as 203 or as high as 223.

Once recognized as semifinalist, the students will be asked to submit academic and other information. Also, the semifinalists will be asked to take the SAT over the next few months in order to validate their PSAT score and prove that they deserve the recognition. Of the 16,000 or so semifinalists, approximately 15,000 will be chosen as finalists. The only students who do not move up to finalist rank are those who do not submit any information about themselves, do not take the SAT, or fail to score well on the SAT.

The entire process extends from the beginning of your junior year all the way through your senior year of high school. Therefore, the fall PSAT scores of 2011 affect the scholarships of the graduating class of 2013.

Your PSAT score can only help you up to the semifinalist ranking. But because nearly all semifinalists become finalists, the cutoff scores for advancing to semifinalist ranking can essentially be viewed as the same for advancing to finalist.

Below is a table showing some of the past PSAT cutoff scores to advance to semifinalist ranking.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation awards around 10,000 scholarships every year to the finalists. Some of these scholarships come directly from the corporation, but many come from sponsors of the program. Most of the scholarships are around $1500-$2500. However, many colleges will award their own scholarships to students who have received the rank of National Merit Finalist.

Colleges that offer full rides to National Merit Finalists

• Abilene Christian University
• Alabama
• American University
• Arizona State
• Auburn
• Baylor
• Birmingham-Southern College
• Bowdoin College
• Eckerd College
• Tulsa
• Southern Mississippi
• University Of New Orleans
• Freed Hardeman University
• Houston
• Henderson State
• Southeast Missouri State University
• Fordham
• Texas Arlington
• University of South Dakota
• Wright State
• University of Minnesota Morris
• University of Texas at Dallas
• Cal State Fullerton
• University of Louisville
• Louisana State University
• Birmingham-Southern
• Westren Kentucky
• Loyola of Chicago
• University of North Texas
• Oklahoma Christan University
• Long Beach State
• Texas A&M
• Florida
• University of Central Arkansas
• University of Louisana Lafayette
• Oklahoma State
• Faulkner University
• Liberty University
• University of Texas Tyler
• University of North Alabama
• Ohio State
• Rochester College
• Oklahoma City University
• University of Maine
• John Carrol University
• Oakwood College
• Utah State
• Cleveland State
• Florida A&M
• University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
• Sterling College
• University of Charlestown
• Evansville
• Troy State
• Mississippi State
• New College
• Grace College
• Delta State
• University of Acron
• University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
• Newman University
• University of Vermont
• East Texas Baptist University
• Urbana University
• Westminister College
• Northern Illinois University
• C. W. Post
• University of Sioux Falls
• Central Florida
• Youngstown State
• Memphis State
• Southern Arkansas
• Eastren Kentucky University
• Virginia Commonwealth University
• Texas Tech