By: Ryanna Lui
The selected National Merit Finalists from MHS are the following seniors: Anvi Brahmbhatt, Ashley Chen, Eric de Guzman, Junyu Deng, Antoine Devictor, Josephine Tai, and Lisa Yan, Principal Francis Rojas said via email. Only one of the finalists will be getting the $2500 scholarship this year, Rojas wrote.
Each year, about 1.6 million high school juniors take the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test or National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) for a chance at the grand prize, a single payment reward of $2500, according to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) website. Participants go through several rounds of evaluations screened by the NMSC, of which around 15 thousand are given the title of Finalists.
“If you move on after finalists, you can get a $2,500 scholarship, or you can get scholarships from corporations and colleges,” Finalist Junyu Deng commented. “I’m just going to sit back and wait for more letters in the mail to see if I get the scholarship.”
Finalist Antoine Devictor is glad for the return on investment after taking the PSAT, which the school paid for, he said. After notification by mail of his status, Devictor simply had to submit an application for merit consideration.
“You had to write an essay — write is a strong word, I just copied and pasted one of my college essays — [about] an event that sparked growth or something, a generic college essay prompt,” Devictor said. “I think other than that you had to fill out an application that asked for your transcripts, extracurriculars.”
Juniors should not worry about the PSAT over the long run, especially because only a miniscule portion of test-takers qualify, Devictor stated. For him personally, it simply granted him a title, which he was only able to use for his college applications, he continued.
“Don’t stress about it. It basically tests how good of a test taker you are.” Devictor encouraged. “But if you really want the award for some reason, you can study hard. Which I didn’t do.”