The National Merit Scholarship Corporation today announced the names of more than 16,000 semifinalists in the 71st annual National Merit Scholarship Program, including eight seniors from Mira Costa High School.

More than 1.3 million juniors in approximately 20,000 high schools across the country entered the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program in their junior year by taking the 2024 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of semifinalists represents less than 1% of U.S. high school seniors and includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state. (The number of semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.)

These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 6,930 National Merit scholarships worth nearly $26 million that will be offered next spring. 

(Note that the National Merit Scholarship Program honors individual students who show exceptional academic ability and potential for success in rigorous college studies. The program does not measure the quality or effectiveness of education within a school, system, or state - which is why we don't compare the number of winners from school to school, or from year to year.)

To be considered for a National Merit Scholarship award, semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the finalist level of the competition. About 95 percent of the semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and approximately half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship. 

To become a finalist, the semifinalist and a high school official must submit a detailed scholarship application, in which they provide information about the semifinalist’s academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received. A semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay, and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test.

Three types of National Merit Scholarships will be offered in the spring of 2026. Every finalist will compete for one of 2,500 National Merit $2500 Scholarships that will be awarded on a state-representational basis. About 830 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards will be provided by approximately 150 corporations and business organizations for finalists who meet their specified criteria, such as children of the grantor’s employees or residents of communities where sponsor plants or offices are located. In addition, about 150 colleges and universities are expected to finance some 3,600 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards for finalists who will attend the sponsor institution.

National Merit Scholarship winners of 2026 will be unveiled in four nationwide announcements between April and July. These scholarship recipients will join approximately 389,000 other distinguished young people who have earned the Merit Scholar title.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation, a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance, was established in 1955 specifically to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Scholarships are underwritten by NMSC with its own funds and by about 300 business organizations, higher education institutions, and individual donors that share NMSC’s goals of honoring the nation’s scholastic champions and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence.