Notre Dame Prep senior Jonathan Raju was named a semifinalist in the most recent National Merit Scholarship Program. Raju, who has been active in Notre Dame's Model United Nations club and robotics among other extracurriculars, now has an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,600 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $31 million that will be offered next spring. To be considered for a Merit Scholarship award, semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the finalist level of the competition.
More than 90 percent of NMSC semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and about half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar title.
In addition, although they won't continue in the 2020 scholarship competition, NMSC announced that NDP seniors Amelia Cumming, Allison Healy, Amanda Krick and Chris Paul have earned "Commended Student" status with the organization. Commended students place among the top 50,000 scorers of more than 1.5 million students nationwide who entered the 2020 competition by taking the 2018 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.
NMSC is a not-for-profit organization that was established in 1955 specifically to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Scholarships are underwritten by NMSC with its own funds and by approximately 440 business organizations and higher education institutions that share NMSC’s goals of honoring the nation’s scholastic champions and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence.
The National Merit Scholarship Program honors individual students who show exceptional academic ability and potential for success in rigorous college studies. For more information about the competition, visit www.nationalmerit.org.
More than 1.5 million juniors from nearly 22,000 high schools entered the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2018 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of semifinalists, representing less than 1 percent of U.S. high school seniors, 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.
Merit Scholar designees are selected on the basis of their skills, accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies, without regard to gender, race, ethnic origin, or religious preference.
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About Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy
Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. Notre Dame Preparatory School enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame's middle and lower schools enroll students in pre-kindergarten through grade eight. All three school are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." NDPMA is conducted by the Marist Fathers and Brothers and is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy, visit the school's home page at www.ndpma.org