Officials with the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC®) announced the names of more than 16,000 semifinalists in the 72nd annual National Merit Scholarship Program, a list that includes six senior students from The Bolles School. The semifinalists represent less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors.

This year’s National Merit semifinalists from the Bolles Class of 2027 are Nicholas Baker ’27, Vichy Chen ’27, Derrick Dow ’27, Akash Gusani ’27, Ava Ludwig ’27 and Saian Patel ’27.

The students will continue in competition for some 6,700 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $24 million that will be offered next spring. More than 1.2 million juniors from about 20,000 high schools around the country entered the 2027 scholarship program by taking the 2025 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, also known as the PSAT/NMSQT®. That test served as an initial screen of program entrants.

To become a finalist, semifinalists must submit a detailed scholarship application, in which they provide information about their 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. About 95 percent of semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and approximately half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar ® title.