National Merit Scholarship Program
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Logo of the National Merit Scholarship Corporation
The National Merit Scholarship Program is a United States academic scholarship competition for recognition and university scholarships administered by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), a privately funded, not-for-profit organization based in Evanston, Illinois.[1] The program began in 1955.
NMSC conducts two annual competitions for recognition and scholarships: the National Merit Scholarship Program, which is open to all students who meet entry requirements, and (until 2015)[2] the National Achievement Scholarship Program (est. 1964) reserved for African-American students. The highest-achieving students in the National Merit Scholarship Program are designated as National Merit Scholars.[3] Finalists and semi-finalists are also given recognition for their academic and extracurricular achievements. Commended Students are named on the basis of a nationally applied Selection Index score, which may vary from year to year and is typically below the level required for participants to be named Semi-finalists in their respective states. Each year's Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®) is the qualifying test for a student's entry to a particular year's competitions
