Seniors Isadora Comens and Ellie Schwartz were awarded the title of National Merit Finalists one week ago upon the arrival of official letters from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. The next step for them is to designate a first-choice university so they can find out the amount of money available for scholarships.

“I felt pretty good coming out of the PSAT. I put a lot of work into preparing for it, but I still didn’t know for sure what was going to happen,” Schwartz said. “I bought four practice SAT books and went through all of them.”

The title of National Merit Finalists is not solely for the sake of esteem. To many, the most prominent aspect of the title is the scholarships that coincide with it.

The PSAT taken fall of junior year determines acceptance into the National Merit Scholarship Corporations semifinalist pool. Upon passing the first step of the process, as a semifinalist, those that hope to become a finalist must take the official SAT. They must then fill out an application and write an essay to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

“For college admission, the recognition as a National Merit Finalist really sets you apart as just an absolutely top notch academic student,” college counsellor Henning said. “Some colleges really cater to National Merit Finalists and offer them [finalists] substantial scholarship opportunities.”

Finalist status is a prestigious honor that, according to Henning, less than one percent of high school students receive. College’s incentives for National Merit Finalists range from the waiving of out-of-state fees to full ride scholarships. Financial aid offerance to finalists is different at almost every university.

“I’ve decided to apply to The University of Texas at Dallas just because of the scholarships they’re offering,” Comens said. “There are huge scholarships schools will give you just for being a finalist, it’s really nice.”