Nine Manhasset High School seniors have been recognized as finalists in the 2018 National Merit Scholarship Program. The honorable designation was awarded to Andrew Batteria, Rachel Chang, Tiffany Chen, Matthew Palmadessa, Jiyoon (Yuna) Kim, William Pens, Todd Qiu, Walter Stackler and Susan Wu.
To be counted among the nation’s 16,000 finalists, these seniors had to submit a detailed scholarship application including their academic record, participation in extracurricular activities and community engagement, leadership ability, employment, and a record of honors and awards. They also had to achieve an SAT score equivalent to their PSAT score, maintain their prestigious academic performance and receive a recommendation from a high school official.
The seniors will be notified this spring as to whether they are among the 7,500 students who have been selected to receive awards and scholarships from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation based on their abilities, skills and accomplishments. Members of the NMS committee will evaluate the seniors’ academic records, the curriculum and grading system at their school, their SAT scores, high school officials’ recommendations, information about their activities and leadership, and their essays.
In September, 11 Manhasset High School seniors were named semifinalists in the program. Approximately 1.6 million students entered the competition by taking the 2016 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. Semifinalists are determined based on their combined scores in critical reading, mathematics and writing.
