Eleven Mira Costa High School seniors in Manhattan Beach scored among the top 1% of test-takers nationwide and earned spots as National Merit Semifinalists.
The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) announced Wednesday, Sept. 9, that more than 16,000 high school seniors across the country qualified as semifinalists in the 72nd annual program. The Mira Costa students named are Melody Elliott, Luke Finigan, Geneva Huang, Juliette Im, Mia Lerner, Katherine Maloney, Wyatt Newbill, Peter Nussbaum, Frederick Prelle, Max Zhang and Reese Zhang, according to Manhattan Beach News.
The 11 seniors qualified by posting top scores on the 2025 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) as juniors. More than 1.2 million students at roughly 20,000 high schools took that exam.
The semifinalist pool represents less than 1% of U.S. seniors. The number selected in each state is proportional to that state's share of graduating seniors.
Mira Costa, part of the Manhattan Beach Unified School District, enrolls about 2,470 students in grades 9 through 12. The school graduated 618 seniors in its Class of 2026 ceremony in June. The NMSC noted that the program honors individual students and does not measure the quality or effectiveness of education within a school, district, or state.
Path to scholarships
About 95% of semifinalists are expected to advance to finalist standing. To get there, each student and a school official must submit a detailed application covering academic records, school and community activities, leadership, employment, and honors. Semifinalists must also write an essay and post SAT or ACT scores that confirm their qualifying-test performance.
Finalists will be notified in February.
Roughly half of all finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship. Three types of awards will be offered in spring 2027: 2,500 National Merit Scholarships worth $2,500 each, awarded on a state-representational basis; about 700 corporate-sponsored awards; and roughly 3,500 college-sponsored awards for finalists who attend the sponsoring institution.
The NMSC will distribute about 6,700 scholarships worth a combined $24 million, according to Eagle Country Online.
Winners will be announced beginning in April and concluding in July 2027.
