Four FWCD Seniors Recognized as National Merit Finalists

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Photo courtesy of Fort Worth Country Day

FWCD’s National Merit Semifinalists are now Finalists.

Alexandra Galloway, Reporter

Four FWCD seniors––Lexa Brenner ‘18, Nikhil De ‘18, Michael Chan ‘18, and Lance Mayhue ‘18––have been selected as National Merit Finalists and will be considered competitively for merit-based scholarships.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation is a nationwide organization that gives scholarships to outstanding students across the United States.

To qualify as a National Merit Finalist, a student must qualify as semi-finalist with their PSAT score. Only about 16,000 students nationally are chosen as semi-finalists. Most semi-finalists have PSAT scores in the top percentile of their state.

In Texas, students needed a selection index of 221. The selection index is calculated by multiplying the sum of their writing, reading, and math scores by two. 

Out of this pool of 16,000, there are 15,000 selected as finalists, where they become eligible to compete for scholarships.

To continue on to finalist status, students must exhibit exemplary academic performance all four years of high school and fill out an application, which included an essay.

All of the FWCD semi-finalists chosen from the Class of 2018 this past fall continued on in the competition to become finalists.

Because of their finalist status, these four seniors can potentially receive merit-based scholarships from both the National Merit Scholarship Corporation and universities across the country.

“I was excited, happy [to be recognized as a finalist],” said Nikhil De ‘18, “I got an offer from OU, a really good offer.”

Although De does not know whether he will attend OU, the National Merit Scholarship has opened up opportunities to him.