National Merit Scholar count can vary year by year; however, a large public school like Plano High School in Plano, TX can produce 50-60 semifinalists in a given year. While this is a large number on an absolute basis, if considering the number of semifinalists relative to the class population, exceptional private schools have the highest concentration.
Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy in Melbourne, Florida had the highest number of finalist in 2010 (8).
St. John's School, which has an average of 130 high schoolars per grade, had 47 seminfinalist in 2009.
For 2012, there are. I know of several, but the school has not yet listed their names anywhere.
A national merit scholar is student who has first taken the PSAT in spring of their junior year and scored high enough to qualify for a semifinalist position the national merit competition. Next, those semifinalists are asked to complete an application with 2 letters of recommendation, transcripts, SAT scores, a list of extracurricular activities, honors, and write an essay. From there, the application is reviewed. Of those semifinalists, a portion of students are selected for the finalist level, and from the finalists, the National Merit Corporation chooses students to become National Merit Scholars. National Merit Scholars are given $2500 by the corporation and also may qualify for a variety of school and corporate sponsored scholarships.
An ACT score of 36 would generally be held in higher regard than the distinction of being a National Merit Scholar. The 36 represents a perfect score in every section of one of the two major American standardized tests, whereas the National Merit Scholarship Competition is based on the PSAT. There are significantly more National Merit Scholars than there are people with perfect ACT scores.
The National Merit Scholarship Program is a prestigious academic competition for high school students in the United States. Participants are evaluated based on their PSAT scores, academic record, extracurricular activities, and an essay. Finalists can earn scholarships for college based on their performance in the competition.
The National Merit Scholar Corporation does not release the actual names of finalists or winners of the NMS competition. Unless somebody has privately compiled the name of every finalist, there is no official list.
National Merit Scholarship Program was created in 1955.
Stephenie Meyer won the National Merit Scholarship in 2003.
Sasi Merit School was created in 2005.
Medal of Merit for National Defence was created on 1966-04-21.
Medal of Merit of the National People's Army was created in 1956.
Medal of Merit of the National People's Army ended in 1990.