The National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced on Wednesday, Sept. 14, its 2023 list of semifinalist high school students who will now compete for a share of about 7,250 scholarships worth almost $28 million. Winners will be announced nationally between April and July next year. This is the 68th annual competition.
High school juniors, 11th graders, in the United States entered the academic competition by taking the 2021 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.
The highest-scoring students in each state represent the pool of semifinalists who, according to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, represent less than 1% of United States high school seniors.
The next step for a semifinalist to become a finalist is to complete the required application that includes their SAT or ACT scores, an essay and a letter of recommendation by a high school official.
Finalists are then chosen on the basis of academic record, their participation in community and school activities, how they have demonstrated leadership ability, employment, awards and honors received.
From a group of about 16,000 semifinalists, an expected 15,000 advance to finalists. Students are notified in February 2023 if they are finalists and about half of those win a scholarship.
There are three categories of scholarships: National Merit $2500 Scholarships; corporate-sponsored scholarships; college-sponsored scholarships.
The National Merit Scholarship winners, chosen on the basis of accomplishments, skills and potential for college success, are selected from the February finalists group. Winners are notified, on a rolling basis, in 2023 from April to July.
Here is the list of semifinalists in the 2023 National Merit Scholarship Program in Los Angeles County by school location and the school name:
Agoura Hills
Agoura Hills HS
- Aston H. Du
- Sriya J. Kalyan
- Jordan P/ Shin
Alhambra
Mark Keppel HS
- Konnor H. Luong
Arcadia
Arcadia HS
- Ian Chan
- Kevin Y. Hu
- Cassie Kao
- Weber C. Lin
- Tin P. Nguyen
- Carolyn Sun
- Ashley K. Te
- Nathan Vuong
- Avari Wang
- Phoebe Wang
- Stephanie H. Wang
Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills HS
- Alexandra R. Bakshian
- Ariel J. Goldberg
- Suhh Yeon Kim
- Miles J. Kottler
Burbank
Burbank HS
- Kacey M. Fifield
- Lana E. Kang
- Lorenzo R. Lopez
- Yogini N. Vazirani
Burroughs HS
- Lillian Raesler
- Nayan Ramakrishnan
- Margaret K. Roberts
Calabasas
Calabasas HS
- Niccolo G. Terango
Qualia The School for Deeper Learning
- Terrin Eugene Busby Thompson
Viewpoint School
- Zach R. Gor
- Mansi Jain
- JiaLian Mackey
- Alec J. Williams
Carson
California Academy of Mathematics and Science
- Jaden Balajadia
- Dominick Cardella
- Tiffany Chen
- Manan Tuteja
- Jenna Yang
Cerritos
Cerritos HS
- Julianne Hoffman
Gahr HS
- Hannah J. Yoon
Gretchen Whitney HS
- Colin J. Choi
- Jimin Choi
- Trenton T. Kim
- Aaron S. Park
- Max W. Peng
Claremont
Vivian Webb School
- Nancy Y. Lin
- Yuming Wan
Webb School of California
- Taejun Ahn
- Jeffrey S. Baek
- Anjie Jian
- Austin J. Ra
- Richard H. Wu
Culver City
Culver City HS
- Ruo Han Wang
Diamond Bar
Diamond Bar HS
- Ryan K. Chung
- Jeffrey Gong
- Marcus Hsieh
- Andrew Huang
- Edward Kim
- Jason Kim
- Jenna D. Kim
- William Li
- Chloe J. Lim
- Ryan H. Shin
- Angie Sun
- Angelina Young
- Max Zhu
Eagle Rock
Eagle Rock HS
- Cooper H. Darling
Glendora
Glendora HS
Granada Hills
Granada Hills Charter HS
- Aniket Mukherjee
Hacienda Heights
Glen A Wilson HS
- Elizabeth S. Leung
La Cañada Flintridge
Flintridge Preparatory School
- Charlotte M. Bax
- Meena Durairaj
- Youkai Ji
- Audrey S. Jung
- Arul Kolla
- Jacob D. Lee
- Alexander J. Oh
- Dylan T. Tanouye
- Evan L. Yoon
Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy
- Kana J. Park
La Cañada HS
- Hailey T. Chee
- Vivien Chen
- Anastasija M. Easley
- Elyse H. Hwang
- Adam J. Kakuk
- Jessica N. Kim
- Mia J. Kronson
- Jessica Li
- Jeshurun M. Liou
- Siraaj S. Sandhu
- Xiaohe Tang
- Riley J. Thornburgh
- William D. Wade
La Crescenta
Crescenta Valley HS
- Angeline Choi
Long Beach
Long Beach Polytechnic HS
- Skyler Hirota
Los Angeles
Brentwood School
- Stephen H. Agar-Johnson
- Sam Drake
- Carter Iino
- Rahul Yates
Downtown Magnet HS
- Noah M. Han
- Ashley Y. Shin
Geffen Academy at UCLA
- August I. Deer
- Aiden S. Di Carlo
- Jereth Z. Liu
- Taye J. Reiss
- Kayla G. Sinnock
- Claire F. Soohoo
Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies
- Sofia Behzadi
- Edward Crockett
- Lucas Jia
- Yvonne Kendall
Loyola HS
- Dominic Barrios
- Bowen J. Kim
- Michael S. McElhenney
Marlborough School
- Rachael Kim
- Jocelyn E. Shek
John Marshall HS
- Sasha M. Rotko
Milken Community School
- Ophir G. Berrin
- Joshua M. Roussak
New Covenant Academy
- Dale Y. Lee
New West Charter High School
- Rachel S. Lee
Notre Dame Academy
- Jasmine Harrison
Pilgrim School
- Jasper J. Andrews
- Colin H. Kim
Windward School
- Luke M. Gialanella
- Henry T. Nieves
Yeshiva Gedolah of Los Angeles
- Eliyahu Eghbali
Homeschool
- Natalie Deering
Malibu
Malibu HS
- Dylan E. Rem
Manhattan Beach
Mira Costa HS
- Benjamin K. Blum
- Andrew K. Cherry
- Karyn B. Fu
- Kyle Y. Fukumoto
- Tucker Gauss
- Ethan H. Harrison
- Alexander C.Holcomb
- Heather E. Jensen
- Cindy X. Lin
- Dashiell H. Rumble
- Kiran P. Shah
- Jacob M. Tan
Montrose
St. Monica Academy
- Justin A. Decker
Newhall
William S. Hart HS
- Timothy Phan
North Hollywood
Campbell Hall
- Arjun A. Danna
North Hollywood HS
- Hannah Cho
- Emily M. Dietz
- Julian E. Dohi
- Alexander K. Franks
- Jonathan M. Gasser-Brennan
- Evan J. Higgins
- Joanne Hong
- Deanna S. Lee
- Charles O. Luke
- Katherine M. Shin
- Nathaniel S. Shin
- Adeline Sun
- Richard Zhu
Oakwood School
- Leo L. Frankel
Pacific Palisades
Palisades Charter HS
- Anirudh Chatterjee
- Dohyun A. Ju
- Edward H. Kim
- Robert H. Rosen
- Tobias T. Scaduto
- Levy C. Shaked
- Sierra M. Sugarman
- Sophie Y. Zhu
Palos Verdes Estates
Palos Verdes HS
- Vivian M. Chan
- Jenna N. Chow
- Cynthia Y. Ho
Palos Verdes Peninsula
Chadwick School
- Syona R. Goel
Pasadena
La Salle HS
- Tomas A. Posada-Awad
Polytechnic HS
- Benjamin D. Fernandez
- Jamie Haenisch
- Julian S. Harrison
- Kai F. Herman
- Elizabeth Hong
- Nathaniel N. Marko
- Dario G. Soatto
Westridge School
- Katelyn A. Shirreffs
Redondo Beach
Redondo Union HS
- Theodore Danial
- Isabel Gross
- Jack Hagemeister
- Elise E. Haulund
- Ella M. Kang
- Isabella Langa
- Esther Sun
Reseda
Cleveland HS
- Jacob S. Pike
Rolling Hills
Palos Verdes Distance Learning Academy
- Jacqueline S. Lane
Rolling Hills Estates
Palos Verdes Peninsula HS
- Charlotte Y. Chiang
- Sakurako F. Cho
- Jillian M. Farley
- Kyle Jiang
Rowland Heights
John A. Rowland HS
- Selina Cheng
- Juliet D. Kim
- Madeleine R. Tsoi
Southlands Christian HS
- Jeremy Chun
San Gabriel
Gabrielino HS
- Kaylee Chan
- Jonathan Liang
- Violet Wang
San Marino
San Marino HS
- Neil Chen
- Michael Egan
- Zhe Shan Lian
- Elsa Panning
- Lillian Panning
- Thailor Christian Villaluna
- Arwen Gwen Wen
Santa Clarita
Academy of the Canyon
- Joan Isabelle C. Go
Santa Monica
Crossroads School
- Daniel R. James
- Kate Jang
- Zev Weinstein
Santa Monica HS
- Danny S. Chmaytelli
- Lincoln G. Jarvis
- Kian A. Naini
Sherman Oaks
The Buckley School
- Madison Kesler
- Katherine Silverman
Notre Dame HS
- Autumn S. Han
South Pasadena
South Pasadena HS
- Aria A. Argus
- Ryan F. Arlett
- Serin C. Hwang
- Anthony Kim
- Jacqueline S. Mancera
- Zackary Quezada
- Xiyu Wang
- Isabelle C. Whetsel
- Talia M. Yoo
- Liana Zangwill
Studio City
Harvard-Westlake School
- Jack T. Austen
- Alexandra M. Ba
- Nathaniel K. Berg
- Henry A. Bryan
- Justin R. Bu
- Cheery Chen
- Iris Chen
- Olivia Chung
- Lucas Cohen-d’Arbeloff
- Konnie Duan
- Aariz I. Furniturewala
- Donya Ghassemieh
- Daniella Cayla Goldrich
- Alexander J. Hahn
- Anika S. Iye
- Vivien Y. Kimura
- Steven D. Ko
- Sang Hyun Lee
- Ceerous J. LeSage
- Elliot Joseph Lichtman
- Jack L. Moreland
- Noah T. Nakayama
- Venice A. Offner
- Victoria R. Peng
- Kameron G. Rabizadeh
- Sophia M. Rascoff
- Asher L. Rossen
- William R. Sherwood
- Kensuke Shimojo
- Zoe K. Shin
- Carter M. Staggs
- Harrison M. Tarses
- Ethan Wang
- Eli N. Weinbach
- Skylar Whitley
- Jake M. Wiczyk
- Karen K. Wu
- Audrey T. Yang
- Eric M. Yoon
- Emmy Y. Zhang
Temple City
Temple City HS
- Keerthana Girish
- Stephen A. Ma
Torrance
Bishop Montgomery HS
- Alexis R. Wetzel
South HS
- Kathryn A. Soares
West HS
- Sohan K. Devalapurkar
Valencia
West Ranch HS
- Alyssa Y. Chang
- Andrew S. Kim
- Jaeeun Park
- Ella M. Shin
- Clarissa Y. Zuo
Van Nuys
Grace Christian Academy
- Reva Bhavin Patel
Van Nuys HS
- Hannah Chung
- Rachel S. Sang
Venice
Venice HS
- Jessica L. Pan
- Lidia S. Prokopovych-Shchepet
Walnut
Walnut HS
- Samuel Chou
- Hudson Kaleb K. Dy
- Shani Y. Su
- Chelsea Yeh
- Jadon J. Zhu
Woodland Hills
El Camino Real Charter HS
- Autumn T. Blackford
- Lila R. Goldenberg
William Howard Taft HS
- Jaume T. Folz
High school students interested in applying in future years need to talk to their school counselor to make arrangements to take the PSAT/NMSQT test. Registration is through the high school and not by the students. For information on the competition, bit.ly/3hzLR8E
The National Merit Scholarship Corporation was established in 1955 and is an independent, not-for-profit group that does not operate with government assistance.
The goals of the organization are to reward academically-dedicated students, encourage academic excellence at all levels of education, promote a deeper respect for learning in general and to encourage individuals and organizations to sponsor scholarships. nationalmerit.org