Two Franklin-based students are among 16,000 semifinalists in the in the 70th annual National Merit Scholarship Program.

The seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 6,870 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $26 million that will be offered next Spring.

The local students are Hayagreev Shankar Karthik of Franklin High School and Promit Mukhopadhyay of Rutgers Preparatory School, according to a release from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

To be considered for a Merit Scholarship award, semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition, according to the release. About 95 percent of the semifinalists are expected to attain Finalist standing, and approximately half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar title.

More than 1.3 million juniors in about 21,000 high schools entered the 2025 National Merit
Scholarship Program by taking the 2023 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying
Test (PSAT/NMSQT), which served as an initial screen of program entrants.

The nationwide pool of semifinalists, representing less than 1 percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state. The number of semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.

To become a finalist, the semifinalist and a high school official must submit a detailed
scholarship application, in which they provide information about the semifinalist’s academic record,
participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment,
and honors and awards received. A semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record
throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay, and
earn SAT or ACT scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test.

From over 16,000 semifinalists, more than 15,000 are expected to advance to the finalist
level, and in February they will be notified of this designation. All National Merit Scholarship
winners will be selected from this group of finalists.

Every finalist will compete for one of 2,500 National Merit $2,500 Scholarships that will be awarded
on a state-representational basis. About 770 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards will be
provided by approximately 130 corporations and business organizations for finalists who meet their
specified criteria, such as children of the grantor’s employees or residents of communities where
sponsor plants or offices are located.

In addition, about 150 colleges and universities are expected to finance some 3,600 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards for finalists who will attend the sponsor institution.