More than a dozen local students are one step closer to a nationally renowned scholarship.
As part of the pre-college process, millions of high school juniors take the PSAT as a precursor to the SAT exam. For most students, the exam serves as preparation for the SAT, a simulation of what they might see on the key college admissions test.
But for less than 1% of students, the PSAT is a life-changing opportunity. Of the millions of students who took the exam, 16,000 finalists nationwide made it to the National Merit Semifinalist round. Of those, about 15,000 will make the final round in February, and about 7,500 will be offered National Merit Scholarships, according to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.
For most seniors, after almost no news for the better part of the year since they took the test, the news of making the semifinals in September was a surprise, said Prakhar Saxena, a senior at Center Grove High School.
“The whole semifinalist thing came as a bit of a shock,” Saxena said. “There was radio silence since junior year as far as this goes. I heard a little bit about it and then nothing after until like two weeks ago. It came out of left field and I’m grateful and honored to be in this group of kids.”
Saxena is one of seven Center Grove seniors who made the semifinals. Carina Oza, another senior at the high school, didn’t learn about her status as a semifinalist until the next day.
“I was at an internship when they told everyone; I didn’t know until the day after,” Oza said. “People were calling my mom and saying ‘congratulations’ to her. I didn’t know why. I thought maybe I got an ‘A’ on a math test.”
Though more scholarships are available for students who reach the final round, some schools offer scholarships for semifinalists.
Students who make the semifinals have scored at least 1400 out of 1520, including Samantha Thurman, a Franklin Community High School senior who scored a 1480 on her exam.
Thurman is interested in Indiana University-Bloomington, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, University of Chicago and Washington State University.
Receiving a scholarship would change her life, she said.
“It would mean a lot to me,” Thurman said. “I’ve been working so long, just earning a couple thousand dollars takes so long in a part-time job, even $1,000 or $2,000 would help out.”
A scholarship would validate 13 years of hard work in school, said Will McGuinness, another Franklin High School senior who is also a finalist.
“It would be incredible given how expensive college is nowadays,” McGuinness said. “It would take a lot of financial burden off.”
Though the PSAT score alone was enough to get students to the semifinal stage, students need to fill out an application to get to the final round, including a personal essay, an academic transcript and SAT or ACT scores that demonstrate continued proficiency, according to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.
Some students are close to finishing or have already finished their applications. Whiteland Community High School senior Ben Huffman is writing about his transition to Clark-Pleasant schools from a private school. The essay prompt says students should write about an experience that affected them or how they overcame an obstacle.
Saxena looked to his elementary school days for his essay topic, he said.
“Back in elementary school, I had a not-so-good interaction with a teacher. (I wrote about) the aftermath of it and how it shaped how I carry myself and look at the world around me,” Saxena said.
The semifinalists have lofty goals after high school.
Roncalli High School senior and Johnson County resident Adelle Burkhardt wants to be an aerospace engineer, she said.
“I’ve always been fascinated with space and stargazing. I’ve always liked watching science movies on TV,” Burkhardt said. “I became more interested in that as a career path. I see myself doing that in the future.”
Center Grove senior Andrew Galt wants to teach music.
“I have a passion for music and I want to help young people discover their passion for music,” Galt said.
