The National Merit Scholarship Corporation recognized twenty seniors as National Merit semifinalists Sept.14.

They are among 16,000 students nationwide to receive the honor, which is based on PSAT scores from October of their junior year.

The NMSC selects the highest-scoring students in each state to receive the semifinalist designation. This year, Maryland’s cutoff score was 221 out of a possible 240. Semifinalists can complete an application and essay to compete for Finalist standing, which is awarded to 15,000 seniors in February. They can then receive scholarships, which include $2,500 from NMSC or other corporate and college scholarships.

Many semifinalists said they were happy with the honor and hope it will help in the college admissions process.

“I kind of already knew I was going to get it, so I wasn’t really surprised,” senior Kaitlin Payne said. “I was happy because I wanted the title to be able to put it on my college applications.”

Senior Anna Ryba, however, had not been expecting such good news.

“I was relieved and surprised,” Ryba said. “I didn’t think I was going to get through to semifinalist.”

Ryba said that she, too, will mention her semifinalist designation when she applies to colleges.

“I think a lot of people who get National Merit semifinalist apply to the same schools, so they’re are probably used to seeing National Merit,” she said. “But it’s another thing to put down and say, ‘Hey, I did this.’”

National Merit semifinalists: Claire Bartholomew, Lizzie Bartlett, Lydia Carroll, Lucy Chen, Kevin Cheng, Brian Clarkson, Thomas Delacour, Stephanie Franklin, Lauren Levy, Danny Milzman, Kaitlin Payne, Alexandra Phillips, Ryan Pollowitz, Nate Rabner, Amarto Rajaram, Anna Ryba, Basil Smitham, Jeremy Steinberg, Jacob Taswell and Kevin Tyan.

For a full list of semifinalists in Montgomery County, please visit: http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/info/pdf/2012%20MCPS%20Semifinalists.pdf