The National Merit Scholar Corporation named nine Whitman seniors National Merit Semifinalists Wednesday.
The semifinalists are William Arnesen, Rían Adamian, Olivia Blanchard, Jacob Blitz, Tommy Buarque De Macedo, Jesse Cao, Ben Gersch, Alan Li and Elana Shaw.
PSAT scores from last October determined the selection of semifinalists. Scores necessary to become a semi-finalist vary from state to state. Maryland’s cutoff score this year was a 222 out of a possible 240.
Whitman had 12 semifinalists last September and 21 the year before.
According to the NMSC, approximately 16,000 students qualified to become semifinalists, and a projected 15,000 of those students will become finalists.
Semifinalists can qualify for the next stage after submitting an application and an essay. Roughly half of the finalists will earn a $2,500 scholarship, funded by the NMSC and a variety of other corporations, including Southwest Airlines, BP, UPS, State Farm, and more.
Senior Olivia Blanchard was surprised by the good news, but doesn’t think her PSAT score will help in her college admissions process, she said.
“I knew what my score was and what previous years’ cut offs were, but I was still really excited,” Blanchard said. “I don’t think it’ll make a huge difference [in admissions], but it couldn’t hurt.”
Although the title is an honor, it’s not an accurate representation of every student’s intelligence level, Blanchard said.
“It’s a shame there is no equivalent for people who kill it on the ACT, and even so, standardized testing assesses such a tiny piece of a person’s intelligence that it is definitely not the be all, end all,” she said.
