National Merit Semifinalists For 2027 Set To Be Announced Wednesday

TWIN CITIES, MN — The National Merit Scholarship Corporation is set to announce Semifinalists in the 2027 National Merit Scholarship Program on Wednesday, September 9.

More than 16,000 Semifinalists nationwide, representing less than 1 percent of U.S. high school seniors, are expected to be named.

They were drawn from a pool of more than 1.2 million juniors who took the 2025 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

Last year's group, named in the 71st annual competition, also topped 16,000 Semifinalists and went on to compete for about 6,930 scholarships worth nearly $26 million.

This year's Semifinalists will compete for a smaller pot, about 6,700 scholarships worth roughly $24 million.

Minnetonka High School led the Twin Cities metro area last year with 28 Semifinalists.

To advance to Finalist standing, Semifinalists must complete a detailed scholarship application, be endorsed by a high school official, write an essay and confirm their qualifying test scores with SAT or ACT results.

NMSC expects about 95 percent of Semifinalists to reach Finalist status, and roughly half of those Finalists will go on to win a National Merit Scholarship.

Check back Wednesday for the full list of Twin Cities metro-area Semifinalists by city and school.