BERGEN COUNTY, NJ — Each September, high-achieving high school students across the country are chosen as semifinalists for a $2,000-per-year grant for college from the National Merit Scholarship Program.
The first round of choices is based solely on the students' PSAT scores from their junior year.
Next spring, the group will be narrowed down based on their high school achievements and other factors. Finalists will be chosen for the no-strings-attached four-year scholarships, usually of $2,000 per year or more.
The National Merit Scholarship Board released its new list of semifinalists on Tuesday.
Dozens of students attending school in Bergen County made the list.
More than 16,000 semifinalists were chosen from around the country in the 72nd annual program.
Below are the students from Bergen County who are semifinalists this year. The list includes public schools (including regional magnet schools), private schools, and online school. Students all took the same PSATs to qualify.
This Year's Score Cutoff
The list of winners includes public schools (including regional magnet schools), private schools, and online school. Students all took the same PSATs to qualify.
This year's qualifying score in New Jersey was 225 and above. To get the score, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation doubles the reading and writing score, adds it to the math, and divides by 10.
(See which Bergen County students and schools made last year's 2025 semifinalists list here.)
Bergen County Semifinalists, 2026-2027
Northern Highlands Regional High School, Allendale
Kim, Jacob
Creskill High
Kim, Dain
Bergen County Institutes For Science And Technology, Demarest
Hwang, Jayden
Northern Valley Regional, Demarest (accepts students from seven towns)
Furukawa, Jun
Yoon, Chaewon
Northern Valley Regional at Old Tappan
Kim, Hayul
Dumont High
Yoo, Sarah
Dwight-Englewood School, Englewood
Chu, Caroline
Valencia, Andre
Dwight Morrow High, Englewood
Go, Arabella
Fair Lawn High
Rikkala, Sourish
Fort Lee High
Chang, Joon
Glen Rock High
Feng, Selina Y.
Bergen County Academies, Hackensack
Arslan, Lara
Dhingra, Aryan
Gangu, Vikram
Kang, Hyuna
Karpova, Abigail
Kim, Isaac
Korgaonkar, Yash
Korn, Jacob
Kumar, Amrita
Lee, Aiden
Lee, Hanvit
Lee, Joshua
Marynchev, Alexander
Mehta, Yuditt
Park, Ashley
Pathak, Aalok
Shang, Bozhan
Shav, Elad
Shi, Claire
Sullivan, Clara
Tong, Emily
Watanabe, Kana
Yoo, Esther
Zhou, Grace
Pascack Valley High
SooHoo, Luli I.
Hoboken High
Fernandez, Carolina
Pascack Hills High, Montvale
Oh, Jooyoung
Bergen Catholic High, Oradell
Ghacibeh, Ian
Shen, Alexander
River Dell Regional High
Danbe, Jocelyn
Lee, Dayeon
Ramsey High
Finnegan, Declan P.
Ridgewood High
Abdalla, Amari
Arnt-Schemmel, Earnest J.
Han, Aidan
Liang, Cheng Ze
Liu, Edward
Sung, Sia
River Vale, online school
Lee, Adeline S.
Rutherford High
Tavani, Nina O.
Vemuri, Dwarakanath
Saddle River Day School
Isernhagen, Thomas
Ptashny, Rafael
Shah, Shailen
Torah Academy of Bergen County, Teaneck
Kryzman, Ben-Tzion
Tenafly High
Corcoran, Kieran M.
Donapati, Charita
Han, Daniel
Kim, Juyoung P.
Lee, Henry J.
Bergen County Technical High, Teterboro
Elsetouhi, Sammy
Fung, Chloe
Go, Serene
Joo, Claire
Kim, Evelyn
If You Don't See Your Chlid
Don't see your child, but know he or she is on the list? Names are sometimes unintentionally omitted. Email Patch here.
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