5 South Brunswick High School Students Named National Merit Semifinalists

SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ — Five South Brunswick High School students have been named semifinalists in the 2027 National Merit Scholarship Program, according to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

The South Brunswick semifinalists are:

• Asmi Jain

• Rohan Kumar

• Hiya Patel

• Tyler Slavin

• Jeremiah Zhang

The students are among more than 16,000 semifinalists nationwide announced Wednesday in the 72nd annual competition, according to NMSC. Semifinalists have the opportunity to continue competing for about 6,700 National Merit Scholarships worth approximately $24 million that will be offered next spring.

To advance to the Finalist level, semifinalists must fulfill several requirements, including submitting a detailed scholarship application covering academic record, extracurricular participation, leadership and honors, along with an endorsement from a high school official, an essay, and SAT or ACT scores confirming their qualifying test performance, NMSC said.

About 95 percent of semifinalists are expected to attain Finalist standing, and approximately half of Finalists will go on to win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar title, according to NMSC.

The nationwide pool of semifinalists represents less than 1 percent of U.S. high school seniors and includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state, based on the 2025 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. More than 1.2 million juniors at about 20,000 high schools entered the competition by taking the test.

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