Congratulations to Austin Norris ‘13 for being named a National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist. In October 2011, approximately 1.5 million juniors in some 22,000 high schools took the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). Officials of the National Merit Scholarship Corporation recently announced the names of approximately 16,000 Semifinalists in the 58th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. This is an extraordinary accomplishment considering that less than one percent of the 1.5 million students who took the PSAT/NMSQT exam are named Semifinalists.
Austin, a graduate of St. Linus School, now has the opportunity to continue in the competition for some 8,300 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $32,000,000. To be considered for a Merit Scholarship Award, Austin must fulfill several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition. About 90 percent of Semifinalists are expected to attain Finalist standing, and more than half of the Finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar title.
Austin would like to attend the University of California at Berkeley, California Institute of Technology, or Stanford University and study Physics after graduating from Brother Rice.
Best of luck to Austin on his journey to becoming a National Merit Finalist and Merit Scholar.
