Germantown Academy Head of Upper School Chris Nelson announced on Friday, September 15 that the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) named Tyler Dolan '18 a National Semifinalist in the 63rd annual National Merit Scholarship Program.

"We couldn't be more proud of Tyler's recognition as a National Merit Semifinalist; certainly it is a tremendous reflection of his innate curiosity, his creative spark, his unparalleled diligence, and unrelenting effort," said Mr. Nelson. "We wish him the best of luck as he moves onward in the competition."

Semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition. About 90 percent of the 16,000 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. Finalists will be announced in April.

About 1.6 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2018 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2016 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of Semifinalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state. The number of Semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state's percentage of the national total of graduation seniors.