Germantown Academy is proud to announce that seven members of the Class of 2025 have been named Semifinalists of the National Merit Scholarship Program. Yash Kandanuru ’25, Jianna Kim ’25, Helen Liang ’25, Umang Mittal ’25, Ishaan Paladugu ’25, Lawrence Zhan ’25, and Roy Zhao ’25 will now move on to the finalist round in hopes of winning one of 7,500 Merit Scholarship Awards.

Of the 1.3 million entrants, some 50,000 with the highest PSAT/NMSQT Selection Index scores qualify for recognition in the National Merit Scholarship Program. In September 2024, about 16,000 students, or approximately one-third of the 50,000 high scorers, were notified that they have qualified as Semifinalists—the highest-scoring entrants in each state.

In February 2026, about 15,000 Semifinalists will be notified that they have advanced to Finalist standing. All National Merit Scholarship winners (Merit Scholar^® awardees) will be chosen from this group of Finalists based on their abilities, skills, and accomplishments. Merit Scholarship awards are of three types: National Merit $2500 Scholarships, Corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards, and College-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards.

Congrats to our Semifinalists!