Hundreds of South Bay and Peninsula high school seniors have been named semifinalists in the 2015 National Merit Scholarship Program, which honors exceptional academic ability and potential for college success.
They are among 16,000 semifinalists chosen nationally. About 90 percent of them are expected to be finalists and be eligible for $2,500 National Merit Scholarships or college or corporate scholarships. Finalists will be notified in February.
Semifinalists are selected based on scores in the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. About 1.4 million juniors took that exam in 2013.
The semifinalists represent less than 1 percent of U.S. high school seniors and also include the highest-scoring entrants in each state.
For a list of semifinalists in California, go to www.mercurynews.com/education.
Contact Sharon Noguchi at 408-271-3775. Follow her at Twitter.com/noguchionk12.
