From approximately 1.5 million students who entered the 2023 National Merit Scholarship Program, only about 16,000 were named Semifinalists – 31 of them were BASIS Independent Silicon Valley students. Of those 16,000 Semifinalists, just over 15,000 were named Finalists – all 31 of our Semifinalists were named Finalists.

Of the 31 Finalists, seven of our students have now been named Winners!

Congratulations to Annie C., Dhanvi G., Sayuri G., Alyson J., Trisha R., Meha S., and Rohit V. who have been announced as National Merit Scholarship Winners! We are so proud of our Bobcats!

Annie C .

Alyson J.

Dhanvi G.

Trisha R.

Rohit V.

Sayuri G.

Meha S.

The recipients of this award are the winners in each state judged to have the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills, and potential for success in rigorous college studies. The number of winners named in each state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the nation’s graduating high school seniors.

These Scholars were selected by a committee of college admissions officers and high school counselors, who appraised a substantial amount of information submitted by both the Finalists and their high schools: the academic record, including difficulty level of subjects studied and grades earned; scores from two standardized tests; contributions and leadership in school and community activities; an essay written by the Finalist; and a recommendation written by a high school official.

This year’s National Merit Scholarship Program began in Fall 2021 when over 1.6 million juniors in approximately 22,000 high schools took the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. Last fall, the highest-scoring participants in each state, representing less than one percent of the nation’s high school seniors, were named Semifinalists on a state-representational basis. Only these 16,000 Semifinalists had an opportunity to continue in the competition.

From the Semifinalist group, some 15,000 students met the very high academic standards and other requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition. By the conclusion of the 2023 program, about 7,200 Finalists will have earned the Merit Scholar title and received a total of over $28 million in college scholarships.

Congratulations to our winners!

BASIS Independent Silicon Valley is a TK – Grade 12 private school, providing students with an internationally benchmarked liberal arts and sciences curriculum, with advanced STEM offerings.