Twenty-four La Jolla seniors are in the running for a share of $24 million in college scholarships after being named semifinalists in the 2027 National Merit Scholarship Program.
The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) announced the semifinalists on Wednesday, Sept. 9, as part of the program's 72nd year. The La Jolla students are among 190 semifinalists across San Diego County and more than 16,000 nationwide.
The Bishop's School led the local count with 15 semifinalists: Eseosa Bello, Grayson E. Blatt, Jasmine Chan, Adam J. Fang, Eric T. Feng, Daniel T. Guo, Ryan W. Kavanaugh, Brian J. Kim, Emma Q. Liu, Eugene Y. Ng, Zhiyi Emma Rong, Michelle M. Wang, Kayley Y. Xu, Jiaqi A. Zhang and Chris Zheng.
La Jolla Country Day School produced five: Ariana Du, Sandy He, Nico P. Katz, Hailey M. Saavedra and Hangsu Zhang.
La Jolla High School's four semifinalists are Sarah E. Beckman, Sophie G. Grodin, Evan D. Keri and Carolyn E. Smith.
The honor is rare. Semifinalists represent less than 1% of the more than 1.2 million juniors who took the 2025 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) and include the highest-scoring entrants in each state. California's Selection Index cutoff for the Class of 2027 was 220, down from 224 for the Class of 2026, according to Oriel Admissions, which compiles cutoff data from test-takers. That figure is a crowdsourced estimate, not an official NMSC release.
To advance to finalist status, students must submit an application covering their academic record, extracurricular activities, leadership, employment and honors. They also need a school endorsement, an essay and SAT or ACT scores that confirm their qualifying-test performance. About 95% of semifinalists are expected to reach finalist standing, according to the NMSC.
Finalist notifications are expected in February 2027. From there, about 6,700 scholarships will be awarded in three categories: roughly 2,500 one-time $2,500 National Merit Scholarships, about 700 corporate-sponsored awards and approximately 3,500 college-sponsored awards. Winners will be announced in four rounds from April through July 2027.
