Two Asheville School seniors selected as National Merit Scholarship semifinalists

Press release

From the Asheville School:

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (September 23, 2013) Based on preliminary scores from national testing (PSAT), Asheville School seniors Claire Hansen (Asheville, NC) and Jack Gregory (Asheville, NC) have been selected as semifinalists in the 2014 National Merit Scholarship Program. They have the opportunity to apply and to advance to the finalist level to compete for National Merit Scholarships.

According to the National Merit Scholarship website, approximately 1.5 million students meet the participation requirements. Of those students, about 16,000 students were notified earlier in September if they qualified as a semifinalist for nearly 8,000 National Merit Scholarships worth about $35 million.

“We are very proud of Claire and Jack, and we wish them luck as they submit their applications for the next round of selection,” said Asheville School’s Director of the College Office Leah Lambert.

Finalists’ academic record, test scores, participation in activities and leadership, personal essay, along with their school’s recommendation, curricula, grading system and recommendation are taken into consideration in the evaluation. Finalists will be notified in the spring of 2014 if they have been selected to receive one of the three types of National Merit Scholarships. All finalists compete for the National Merit $2,500 Scholarships that are awarded on a state representational basis. There are also corporate-sponsored and college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards. (www.nationalmerit.org/)

Located in the mountains of North Carolina, Asheville School is a nationally acclaimed co-ed, college preparatory, boarding and day school, enrolling approximately 280 students from 20 states and 17 countries. Since Asheville School implemented a later start to the school day, recent graduates have been accepted to Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, Cornell, Caltech, UCLA, UNC-Chapel Hill, Davidson, NC State, University of Virginia, Emory, Duke, Wake Forest, and Yale among others.