Six Pingry seniors are among 16,000 semifinalists in the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program. Now in its 70th year, the program honors students who show exceptional academic ability and potential for success in rigorous college studies. Including these six students, 38 Pingry students have been semifinalists over the past five years.

Semifinalists:
Benjamin Chung
Elbert Ho
Eshaan Jain
Vinav Shah
Ziv Shah
Ella Wunderlich

To enter the 2025 program, 1.6 million juniors took the 2023 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). The national pool of semifinalists includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state. Approximately 15,000 semifinalists are expected to advance to the finals, and 7,500 National Merit Scholarships will be offered next spring. To become a finalist, a semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay, earn SAT scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test, and demonstrate leadership and participation in school and community activities.


Contact: Greg Waxberg ’96, Communications Writer, Editor of The Pingry Review