There are 157 National Merit Scholarship semifinalists from Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) in the 2011 competition, eight more than the previous year. The semifinalists will go on to compete nationally for scholarships that will be offered in the spring. The competition is sponsored by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. 

The MCPS semifinalists come from 16 high schools. The schools and their number of semifinalists are:

Bethesda-Chevy Chase: 8
Montgomery Blair: 40
Blake: 1
Winston Churchill: 13
Clarksburg: 1
Einstein: 1
Poolesville:  9
Quince Orchard: 2
Richard Montgomery: 30
Rockville: 1
Seneca Valley: 1
Springbrook: 3
Walter Johnson: 8
Walt Whitman: 24
Watkins Mill: 1
Wootton: 15

Semifinalists from MCPS were selected from among high school juniors (now seniors) who were top scorers on the 2009 PSAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. Roughly 16,000 semifinalists across the nation will be considered for advancement to the finalist stage of the competition.

Finalists will be considered for $2,500 National Merit scholarships, plus additional corporate-sponsored and college/university-sponsored scholarships.

National Merit Scholarship Program

MCPS Semifinalists