Beverly Hills Students Named National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists

Two students were named Tuesday among 16,000 semifinalists in the competition for National Merit Scholarships.

The semifinalists have a chance to compete for some 8,300 scholarships worth more than $32 million that will be offered next spring, according to an announcement by the National Merit Scholarship Corp. To be considered for a merit scholarship, award semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the finalist stage of the competition.

About 90 percent of the semifinalists can expect to move on to the finalist level, and more than half will win a merit scholarship to earn the title of Merit Scholar.

The semifinalists from  are:

• Jiangyue Yang

• Rong Zheng

Three types of National Merit Scholarships will be offered in the spring of 2013. Every finalist will compete for one of 2,500 National Merit Scholarships worth $2,500 that will be awarded on a state-by-state basis, according to the announcement. About 1,000 corporate-sponsored merit scholarship awards will be offered by some 240 corporations and business organizations. In addition, about 200 colleges and universities are expected to fund some 4,800 college-sponsored merit scholarship awards for finalists who will attend the institution.

The 2012 National Merit Scholarship winners will be named in four nationwide news releases beginning in April and ending in July. These scholarship recipients will join more than 291,000 other distinguished young people who have earned the Merit Scholar title.

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