BUFORD — Fifty-seven students from five North Gwinnett-area high schools have been named semifinalists in the 2027 National Merit Scholarship Program, placing them among fewer than 1% of U.S. high school seniors recognized nationwide.
The National Merit Scholarship Corp. announced more than 16,000 semifinalists in the 72nd annual competition. The students will now have the opportunity to advance to finalist status and compete for approximately 6,700 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $24 million.
Locally, Lambert High School led the area with 40 semifinalists, followed by North Gwinnett High School with 13. Lanier High School had two semifinalists, while Buford High School and Sugar Hill Christian Academy each had one.
The local semifinalists are:
Buford High School
- Jennifer M. Tudor
North Gwinnett High School
- Ashley B. Ahn
- Emma I. Calin
- Joshua Y. Cho
- Yerin Choi
- Abhinav S. Desai
- Neeral T. Gandhi
- James B. Kelly
- Joanna Kim
- Hyuna Lee
- James K. Lee
- Duo Lin
- Audrey E. Medlock
- Jasmine Z. Owen
Lanier High School
- Kuvam Bhatia
- Mingyu Chang
Sugar Hill Christian Academy
- Serena Butler
More than 1.2 million high school juniors at approximately 20,000 schools entered the 2027 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2025 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, or PSAT/NMSQT.
Semifinalists represent the highest-scoring entrants in each state. The number selected from each state is proportional to its share of the nation’s graduating high school seniors.
To advance to the finalist level, students and a high school official must submit a detailed scholarship application documenting the student’s academic record, school and community activities, leadership, employment experience, honors and awards. Students must also receive a recommendation from a school official, complete an essay and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirm their performance on the qualifying test.
More than 15,000 semifinalists are expected to become finalists, with those students scheduled to be notified in February.
Approximately half of the finalists are expected to receive a National Merit Scholarship and earn the title of Merit Scholar.
Scholarships offered in spring 2027 will include 2,500 National Merit $2,500 Scholarships, about 700 corporate-sponsored awards and approximately 3,500 scholarships financed by participating colleges and universities.
National Merit Scholarship winners will be announced in a series of nationwide releases beginning in April and continuing through July 2027.
