National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) announced over 2,500 winners of National Merit Scholarships financed by U.S. colleges and universities on June 3. Officials of each sponsor college selected their scholarship winners from among the finalists in the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program who plan to attend their institution.


These awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study

at the institution financing the scholarship. An additional group of Scholars will be announced in July, bringing the total number of college-sponsored Merit Scholarship recipients in the 2026 competition to approximately 3,500.


This year, 138 higher education institutions are underwriting Merit Scholarship awards through the National Merit Scholarship Program. Sponsor colleges and universities include 69 private and 69 public institutions located in 42 states and the District of Columbia.


The announcement is the third National Merit Scholar release in 2026 by National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC®). NMSC named recipients of corporate-sponsored awards on April 22 and winners of National Merit® $2500 Scholarships on May 13. Additional recipients of college-sponsored awards will be announced on July 13. Earlier this spring, NMSC announced winners of corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards and National Merit $2500 scholarships.


High school juniors entered the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program when they took the 2024 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. Last fall, more than 16,000 Semifinalists were named on a state-representational basis in numbers proportional to each state’s percentage of the national total of graduating high school seniors. Semifinalists were the highest-scoring program entrants in each state and represented less than one percent of the nation’s seniors.


To compete for Merit Scholarship awards, Semifinalists first had to advance to the finalist level of the competition by fulfilling additional requirements. Each Semifinalist was asked to submit a detailed scholarship application, which included writing an essay and providing information about extracurricular activities, awards, and leadership positions. Semifinalists also had to have an outstanding academic record, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, and earn SAT® or ACT® scores that confirmed the qualifying test performance. From the semifinalist group, over 15,000 met requirements for Finalist standing, and about half of the finalists will be Merit Scholarship winners in 2026.


NMSC, a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance, was

established in 1955 to conduct the National Merit Scholarship Program. The majority of National Merit Scholarships provided each year are made possible by the support of approximately 300 independent corporate and college sponsors.


Area students who were named to the prestigious list of winners included:


· Autumn Brown, Seven Lakes High School, National Merit Texas A&M University Scholarship. Probable career field: geography

· Emmanuelle Y. Chern, Seven Lakes High School, National Merit Texas A&M University Scholarship. Probable career field: engineering

· Joseph E. Cooper, Seven Lakes High School, National Merit Texas A&M University Scholarship. Probable career field: computer science

· Saumya Milind Dharup, Seven Lakes High School, National Merit Texas A&M University Scholarship. Probable career field: biomedical engineering

· Ryan K. Du, Tompkins High School, National Merit Texas A&M University Scholarship. Probable career field: engineering

· Spencer Gernale, Katy High School, National Merit Texas A&M University Scholarship. Probable career field: electrical engineering.

· Christian L. Hough, Jordan High School, National Merit Texas A&M University Scholarship. Probable career field: Engineering

· Jarrett I. Hutto, Seven Lakes High School, National Merit Texas A&M University Scholarship. Probable career field: mechanical engineering

· Rahid Ismail, Seven Lakes High School, National Merit Texas A&M University Scholarship. Probable career field: electrical engineering

· Joshua C. Joiner, Tompkins High School, National Merit Texas A&M University Scholarship. Probable career field: electrical engineering

· Abhinav Kanchupatla, Tompkins High School, National Merit Texas A&M University Scholarship. Probable career field: aerospace engineering

· Maimunah Kausar, Seven Lakes High School, National Merit Texas A&M University Scholarship. Probable career field: neuroscience

· Rohan M. Kishre, Jordan High School, National Merit Texas A&M University Scholarship. Probable career field: electrical engineering

· Ivan La, Cinco Ranch High School, University of Texas at Dallas Scholarship. Probable career field: pharmaceutical science.

· Ryan Liu, Tompkins High School, National Merit Texas A&M University Scholarship. Probable career field: electrical engineering

· Komal D. Maniar, Seven Lakes High Schoo , National Merit Texas A&M University Scholarship. Probable career field: mechanical engineering

· Terynce Nguyen, Seven Lakes High School, National Merit Texas A&M University Scholarship. Probable career field: chemistry

· Ashana Rao, Tompkins High School, National Merit Texas A&M University Scholarship. Probable career field: biomedical engineering

· George O. Rhoades, Jordan High School, National Merit Texas A&M University Scholarship. Probable career field: engineering

· Angelina Stephens, Texas Academy of Mathematics, Denton , National Merit Texas A&M University Scholarship. Probable career field: medicine

· Sheryl T. Surawijaya, Taylor High School, National Merit Texas A&M University Scholarship. Probable career field: mechanical engineering

· Sophia Q. Tange, Taylor High School, National Merit Texas A&M University Scholarship. Probable career field: electrical engineering

· An Q. Truong, Seven Lakes High School, National Merit Texas A&M University Scholarship. Probable career field: aerospace engineering

· Rohanna G. White, Seven Lake High School, National Merit Texas A&M University Scholarship. Probable career field: computer engineering

· Ken H. Woodward, Seven Lakes High School, National Merit Texas A&M University Scholarship. Probable career field: materials engineering

· Faizan Zameer, Tompkins High School, , National Merit Texas A&M University Scholarship. Probable career field: computer science

· Erica C. Zhang, Seven Lakes High School, National Merit Texas A&M University Scholarship. Probable career field: mechanical engineering

· Michelle L. Zhang, Seven Lake High School, , National Merit Texas A&M University Scholarship. Probable career field: optometry