Scholarships & Recognition
By taking the PSAT/NMSQT, you may qualify to enter the competitions for prestigious scholarships and participate in recognition programs.
(As cosponsor of the PSAT/NMSQT, NMSC receives all students' scores. If you do not want your scores released to other recognition programs, contact us.)
- The National Hispanic Recognition Program (NHRP)
- National Scholarship Service
- The Telluride Association
National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC)
Students in the eleventh grade of high school enter NMSC competitions by taking the PSAT/NMSQT, which serves as an initial screen of approximately 1.4 million entrants each year, and by meeting published program entry and/or participation requirements. NMSC uses the Selection Index score (CR + M + W) on the PSAT/NMSQT as an initial screen of program entrants and to designate groups of students to be honored in the competitions it conducts.
For more information about NMSC, visit www.nationalmerit.org.
National Hispanic Recognition Program (NHRP)
The College Board's NHRP was initiated in 1983 to identify outstanding Hispanic high school students and to share information about these academically well-prepared students with subscribing colleges and universities. In order to be eligible, students must be at least one-quarter Hispanic. Each year the NHRP identifies approximately 3,300 of the highest scoring students from a nationwide total of 124,000 high school juniors who took the PSAT/NMSQT and designated themselves as Hispanic, as well as approximately 125 of the top scoring PAA students from Puerto Rico. The nationwide selection also includes students from Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and U.S. citizens attending international and APO schools.
Although the College Board is not able to provide a monetary award to these students, an important component of the program is the CD-ROM distributed to subscribing four-year postsecondary institutions. This CD-ROM lists the names of all students selected in the program and is mailed in September to these subscribing colleges and universities. Being listed may give students an opportunity to hear from colleges that are particularly interested in communicating with prospective students of Hispanic heritage.
For more information about the College Board's NHRP, please email nhrp@collegeboard.org or call (800) 626-9795.
NHRP Eligibility Requirements
Qualification for recognition is based on the student's combined critical reading, mathematics, and writing skill scores on the PSAT/NMSQT when taken in the eleventh grade of high school. PSAT/NMSQT score cut-offs vary each year by state. Students must also self-identify themselves as Hispanic on the PSAT/NMSQT answer sheet. A minimum grade point average (GPA) is established for the program and academic information is requested directly from the high schools.
To qualify for this program, the student must be at least one-quarter Hispanic, according to the following definition: A person of Mexican-American, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or other Spanish cultures or origins. For purposes of this program, this does not include persons from Brazil or Portuguese culture/origin, or persons from the Philippines. Hispanic is an ethnic category not a racial category and Hispanics may be of any race.
NHRP Dates and Deadlines
- October: High School juniors take the PSAT/NMSQT and self-identify as Hispanic on the answer sheet.
- Early April: NHRP sends information to high school principals about the students who are being considered for the program.
- End of April/May: High schools return NHRP verification forms containing the student's information to the NHRP program office.
- Mid-September: NHRP distributes a CD-ROM containing the students' names, contact information, and majors of interest to colleges and universities.
- Mid-September: NHRP provides high schools with the names of the recognized students. Award certificates are distributed to high schools for student recognition.
For more information about this program please email nhrp@collegeboard.org.
National Scholarship Service (NSSFNS)
The NSSFNS offers a free college advisory and referral service for students who plan to attend two-year or four-year colleges. Scores are sent for students in eleventh grade who indicate that they are African American. (Note: This program is not conducted by NMSC.)
For more information, write to:
National Scholarship Service
980 Martin Luther King Drive, SW, PO Box 11409
Atlanta, GA 30310
The Telluride Association
The Telluride Association offers scholarships to gifted juniors for summer seminars in the humanities and social sciences. (This program is not conducted by NMSC.)
For more information, visit www.tellurideassociation.org or write to:
Telluride Association
217 West Avenue
Ithaca, NY 14850
