Eleven high school seniors from Carlsbad scored among less than 1% of test-takers nationwide and earned spots as semifinalists in the 2027 National Merit Scholarship Program.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) announced the semifinalists Wednesday, Sept. 9, as part of the program's 72nd year. The Carlsbad students are among 190 semifinalists from San Diego County and more than 16,000 across the country, Patch reported.

The local honorees come from four schools:

Carlsbad High School (2): Anna Broehmer and Karlye Stein

La Costa Canyon High School (1): Bennett Brandenburg

Pacific Ridge School (5): Avery Cochran, Dylan Klapper, Karina Revenko, Beckett Simpson and Coco Ye

Sage Creek High School (3): Johnathan Bartel, Lily Long and Maxwell Nelson

Five of the 11 semifinalists attend Pacific Ridge, a private school in Carlsbad. Carlsbad High and Sage Creek are part of the Carlsbad Unified School District, while La Costa Canyon belongs to the San Dieguito Union High School District.

San Diego County semifinalists also come from Coronado, Encinitas, La Jolla, Lakeside, Oceanside, Rancho Santa Fe, San Diego, San Marcos, Solana Beach, Spring Valley and Vista.

More than 1.2 million juniors entered the competition by taking the 2025 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). Semifinalists represent the highest-scoring entrants in each state.

To advance to finalist standing, students must submit an application covering their academic record, extracurricular activities, leadership, employment, honors and awards. They also need a school endorsement, an essay and SAT or ACT scores that confirm their qualifying-test performance. The NMSC expects more than 15,000 of the 16,000 semifinalists to reach finalist status, with notifications going to schools in February.

The corporation releases semifinalist and scholarship-winner names to the media, but finalist announcements are left to each high school, according to the NMSC. Families should check with their school counselors for updates.

Winners of roughly 6,700 scholarships worth a combined $24 million will be announced in four rounds from April through July.