National Merit Scholarship Commended 2024 Results. The commended cutoff — the minimum score to be considered for national merit honors — for the class of 2025 is. About 95 percent of the semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and about half of the finalists will win a national merit scholarship, earning the merit scholar® title.

Although they will not continue in the 2024 competition for national merit scholarship awards, commended students placed among the top 50,000 students. The national merit scholarship program selects 16,000 semifinalists from the 50,000 qualifying students.