Ten students from Birmingham and Bloomfield-area schools earned spots among Michigan's 535 National Merit Scholarship semifinalists for 2027, the National Merit Scholarship Corp. announced Wednesday, Sept. 9.

At Roeper School in Bloomfield Hills three students were named semifinalists: Brogi Amaral, Henry Billings and Livia Mardiros. Seaholm High School's Hiren Patel also advanced. At Groves High School in Beverly Hills, Jyoti Patel was named a semifinalist.

Bloomfield Hills High School produced five semifinalists: Meghan K. Harper, Ayan K. Sehgal, Jared She, Jack F. Sloan and Evan M. Welch.

The competition is steep. The students emerged from a pool of more than 1.2 million juniors nationwide who took the 2025 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test at roughly 20,000 high schools, MLive reported. Michigan's semifinalist count rose to 535 this year, up from 472 last year.

The semifinalists now compete for one of 6,700 National Merit Scholarships worth roughly $24 million. To advance to finalist standing, each student must submit an application covering academic records, extracurricular activities and leadership. They must also write an essay, confirm their test scores on the SAT and receive an endorsement from a school official.

About 95% of semifinalists are expected to reach finalist standing, according to MLive. Roughly half of finalists win a scholarship, including $2,500 awards, corporate-sponsored awards and college-sponsored scholarships from roughly 140 universities.

Two other area private schools placed students on the list. Detroit Country Day School in Beverly Hills had five semifinalists: Adam Khan, Tejas Khare, Sreekesh Panicker, Noah Shaban and Isha Ummadi. Based on the MLive list, Cranbrook Kingswood School in Bloomfield Hills had 36 semifinalists and the International Academy, also in Bloomfield Hills, had 35.

Semifinalists who meet the program's requirements will learn whether they advanced to finalist standing in February 2027.