Iowa State’s efforts to attract National Merit Scholars are beginning to gain attention. The university has one of the highest concentrations of merit scholars, ranking ninth among public universities and 19th out of all of the nation’s institutions of higher education.Marc Harding, director of admissions, said Iowa State enrolled 113 new National Merit Scholars this year, putting the university above well-known institutions such as Princeton and Northwestern University.”The number of merit scholars symbolizes academic excellence,” Harding said. “We, as a top university, have the ability to attract these students to come here.”Tom Becker, coordinator of high ability student recruitment, said he is proud of the numbers because of their reflection on Iowa State and its capability to bring other scholars to the school.”These students can really pick to go to any school they want,” he said. “They pick Iowa State because we are a high-quality school. These kids would not be coming here if we did not have an academic program that met their needs.”Nick Schlesser, sophomore in animal ecology, said he is proud to be a merit scholar but also said he thinks it is necessary to give back to the school. “It is your duty to be an academic leader to other students,” he said.Becker said National Merit Scholars are students who took PSAT tests during high school and scored exceptionally well. They then wrote an essay about a given topic, and from there the final cut was made, he said. Students are also required to find a sponsor and select three schools they would like to attend in order of preference, Becker said.Harding said Iowa State also enrolled 12 National Achievement Scholars this fall, placing the university seventh among public universities and 19th among all universities. He said the National Achievement Scholarship program is very similar to the National Merit Scholarship program except it is exclusively for black students. This brings the total number of National Merit and National Achievement scholars enrolled at Iowa State to 533, Harding said.”It takes a village to bring these students in,” he said. “It really does take a lot of work.”