To qualify for a scholarship, a student must be
* either a Junior on a four-year high school program or in the second year of a three-year program,
* a U. S. citizen or a permanent resident who has applied for citizenship, and
* a graduate in the year two years after they take the test (i.e., for the 2006 exam the student must graduate in 2008). For graduates of three-year programs there is a slightly more complicated and ambiguous set of selection criteria.