<p>Does anyone here know of a highly ranked school that offers merit aid? I'm not eligible for need-based aid, so I'm hoping that my SAT score will get me some money ;) Does anyone have any suggestions?</p>
<p>Not sure if any of these are still open for application for merit aid, but Top 50’s that typically offered merit include Wash U, Miami, Tulane, USC, Case Western, Rochester, and Ohio State. </p>
<p>Others may, and I’m sorry if I forgot to include them, chime in if you know of any.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.stampsfoundation.org/partners/”>http://www.stampsfoundation.org/partners/</a> lists some. But at highly selective schools, the big scholarships tend to be super-reach for everyone.</p>
<p>Beyond that, there are some in <a href=“Competitive Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html</a> .</p>
<p>I’m assuming by top 50 you’re referring to national universities as ranked by the US News. If we pretend you’re a high school junior with perfect scores, a top GPA, and amazing ECs, here are some schools which might offer you money. Keep in mind that many of these schools have specific scholarships which must be applied to before a certain deadline. For instance Emory’s main merit scholarship, Emory Scholars, has a Nov. 15 deadline which must be adhered to should an applicant want merit.</p>
<p>[Duke[/url</a>]
[url=<a href=“http://pages.jh.edu/finaid/prosp_stud_scholar.html]Johns”>http://pages.jh.edu/finaid/prosp_stud_scholar.html]Johns</a> Hopkins University](<a href=“http://ousf.duke.edu/merit-scholarship-programs]Duke[/url”>http://ousf.duke.edu/merit-scholarship-programs)
[Emory</a> University](<a href=“Welcome to Emory College.”>Welcome to Emory College.)
[University</a> of Virginia](<a href=“http://admission.virginia.edu/node/71]University”>http://admission.virginia.edu/node/71)
[Rice[/url</a>]
[url=<a href=“http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/docs/uscScholarships1516.pdf]University”>http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/docs/uscScholarships1516.pdf]University</a> of Southern California](<a href=“http://financialaid.rice.edu/scholarships.aspx]Rice[/url”>http://financialaid.rice.edu/scholarships.aspx)
[Wake</a> Forest University](<a href=“http://financialaid.wfu.edu/merit-based-scholarships/]Wake”>http://financialaid.wfu.edu/merit-based-scholarships/)
[University</a> of Michigan](<a href=“http://www.finaid.umich.edu/Home/TypesofAid/ScholarshipsGrants/TypesofScholarships.aspx]University”>http://www.finaid.umich.edu/Home/TypesofAid/ScholarshipsGrants/TypesofScholarships.aspx)
[Boston</a> College](<a href=“http://www.bc.edu/centers/psp/aboutpsp/faq.html]Boston”>http://www.bc.edu/centers/psp/aboutpsp/faq.html)
[New</a> York University](<a href=“Aid and Costs”>Aid and Costs)
[College</a> of William and Mary](<a href=“http://www.wm.edu/admission/financialaid/typesofaid/scholarships/]College”>http://www.wm.edu/admission/financialaid/typesofaid/scholarships/)
[University</a> of Rochester](<a href=“http://enrollment.rochester.edu/financial-aid/undergrads/#tab3]University”>http://enrollment.rochester.edu/financial-aid/undergrads/#tab3)
[Georgia</a> Institute of Technology](<a href=“Blow the Whistle! (404 error: page not found) | Financial Aid”>Blow the Whistle! (404 error: page not found) | Financial Aid)</p>
<p>If I have more time, I’ll finish up the rest of the top 50. It should be noted that the UCs (California’s top publics) have a Regents scholarship program, but I’m fuzzy on the details. If memory serves me right, it’s awarded on the basis of financial need, academic acheivement, and state residency, but I could be mistaken. </p>
<p>If you’re interested in LACs, The University of Richmond and Washington and Lee in Virginia are both generous with big merit scholarships, provided your stats are high.</p>
<p>I know Syracuse is borderline but they definitely do.</p>
<p>BU and Northeastern are in the top 50 and offer merit</p>
<p>Look at the Kiplinger “best value” lists. They show the percentage of students who get merit aid and the average amounts.<br>
<a href=“http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-private-colleges/index.php?table=prv_univ”>http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-private-colleges/index.php?table=prv_univ</a>
<a href=“http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-private-colleges/index.php?table=lib_arts”>http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-private-colleges/index.php?table=lib_arts</a></p>
<p>Quite a few colleges in the Forbes top 50 grant some merit aid.
Not counting the service academies, the most generous (in terms of percentage of students and average amounts) include Davidson, Duke, Rice, Chicago, Washington & Lee, and Oberlin. W&L may be the only one in the Forbes top 50 where the average amount covers more than half of full tuition.</p>
<p>Amplification regarding Duke follows. Duke has unbelievably generous “named” merit scholarships (frequently including paid summer internships, overseas semesters, a true all-expenses full-ride, and so forth), however they are comparatively rare. The overwhelming majority of undergraduate FA is need-based grants, not merit-based scholarship. </p>
<p>I think we have to be careful when describing schools as offering merit-aid. Plenty of top schools do, but with the qualification that the number of awards are very, very small, therefore for all but a very select number of students, they might as well offer none at all. For instance, Hamilton offer a very small number of merit scholarships, but it’s something like 5, which is about 1% of the class. That’s considerably different than a school that offers 25% of the incoming class merit awards or anyone who exceeds certain stats like Ohio State.</p>
<p>I think OP was mainly interested in those Top 50 schools where they could reasonably expect to receive a merit award.</p>
<p>@MrMom62 I’m interested in both kinds of scholarships.
At this point though, I’m a lot more excited about schools that will almost certainly give some aid to a student with a 2300 superscore. It looks like I (thankfully) have a full tuition offer from Temple, but I was looking for schools that might be considered “better” that would also give me some $$$. I know that it’s not very likely to find a school that would cover full tuition in the top 50, but any schools that would give me a good chunk of money are schools that I’d like to hear about.
Scholarships that I need to apply for are a bit of a drag, but I’d like to hear about them nonetheless.</p>
<p>Holy Cross has some merit scholarships and is also need-blind.</p>
<p>Should we consider Vanderbilt (for example) a “top” school? According to Kiplinger, 19% of Vanderbilt students receive merit awards, averaging almost $24K. 23% of Duke students receive merit awards, averaging almost $20K. 11% of Davidson students receive merit awards, averaging more than $22K.</p>
<p>According to the 2014-15 Holy Cross Common Data Set, section H, only 9 first-time full-time freshmen were awarded merit scholarships.</p>
<p>Since you’re using Temple as a safety, besides checking with the schools above, also consider Pittsburgh. I believe they are a bit higher ranked than Temple, though they aren’t quite Top 50 (#62 in a quick google search vs #121 for Temple). I know they are thought of more highly in my area for many majors. I’m not sure if too much time has passed for significant merit aid from them or not.</p>
<p>Otherwise, I second U Rochester and U Miami above - or Wake Forest perhaps. BUT, I’ve no idea if important deadlines have passed and I’m not taking the time to look those up.</p>
<p>i don’t have a list of schools that offer aid but the majority of the schools that do are private schools or ivies.</p>
<p>@tk21769 Yes, those are the kinds of schools I’m looking at. I’m planning to apply to Vandy and Duke, but I prefer northeastern schools generally. Can you think of any with similar aid? (My dad swears Swarthmore gives great merit aid, but from their website, it doesn’t seem that way…)</p>
<p>Tulane gives good merit aid. I think they’re like #52 or something though, if you’re willing to stoop to such peasant universities.</p>
<p>Swarthmore gives great finaid, not sure about merit.</p>
<p>Beware that many parents confuse financial aid (need-based - all who qualify for admission are qualified) with merit-aid (score-based, achievement based -only a small number qualify regardless of whether their parents have enough money to pay according to their EFC), often because both are called “scholarships”.
Swarthmore has great financial aid, as said above - not “merit aid”.</p>
<p>Swarthmore offers some merit money, but they go to a tiny number of students.</p>