Son has perfect SAT and 4.2 unweighted GPA in most rigorous courses. He has great ECs as well. He is looking to go to the best school he can that gives academic scholarships because he knows he will not qualify for financial aid. Any help?
Go to the Financial Aid forum and look at the Pinned threads at the top.
Duke, Rice, UMich, UVa, UNC, Vandy, Emory, and WashU have some big merit scholarships, but they range from hard to get to very hard to get. Caltech has 2. JHU has a handful of big ones as well.
Northwestern has some small ones. UChicago has some as well (not big ones these days, from what I understand).
Oh, and ND, BC, and Wake also have some big scholarships, I believe.
Also USC, NYU, BU, NEU, W&M, CWRU, URochester.
http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-private-colleges/index.php
http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-private-colleges/index.php?table=lib_arts
Click-sort on either of the “non-need-based aid” columns.
High ranking LACs that give out relatively many merit scholarships (or relatively large average amounts) include Harvey Mudd, Davidson, Washington & Lee, and Claremont McKenna.
For some reason, Kiplinger’s does not have similar columns on its public university page.
However, you can look up average merit aid amounts and the number of recipients in the Common Data Set file, section H, for any college that interests you.
Pay attention to dates and whether you have to fill out additional applications. And if the school is rolling, get app in early. For instance, Tulane considers apps rolling and will offer up to $30,000/yr w/o a special app. But if you want to be considered for a full ride, you have to write an app for it. WashU merit awards are only given through an application process but for USC, no additional app but you must apply by dec 1. Same for Urochester. Keep a spreadsheet so that opportunities aren’t lost.
Pitt has partial to full tuition plus a handful of full (incl room & board)
Is your son a junior? If he is a senior, is he a likely NMF?
What state are you in?
What is his major and career goal?
What was his PSAT?
as you may know, ivies and some other top schools don’t give any merit at all.
What is your goal NET cost after merit awards??
If you need/want HUGE merit, then you need strategy.
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Apply to top schools with some HIGHLY competitive huge merit awards. (these have lots of kids with tippy top scores, so the down-selection can be based on spectacular ECs, regional diversity, ethnic diversity, etc.
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Apply to good, but not top schools that give huge competitive merit awards.
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Apply to good, but not top schools that give ASSURED huge merit for stats.
The ivies and MIT do not give any merit aid. Need based only. But they have the most generous financial aid packages in the country.
I think the Seven sisters give merit aid.
@ricck1 Something tells me that OP’s son won’t have many opportunities at the seven sisters… 
University of Richmond offers approx. 45 full ride/full tuition scholarships each year, Very nice LAC in VA, good business school, strong sciences
the mom needs to come back and further clarify. It looks like they have an older son at Tulane. Perhaps the concern is that paying for both isn’t possible.
Temple U. gives full scholarships and Honors with two $4000 stipends for study abroad, and room and board are reasonable compared to most schools. Drexel also gives large merit scholarships but is much more expensive.
Also test scores are a big component of merit.
Here is the competitive merit thread from the financial aid forum
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-p1.html
There is also one for automatic awards
http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
Thank you all for the suggestions. And yes I have someone already at Tulane with a nice scholarship. I was aware of many of the schools mentioned in this thread but not all so I appreciate your taking the time to answer my query.
Oh, my!
He must work 25 hours a day, 8 days a week on his studies to achieve 4.2/4.0 unweighted!
Macalester also offers some big scholarships.
You know what he does work that hard. I feel sorry for him because he puts so much pressure on himself. He also is a rower and that sport is brutal.
To clarify, son knows he can apply to an Ivy and if he gets in and wants it, we will make it happen. He also knows that he wants to go to medical school and feels he should save his 529 money to help with that. He is torn between prestige and price. We are also. Plus we encouraged our oldest to go where the scholarships were so we want to be fair. Junior son has worked so hard though and we are hesitant to hold him back from the prestigious schools. However, husband and I are also aware of the benefits of the big fish in a small pond theory. Thank you all for your input.