<p>I think that you need to get out of the top 25 schools to see much merit money. However, IMO many state schools try to attract the top students from other states.</p>
<p>You probably have already received a good number of mailings from the schools that offer the NMF money. You also may know that college reps are familiar with the high schools in their regions, so attending a good prep school can be helpful.</p>
<p>The best thing that you can do is look over the lists on both the NM thread and the colleges known for merit aid thread and see whether any of them appeal to you. Make sure that your application list includes some of those schools. I would also add that getting out of the Northeast would probably also increase $$ chances.</p>
<p>My daughter is a NMS with tippy top HS stats and she is at Pitt, which gives some pretty nice merit scholarships.</p>