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No, no, this thread is an offshoot of another one asking a hypothetical what-would-you-do question, basically: would you pay for Cornell if your kid got in and you were getting no financial aid and it would be very difficult to do so, financially. There is no merit aid at Cornell, and said student wouldn’t qualify if there were. The student could handle the effort of a rigorous curriculum, however. </p>
<p>The point about not being an uber-achiever is that when considering schools which DO give merit, he would not look like the superstar students often found on CC. The ones who cured an obscure cancer while leading deaf children through the amazon to the beat of an award-winning drum composition and never got anything less than a perfect score on anything they ever did.</p>