<p>I know a bunch of good schools only provide need-based aid, but do any good schools give out Merit scholarships? </p>
<p>I know Duke has some, but only one I think is available for out-of-state students.</p>
<p>If your pen name indicates your college preferences, you can forget about merit scholarships. The “Ivy” schools don’t give them.</p>
<p>There are numerous highlighted threads that deal with merit scholarships. Some of them are at the top of the parents forum.</p>
<p>Some–there are many others–of the good schools that give some competitive merit awards are Rice, Wash U. St. Louis, Univ. of Chicago, Vanderbilt, Emory…</p>
<p>By the way, Duke is a private school. As with all private schools, there is no distinction between in-state and out-of-state, although there may be some use of merit scholarships to provide geographic diversity.</p>
<p>*Some–there are many others–of the good schools that give some competitive merit awards are Rice, Wash U. St. Louis, Univ. of Chicago, Vanderbilt, Emory…
*</p>
<p>Some of these merit scholarships are mostly awarded for geographic and ethnic diversity. These schools get lots of apps from students with perfect/near-perfect stats, so they use these scholarships to get kids that they really want to fill their various goals of ethnic and regional diversity.</p>
<p>You can apply to a few just to see, but if you want financial safety schools then you need to apply to a few schools where your stats will give you ASSURED merit for your stats.</p>
<p>What are your stats?</p>
<p>What is your intended major/career?</p>
<p>Are you a likely NMSF/F? what was your PSAT?</p>
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<p>Duke is a private university. Your state of residence has no bearing on its merit aid.</p>
<p>There are PLENTY of fine schools that give good merit aid to high achieving students. Many public flagship universities are highly regarded…check your own state to see what your state offers high achieving students at your flagship university.</p>
<p>While the schools in the Ivy league don’t give merit aid, many other colleges do. All you need to do is check the websites of the schools that you are interested in applying to.</p>
<p>If you give us an indication of your stats and the geographic location you want to consider…and the size of the school, and perhaps majors you are interested in…folks might be able to give you better info.</p>
<p>Quick stats:
33 ACT, 205 PSAT - I know it’s really weak, but hopefully it’s good enough for Commended Scholar but it’s definitely not high enough for NMSF/F, School doesn’t rank but I’m Top 10% of class</p>
<p>I’m looking for a school that has no more than 10,000 students
I want to stay on the east coast/eastern side of the country. If I go west, I would really only consider California
Possible majors- Neuroscience, Psych, pre law, pre med, cognitive science. I’m not really sure, but I know I’ll be more math-science.</p>
<p>Hope this helps.</p>
<p>You would not be competitive for Duke’s merit aid. There are some very good midwest LACs that offer good merit aid: Denison, Ohio Wesleyan, Kalamazoo, Grinnell.</p>
<p>I’m not looking at Duke specifically for merit aid. What schools do you think I would be competitive for merit aid? Is it just based on test scores?</p>
<p>I don’t think you would be competitive for the merit awards at any of the schools I listed in post #2. You really are limiting yourself if you insist on east coast or California. </p>
<p>Some merit awards at some schools (not the top of the rankings group) are automatic for certain test scores, sometimes combined with rank. Others are based on National Merit status.</p>
<p>The super competitive ones include test scores, grades, rigor of curriculum, awards and extra-curricular activities.</p>
<p>33 ACT</p>
<p>For you to get a large amount of merit money, you need to apply to schools that give such scholarships AND where your ACT 33 is in the top 3-10% of the school. </p>
<p>*Is it just based on test scores? *</p>
<p>There is a large pool of kids with high GPAs.</p>
<p>There is a smaller pool of kids with high test scores.</p>
<p>There is an even smaller pool of kids with both high GPAs and high test scores. Good sized merit scholarships usually are given to these kids. If a school needs to further “down-select”, they’ll consider ECs, state where the student is from, URM status, etc.</p>
<p>Schools don’t give merit money just to be “nice.” They give these scholarships to benefit the school…to get more students on campus with high stats. </p>
<p>Obviously at top schools, an ACT 33 is not impressive. It’s average at those schools. Plus many top schools don’t give merit scholarships. </p>
<p>How much merit money do you want?</p>
<p>For you to get large merit scholarships, you need to apply to mid-tier and 3rd tier schools that give such scholarships. Typically, you have to look at schools ranked below 60 to get substantial merit scholarships with your stats.</p>
<p>I consider the following to be good schools with merit scholarships. </p>
<p>[Lafayette</a> Scholarships Tuition & Aid Lafayette College](<a href=“http://finaid.lafayette.edu/financing-your-education/types-of-financial-aid/scholarships/]Lafayette”>http://finaid.lafayette.edu/financing-your-education/types-of-financial-aid/scholarships/)</p>
<p>[Scholarships</a> and Grants || Financial Aid || Bucknell University](<a href=“http://bucknell.edu/x571.xml]Scholarships”>Theatre and Dance Events at Bucknell | Lewisburg, PA)</p>
<p>[Gettysburg</a> College - Merit Scholarships](<a href=“http://www.gettysburg.edu/scholarships_aid/acad_scholarships.dot]Gettysburg”>Academic Merit Scholarships - Gettysburg.edu)</p>
<p>[Dickinson</a> College - Scholarships](<a href=“http://dickinson.edu/admissions/financial-planning/Scholarships/]Dickinson”>Scholarships | Scholarships | Dickinson College)</p>
<p>[Academic</a> Scholarships - Denison University](<a href=“http://www.denison.edu/admissions/academic_scholarships.html]Academic”>Denison University | A top liberal arts college located in Ohio)</p>
<p>There are a few other schools I could offer, but you may not be interested since they’d be low safeties for someone with your ACT.</p>