<p>So admissions often consider ECs, but what weight do they hold for schools when distributing merit aid?</p>
<p>Depends on the merit aid. My daughter’s school has some scholarships that are purely stats (act/sat/gpa) drive. Others seem to have a stats and ECs requirement.</p>
<p>^^^Agree with swimcatsmom completely. The university my son attends has three very large named merit awards. One is mostly stats based, one relies very heavily on in-school ECs of a certain type, one emphasizes community activities–and requires that they continue during undergrad. years. In all cases, there is a mix, i.e., the stats-based also requires some ECs that are relevant and authentic, and the other two are looking for very good students. </p>
<p>You need to look carefully at the web sites of schools that interest you, and read the descriptions of merit awards.</p>