<p>I know little to nothing about merit aid and plan to start researching. </p>
<p>For starters, I have always thought that merit aid is something that schools use to 'sweeten the deal' for applicants who have scores/grades that are at top of the applicant pool. Is this correct? For example, a college where the middle 50% range is 1800 - 2100, would offer merit aid to students with scores of 2200 and up.</p>
<p>Why don’t you try again with a less confusing title.</p>
<p>I just read this somewhere: “I agree totally that nobody should ever have a bad day and be less than polite to somebody.”</p>
<p>OP-it really depends on the school. Do your schools give out merit aid? Some(like Ivies) simply don’t give merit to ANYONE. </p>
<p>If your school does give merit, is it automatic. Like X GPA plus Y SAT= Z dollars? Or is it competitive? How many awards do they give and do you stand a chance at getting them…These are the first questions to ask yourself</p>
<p>Then there is merit aid through scholarships. Rotary clubs might have scholarships or even your High school. Also, big Corporations like Coca Cola have scholarships as well. You should def apply for these as they can add up quick</p>
<p>Hope that helped</p>
<p>Thanks rocket6lousie. Although not stated, my question was regarding automatic merit aid. </p>
<p>You mention the X GPA plus Y SAT = Z dollars…</p>
<p>For the more academically competitive schools that use this method, such as Washington in St. Louis, do you have an opinion on what the ‘Y’ is in relationship to the SAT ranges for the admits? </p>
<p>Certainly it varies by school but are there any generalizations on how ‘up there’ you need to be to get merit aid at the top schools who do give aid?</p>
<p>Schools like WashU do not have automatic merit aid. </p>
<p>Schools like Wash U award their merit aid competitively. That can mean that a couple hundred kids with top stats (say 2200+) are competing for a limited number of merit awards. Since many competitors will have similarly high stats, several other factors can come into play to decide who gets them…such as ECs, URM status, awards, etc.</p>
<p>Frankly, many top schools (like top 30 or top 50) don’t give any merit aid or only give a limited number of merit aid awards because so many of their students would qualify if they were given automatically.</p>
<p>Mid-tier schools and below are usually where automatic merit scholarships can be found.</p>