<p>My family income is too high for me to qualify for any need-based scholarships. Does anyone know good merit scholarships that are worth my time to apply for? I'm basically an Ivy-caliber applicant.</p>
<p>Were you born in CA? There’s one for California born students. If you applied to any of the UC schools, and checked the box that mentioned “Califonia born”, you are automatically applying for that scholarship. You mentioned that you are ivy caliber, so if you apply to colleges that are a step down, but known to offer big merit aid (non of the ivy’s do), you will be very likely to receive good merit awards. If you look through the book, The Best 373 Colleges look at the bottom right corner of right page and you will see the statistics for “non-need based” aid given to freshman. Some schools have a huge endowment and the percentage is very high for merit aid. So choose at least one to apply to (look for schools you can add into your Common appp. and no supplement at this late date). </p>
<p>If you are really set on applying to an Ivy, then Yale cuts tution in half for families that make under $200 K. Think there is another Ivy that does this as well, but I don’t know which. Their websites FA office usually has the info. </p>
<p>If you’re a good writer, consider applying to the Peace Essay Scholarship ($10,000):</p>
<p>[National</a> Peace Essay Contest | United States Institute of Peace](<a href=“http://www.usip.org/npec]National”>Contests for Students | United States Institute of Peace)</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks! I was looking more for worthwhile contests and outside (non-college-based) sources of merit money. I will look into the Peace contest.</p>
<p>Did you apply Ivy Early Decison?
Sometimes if merit money is the goal it is better to wait and assess the merit scholarships that the individual schools offer you. That’s why my counselor advised against going for Ivy ED.</p>