<p>I assume you’re asking how they select the top 5%? I would guess they use the criteria for admission from the Common Data Set [NYU</a> > Office of Institutional Research and Program Evaluation > Factbook > View Tables](<a href=“http://www.nyu.edu/ir/factbook/view.tables.html]NYU”>http://www.nyu.edu/ir/factbook/view.tables.html) which also includes Essay, ECs and Recommendations in the very important category. I think they evaluate who they don’t want to lose from the applicant pool. Note that the average merit award is like $6K - not much.</p>