<p>actually thats not true. merit scholarships attract students who get into ivies but cannot afford to pay through. Ivies are known to have the best financial aid IFF you have a very needy fafsa. its all based on a formula. I know a girl who got into yale and didn't get much financial aid, subsequently she is going to case western.</p>
<p>Merit scholarships are used by middle and upper middle class kids to attempt to bridge the gap between what a college believes is a reasonable efc and what a family believes they can reasonably contribute. To suggest these students are Ivy rejects is naive and uninformed.</p>
<p>Check the stats of merit aid recipients at top 50 uni's or Lac's. You'll find that there are many that surpass the 75th percentile of most Ivy schools. Some students apply to zero Ivy League schools as they don't consider them a good fit. For some students Washington University is a better choice , without regard to finances. For the lucky few, merit aid becomes the icing on a very tasty cake.</p>
<p>Yeah, I deffinatley agree with curmudgeon. I applied ED to Wash U because I loved the school and all of its opportunities (and I didn't think the Ivies were a good match for me). I didn't expect to get any money because I applied ED and I was a sure thing if they accepted me. I was accepted (which I was grateful for), but I later found out I was a candidate for a scholarship. You don't know how much that made me even more grateful to be going there! Anyone interested in Wash U should deffinately check out the scholarships because the school does give a number of good ones.</p>