Schools that offer some merit money to a large percentage of students:
Beloit
Goucher (this may be changing however)
Knox
College of Wooster
Hendrix
University of Redlands
Whittier
Chapman U
DePauw
Lawrence
University of Puget Sound
Gustavos Adolphus
Case Western
Texas Christian University
Wabash
Albion
Linfield
I can confirm that Wooster and Depauw (and Wittenberg, not on your list) made nice offers to my āB student from a strong school with some APs and musical talentā S. But they couldnāt beat the total packages offered to him by Adrian and Capital.
D really wants east coast, like Dc to Boston area. Sheās a strong student but only a soph so Iāll be following these threads for awhile for ideas 
Great ealy start Ohio! My d a senior and I may be treading over some ground b/4 you. She likes northeast also but not opposed to midwest. Has 4.1 gpa and 33 act. The advice iāve seen so far says look below college rank of # 25 and above # 130 and you will find good merit aid. D chose health care career (pre med). While the general pooled advice seems logical it has not translated into an application yet. GWSLU looks good and we are going to visit. Anyone have any thoughts for a northeast school?
Truman State has changed their out of state tuition program so now a 29+ with a 3.75+ receives $5000/year on top of the $3000 they get for merit aid alone. For a 25-28 ACT with a 3.75+ itās $4000, 3.5-3.74 itās $2500 plus what they get for merit aid. OOS COA is about $20,000. Smaller awards available for other test scores/GPAās. This is all automatic aidāmore aid available on a competitive basis.
Holy Cross is great with finaid. Also a fantastic school for premed. Last time I checked they had a 90% acceptance rate to medical schools.
ohio here. Looking forward to hearing what you find spackler. D is interested in science, maybe premed, maybe research.
Jumping in here. S1 who should be class of 2014 received merit offers from Fairfield, Ursinus, and Muhlenberg (all around $20K annually) and Villanova ($3K annually). He went to school in England where he could start medicine immediately. He is dual citizen so costs were also interesing. He went to a high school that only offers IB so GPA doesnāt work, but I would say he would hit around 3.5 GPA but did well in SATs with 2210 combined (1410 without writing).
For those of you interested in Medicine, you should look at some of the schools, like Muhlenberg, who actually has a dual degree program that routes directly into medical school (it requires an early application, but certainly direct entry is always interesting, especially if there is merit aid as well). Tufts also has programs with a number of the New England LACs (though there is not so much merit aid available probably) that grants entry guarantee after sophmore year.
S2 is more directed towards Engineering and Lafayette offers interesting merit aid through their Marquis Scholarships (though not full ride).
Why is no one mentioning Alabama? Full tuition/ride based on stats- automatic???
If you actually read the thread, youāll find Alabama mentioned in 16 different posts. (Now 17.)
Yikes, excuse me. I will admit I only scanned it, thanks for the item count.
Thanks for the tips, all. Exactly what I was looking for. My son is bright. He needs merit scholarship desperately.
University of Richmondās Scholars program-ranging from full tuition to full tuition room and board and books and more.
<a href=āhttp://scholars.richmond.edu/[/url]ā>http://scholars.richmond.edu/</a>
When my son was looking at schools last spring these are the schools that we found to be generous with the MERIT awards that were offered to my son:
Rollins - $22,000/year
Tulane - $17,000/year
Gettysburg - $15,000/year
Northeastern - $14,000/year
University of Vemont - $11,000/year
For what it is worth - Gettysburg made the best overall offer.
Try the Net Price Calculator at college web sites. Some include merit aid based on test scores, GPA and class rank.
Also in July 2012, the New York Times published a long list of colleges that awarded merit aid, the percent receiving merit aid and the average award. [Colleges</a> and Universities That Award Merit Aid - Graphic - NYTimes.com](<a href=āColleges and Universities That Award Merit Aid - Graphic - NYTimes.comā>Colleges and Universities That Award Merit Aid - Graphic - NYTimes.com)
Jumping in here and could use some wisdomā¦ We just found out our financial planner has run off with our (and hundreds of others) retirement and college accts. My son has a 1480/1500 SAT, National Achievement Semi-Finalist, National Hispanic Scholar, National Honor Society, 4.1 GPA, and great leadership and volunteer history. He would love to go to Stanford or USC but now that looks out unless we could get GREAT merit money as his father makes a good salary but I have significant health issues, so we donāt have the money now that savings are gone. Any advice?
Youāre in CA, I presume? Have you looked at scholarships available to National Hispanic Scholars? Iād start there: <a href=āhttp://talk.collegeconfidential.com/hispanic-students/735291-colleges-offering-scholarships-national-hispanic-scholars.html[/url]ā>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/hispanic-students/735291-colleges-offering-scholarships-national-hispanic-scholars.html</a>
I think Stanford only gives need-based aid. Depending on your family income/expenses there may be something there.
USC does offer some merit: <a href=āhttp://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/private/1314/uscScholarships1314.pdf[/url]ā>http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/private/1314/uscScholarships1314.pdf</a>
PS: you may be better off starting a topic of your own for this.
if he is interested in sciences or anything health relatedā¦ UAB in birmingham alabama has a full ride (tuition, housing and 2500 stipend) for national hispanic scholars. Very high research school, home of a med school. urban campus, 11K undergrads. not a football or party school, 6% greek. wonderful honors program.
[UAB</a> - The University of Alabama at Birmingham](<a href=āhttp://www.uab.edu%5DUABā>http://www.uab.edu) if would like more info feel free to pm, S2 goes there
Thank you for areas to start looking. Any other advice appreciated!
To answer further, yes we are in CA, and his interest has always been pre-med, until this last year when he wrote and received funding for a business plan to fund several missions he has worked at overseas. He is now interested in business as well.
Does anyone have experience with merit scholarships at Johns Hopkins? Are they largely based on SAT/GPA, or more subjective criteria?