<p>Merit aid works like this - Harvard, Stanford etc. no. All of their students are already merited enough to get in. Duke, WashU… sure, if you could get into Harvard, they would give you almost free education. UMiami, Case… sure, if you could get into Duke, Nortwestern, they would give you a lot of merit aids. University of Tulsa, UAlabama… sure, if you are top candidate at UMiami, Case. </p>
<p>I hope you see my point, although it might not be accurate. If you want big merit scholarships, you have to apply to schools that you are in top 1% or some decimal percentage of the applicant pool.</p>