<p>My daughter is on track to be valedictorian of her class of 500. There may be other valedictorians if there is a tie, however, I do not know how a college would know that if the transcript shows first in the class. My question is, does anyone know of colleges that give merit aid solely on the valedictorian status? She is interested in BioMedical Engineering/Regenerative medicine. </p>
<p>Daughter's other stats:
4.0 unweighted GPA
8 AP courses
32 on the ACT (still waiting on SAT scores)
Band
Varsity Dive
Thespian
National Honor Society
National English Honor Society
Works full-time as a Lifeguard in the summer</p>
<p>I think they are few and far between, partially for the exact reason you mentioned. Years ago, each school only had one val. These days, some schools have several.</p>
<p>My S was val last year, and of the schools we looked at (mostly smaller schools in Michigan/Ohio) none offered aid based solely on val status. One exception was a small school that had some full tuition scholarships that only vals and sals could compete for - but not automatic.</p>
<p>First, if the transcript shows rank as No 1, are you sure there would be some kind of notation on the transcript that there would be multiple No. 1s? I can’t imagine that they would.</p>
<p>Second, our state flagship gives a small scholarhip (maybe one years free tuition) to one and only one val from each public school. You might see if your state has a similar program if your D is interested in a state school.</p>
<p>You probably know this, but if you want a lot of merit aid, you have to apply somewhere where your stats are well above the 75th percentile. LIke if the 75th percentile ACT score is a 26, I assume they’d give a 32 lots of money.</p>
<p>I have had several people say that Pitt may be a good fit, both for merit and major. However, I am having difficulting finding ratings of its Bioengineering program.</p>
<p>On the counselor forms, the colleges ask -What is this student’s rank? How many people hold this rank? Is this rank based on weighted or unweighted GPA?</p>
<p>So colleges do indeed learn if the Val is one of fifty (possible in Texas schools) or the actual, number one ranked student, and if that determination is based on rigor of curriculum (weighted APs) or not.</p>
<p>Pitt is 16th on USNews in biomedical engineering this year. It has been consistently top 20 in this major for awhile. Obviously, you would look into their honor program for your D.</p>
<p>Case is another school with great Biomed program with tendency to give a lot of merit aid.</p>