@enthuparent from our experience (S14) do not count on much Merit from UMass Amherst for an Instate student with those stats ( and I will add that your D has very good stats). S14 had higher GPA and SAT and got the “standard” $2000 Merit award. We were not eligible for need based aid and were unimpressed with the Merit Aid that they gave him. Was not any more that they typical “smart” student with lower stats from his HS received. Nothing special. The only other school on your list that he applied to was Duke and he was not accepted…but as somebody else mentioned Duke has very limited Merit money and I don’t think your daughter would realistically be eligible…admission isn’t a given either. Good luck with her college search. I will echo what sybbie719 and others said…to get merit aid you need to target school that give Merit and that she is in the 75th percentile for stats.