<p>sakky, I'm sure you're wise enough to understand that the exception doesn't comprise the rule, and that's hardly the point here. Your brother was brilliant enough for a merit scholarship, which top schools give to the best of the best. Now if someone at a socioeconomic disadvantage has to be in the best of the best just to get a shot at schools that normally just require you to be amongst the best, I don't see how that addresses the issue of inequity.</p>