<p>I agree with CPT - my experience is schools want to fill a certain niche. My S is NMF with very strong ECs. His SAT were also strong 2260, but not perfect. He was awarded merit money (from full rides down to $18K) to Davidson, W&L, Rice, USC, Wake. Accepted to Columbia and Williams (no merit and we do not qualify for financial aid- we are “full pay”). Waitlisted at Harvard and Yale. Rejected to dartmouth. The one merit scholarship I did think he had the strongest shot at (aside from USC) was the chancellor at Vanderbilt. His ECs were dead on. He did not receive the scholarship and he was wait listed at Vanderbilt (we visited and toured etc- definitely showed interest). I am certain that he did not fit a “niche” for the scholarship and his SATs were not in line with what they were shooting for overall. That’s my humble opinion.</p>