texas137

I agree with DVMMOM - "what schools give good merit aid" is the wrong question. We are amassing a large list of schools here, but the relevant question is where should a particular student apply for good merit aid, and that totally depends on the qualifications of the student. For instance, both Duke and Caltech offer around 16 full rides every year to their top applicants, and U. Chicago has several full-tuition scholarships. But most students who apply are not even going to get into those schools, much less be at the top of the applicant pool. So for the vast majority of students, these are not "good merit aid" schools at all. On the other hand, if a student has multiple medals from int'l math or science olympiads, they are going to look to schools exactly like that for merit aid, and not bother with the vast majority of schools we are listing here.

Here's my answer to this question... The Ivy League, Stanford, MIT, and Northwestern do NOT give merit aid. Virtually every other school in the country does if they want you badly enough and think they can lure you there with money. So a student who desires good merit aid needs to start with their own credentials and figure out what sort of schools they would normally get into and attend. Then they need to look at schools a full tier below that, where they would be at the top of the applicant pool. Don't restrict your thinking to schools who give a formula for merit aid or who publicize certain merit scholarships on their website. Some schools are willing to be very generous towards top students they think they can lure, but are not that upfront about it publically.