<p>Paying4collegex4,
I agree with everything you are saying, and I bet the letter will be revised next year, but that doesn’t help everyone right now. One more thing I got a sense of from talking to their staff last year is that because St. Olaf caps its merit aid at 50% cost of attendance, they really do not like to give a Buntrock and the National Merit finalist awards together. I think they see a $10k Presidential Scholarship + $7.5k National Merit scholarship as beating a Buntrock. I really do not know how many kids receive both the Buntrock and the National Merit, but it’s not as many as you might think–they are looking to stretch the reach of their merit money to as many top students as possible. I hope this helps heal the wound!</p>