Received a merit pre-read at Dickinson. It was a very simple process. Decided not to ED even though merit was fine, not great.
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University of the Sciences is now part of SJU - St. Joseph’s University. I suspect they do not offer pre reads, but I don’t know for sure.
Bumping. Does anyone have any colleges to add to the list in the first post? If so, you can add them by clicking the pencil icon in the bottom right corner.
Added St Olaf: https://wp.stolaf.edu/admissions/apply/faqs/#:~:text=We%20do%20award%20an%20automatic,of%20our%20Early%20Decision%20Commitment.
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I did U. of Minnesota-Twin Cities the other week and got a scholarship pre-read. Will add to the list.
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That’s interesting about UNH. A few years ago, we didn’t consider them because they were notorious for being stingy with OOS students.
My kid just got a preread from Drew and it was lower than the NPC by 3K.
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The other day I was trying to find out the potential price for some colleges, and several of them gave the minimum merit amounts anticipated. Those schools were:
- Emmanuel (MA)
- Marywood (PA )
- Thomas Jefferson (PA )
- U. of Hartford (CT)
- Wentworth Institute of Technology (MA)
I will add to the original list if they’re not on there already.
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Attended an information session for Washington & Lee today and they specifically noted they offer financial aid pre-reads for all (not just athletes). I’ll add to the list.
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Thanks!
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We’ve been able to get merit pre-reads from Muhlenberg, Macalaster (link added above), and Union (link added above) so far. Has anyone had luck with any other schools for the 2026 class?
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I would add an asterisk to St. Olaf. They give an auto merit scholarship of $30K/yr to those that apply ED.
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Really? Wow, this would definitely decrease my respect for St Olaf if true… I think it is wrong to offer big prizes for ED.
It is true, per their website: https://wp.stolaf.edu/admissions/apply/
But they also give generous merit aid anyway: https://wp.stolaf.edu/financialaid/merit-scholarships/
If their lowest academic scholarship is $17k and students living on campus get at least an additional $3k, then most can probably expect about $20k in merit aid. Although this aggregator (updated November 2025) indicates that 21% of students received merit aid, I think that it’s really the 21% who did not receive financial aid, since they say:
The total value of all merit scholarships cannot exceed $42,000, unless the family’s demonstrated need exceeds that amount. Merit Scholarships may be used to meet some or all of your demonstrated financial need.
And the average merit aid package is $31,697. So I think their advertising that accepted ED applicants will get at least $30k/year in merit is done more to comfort folks fearful of not receiving any merit aid if they apply ED, rather than trying to coerce people into doing so.
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