I can speak to BW and Emerson - both offer excellent merit aid for high stats - 1/2 tuition roughly (and offers to be part of the honors college). Some students will be offered talent awards. The merit awards are renewable for all 4 years; the talent awards vary. S had a 34 on the ACT and a 4.0; school does not rank students so he didn’t have a class rank but the scores were enough for the highest merit awards at both BW and Emerson. When it came to decision time, we called the FA offices of each of my S’s admitted schools. We were not very successful in getting additional funds (we did get a few more $ but by “few” I mean $500 from one school :-() but I know others on this thread who had better success!