<p>emilybee, Yes, but your post sort of muddied the waters. Your son didn’t receive more merit $ at the highest ranked schools because most of them give no merit. He received financial aid-- and, yes, the highest ranked schools have deep pockets for kids who have financial need… That’s why I wrote that <em>if</em> she can meet her efc (as determined by the school-- not fafsa) and <em>if</em> she can get a ncp waiver, those could be the best schools to aim for. But even that depends entirely on her finances. If she only qualifies for $10K worth of need-based aid, she could easily get a $5,500 loan, $2K work study and $2,500 grant, making that $10K scholarship from a lower-ranked school a better deal. </p>
<p>If the aim is to get into the schools with the deep pockets for generous financial aid, then the student’s ‘other attributes’ become more important because it is those attributes that will make her attractive to a school, not her half-Hispanic raised-by-a-white mom background. That kind of background by itself won’t give her a tremendous bump.</p>