<p>For schools like U of Chicago, U of Rochester…</p>
<p>As the parent of a kid who went to UofC and considered Rochester, I have the distinct impression that merit based scholarships at these places, as well as many others, is less about merit and more about enrollment management. The Atlantic Monthly had an interesting article about just this topic a few years back. I believe James Fallows was the author. </p>
<p>For example, the fellow students my D knew who received “merit” aid at UofC were good but not distinguished students.</p>
<p>It is very hard to get the merit aid at U of C. I know two people whose sons got merit aid from there, and the students had sky high stats and exceptionally strong ECs, the type that would have given them above average chances for Harvard. In fact, one was a Harvard legacy, but didn’t apply there. </p>
<p>I don’t think it’s particularly difficult to get some merit aid from U of Rochester, which from what I can tell , does use merit aid for enrollment management.</p>
<p>Thank you~~~~~~</p>