When NPCs first became a thing, I was very suspicious. If there is no guaranteed merit, they could be a turnoff if someone who might end up with a better package due to merit decides not to apply based on the package they see when doing the NPC. If there is no guaranteed merit but a school were to give a package that someone with a particular set of stats “could” get, it will be an issue for a student who does not get that sort of package. I think they are helpful, but NPCs are only so good. For me, including an estimate of merit that is not guaranteed is misleading.