<p>There are top flight schools that offer some great merit money. UofChicago, Johns Hopkins, Emory, Duke, Georgia Tech, Davidson, WakeForest, UVA, UNCChapel Hill, just to name a few have some hefty awards. But you have to be in the top echelons of the students going to those schools to get that money, just as you have to be in the top tiers of any school that offers merit money to get it. You find your level in the merit money world. There are schools that are not highly ranked that do not give much or any merit money as well, just as the ivies and some other top tier schools do not.</p>