<p>NU doesn’t offer merit aid with the exception of National merit scholarships and music students (office of financial aid) <a href=“http://ug-finaid.northwestern.edu/incomingFAQ_pf.html[/url]”>http://ug-finaid.northwestern.edu/incomingFAQ_pf.html</a> :</p>
<p>Q. Does Northwestern offer merit aid? </p>
<p>A. Northwestern is an institutional sponsor of National Merit Scholarships. In addition, the School of Music awards a number of talent scholarships to incoming students with outstanding performance in auditions. The remainder of the Northwestern scholarship funds are awarded in accordance with our need-based financial aid policy which allows our uniformly high quality students to attend regardless of their ability to cover the cost.</p>
<p>NU doesn’t offer traditional academic merit scholarships. In this regard it joins the Ivys, Stanford, MIT and Cal Tech in not giving academic merit based aid. Duke, the University of Chicago, Wash U, Hopkins, Emory and Vanderbilt all give traditional merit based aid.</p>
<p>Research grants are not considered merit aid. Stanford and the Ivys give them.</p>