<p>PS Let’s not forget that students often have to “settle” in order to get those academic scholarships too. You are most likely to get a scholarship at a school for which you are at the very top of their range. In order words, where you can get the money might not be the best school you get in, where you want to be, or where you should be. For example, I don’t know anyone who has an academic scholarship to an Ivy League school. Oh, and for the poster who kept talking about National Merit. My S was a NMF and never got a dime for his trouble.</p>