Not long ago, a friend asked me, “Was it hard for your son to get into college?” This question took me aback. My answer: “No. He applied, we waited, colleges answered. Some said yes. Some said no. There was nothing hard about it.”
I’ve never thought that “hard” was the right word for the college application/admissions process. Laying asphalt in the hot summer sun is hard. So is teaching 35 rambunctious 12-year-olds for 6 hours. And running a marathon. Waiting for a politely worded yes or no? Not hard.
That might sound flippant, so let’s dig in a bit deeper.
Merit: Myths and Money
Many people believe that merit aid means aid awarded for students who are the smartest and most accomplished, but that’s not true. I just spent months reviewing state-funded “merit” scholarship policies and school-funded “merit” scholarships rules at flagship universities and what I found WILL SHOCK YOU!
All dramatics aside, my report found a few important, and somewhat surprising to me, things:
1. Metrics not merit.
Merit means nothing. There is no formal definition of merit. There is no formal determiner of who is meritorious and who isn’t. So getting a “merit” scholarship just means you met whatever criteria was set.
Many “merit” scholarships are given on the basis of random criteria, for example this one:
Bellowings 
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