Are merit scholarships considered when you sumbit an application or no?

Answered

There is no Merit FAFSA or CSS Profile. Both of these things are put in place to help colleges determine how much financial aid to grant or loan to prospective students based on NEED alone, not MERIT.

The only way to get merit aid that I know of is the following:

1.) Get a 99% PSAT test score and qualify to become a National Merit Scholar in your senior year with a corresponding 99% SAT test score. Together, these 99% percent test scores can land you a $2500 check from CollegeBoard and also qualify you for Merit Tuition scholarships at colleges like USC, U of Alabama, U of Oklahoma, U of Maine, U of South Florida, U of Central Florida, https://www.collegekickstart.com/blog/item/colleges-with-great-scholarships-for-national-merit-finalists

2. Apply to Private Non Profits for Merit Scholarships. This can be like the Elks Club, Rotary Club, etc etc.

3. Apply to Colleges directly for Merit Scholarships. Schools like The College of William and Mary, UVA, or Washington and Lee or Syracuse, or UPitt have their own Merit Scholarships that are awarded to top applicants. Usually, a high test score needs to be submitted alongside essays, awards, transcripts like a mini college application in order to qualify. You can tell if a college has merit scholarships on its website.

4. Related to merit are scholarships like Questbridge Match Finalists. This is a merit-based scholarship opportunity for low-income high achieving the US residents (no Int'l students). So this is a hybrid where you have to be super smart to qualify but also have to be low income. The deadline for this is 9/28. The application is just as complicated and long as a college application so if this is something you want to do, you are already behind.

Other similar hybrids for low income students are the Gates Scholarship due tomorrow at 5PM

https://www.thegatesscholarship.org/scholarship

The COCACOLA scholarship

https://www.coca-colascholarsfoundation.org/apply/

Horatio Alger Scholarship

https://scholars.horatioalger.org/

Jack Kent Cook Foundation

https://www.jkcf.org/our-scholarships/