What is a good college to go to?

A lot of the schools that are relatively hard to get into (such as the Ivy Leagues, Notre Dame and Georgetown) ONLY provide need-based aid. They can fill up their class rosters with highly capable people who can pay their own way (via their parents) or who require need-based aid. However, there are a lot of American schools that provide merit-based aid. Here is a partial list of schools: Brandeis Mt. Holyoke Holy Cross Boston College Boston U. Fordham NYU U. of Rochester St. Joseph's (PA) Muhlenberg Bucknell Dickinson Allegheny Gettysburg Washington College (MD -- generous aid for National Merit Scholars) Johns Hopkins St. Mary's of Maryland George Washington U. American U. Washington & Lee UVA (but their Jefferson Scholarships are only available to students from certain high schools) UNC-Chapel Hill Davidson Emory U. of Florida U. of Miami Vanderbilt Rhodes Berea College (KY) Kenyon Denison College of Wooster Ohio Wesleyan Case Western Reserve Bowling Green Kalamazoo DePauw U. of Chicago (I think) Laurence U. Ripon Macalester St. Olaf Grinnell Washington U.-St. Louis St. Louis U. Hendrix (Ark.) Tulane Loyola-New Orleans Trinity (TX) Texas Christian U. Southern Methodist U. (probably) Rice Baylor U. of Texas at Dallas Scripps Occidental Most state universities offer merit scholarships as well, using them as lures to attract out-of-state students or retain top students from their own states.

I suggest that you not waste your time, stick to ivy league schools. They're very prestigious.