How does merit aid compare between Notre Dame and Wake Forest for undergraduates?

Wake Forest is more likely than Notre Dame to offer substantial merit aid to undergraduates. Wake has a more visible merit scholarship structure for incoming students, while Notre Dame’s undergraduate aid is much more centered on need-based support and its top merit awards are quite limited in number.

At Wake Forest, merit scholarships are a meaningful part of the admissions landscape. The university offers several named full and partial scholarships, and strong applicants can be considered for them through the admissions process. These awards are still very competitive, but merit funding is built more clearly into Wake’s enrollment strategy, so high-achieving applicants have a more realistic chance of receiving something significant there than at many similarly selective private universities.

Notre Dame does have prestigious merit scholarships for undergraduates, including some very high-value awards, but they are exceptionally selective and go to a very small share of the class. In practice, most students at Notre Dame should not expect merit aid, even if they are academically outstanding. The school is much better known for meeting demonstrated financial need than for broadly distributing non-need-based scholarships.

That means the key difference is not whether either school has elite merit programs, because both do. The difference is frequency and accessibility. Wake Forest is the place where merit aid is more commonly part of the picture for strong applicants, while at Notre Dame, substantial merit money is more of a rare distinction than a common admissions outcome.