Originally Posted by Bostonian
Many of the elite colleges, including the Ivies, MIT, and Stanford, do not have merit scholarships.
Harvard & MIT also do not offer athletic scholarships, whereas Stanford offers athletic scholarships; I mention this detail because the OP's article told of the suicide of a student attending UPenn on an athletic scholarship. The guiding principle is the same: when choosing the best college experience, choose the most comfortable "fit", not the greatest prestige.