<p>When a college asks what other schools you're applying to, should I be completely honest? Would they be turned off if I'm applying to seven other schools? </p>
<p>And what happens if a guidance counselor is late with their rec letter? Will the punish me for their tardiness? (I love my GC, I just don't know if she's the most punctual.) </p>
<p>Just be honest. In most cases, the schools just want to know what students are considering their 'peer schools' or whether students are resorting to this school in lieu of big name schools -- it's for aggregate information. For example, the University of Georgia advertises their honors program as a low-cost public alternative for Ivy Leagues because a lot of their admits specified that they also applied to Ivy League colleges when applying to UGA's program.</p>
<p>Most colleges are not going to care enough about being 'safeties.' Colleges know their relative rank in the food chain, and they're going to know that an amazing student with great grades and SAT scores is probably going to apply to higher-ranked schools if they're not a top-tier school. That's why they offer those students scholarships and send them tons of mail to convince them to come to their school. They're more likely to use those tactics than they are to reject you outright like "Oh, they're applying to Yale, they won't come here."</p>
<p>8 schools is not a huge amount of schools to apply to, so I don't know why they would be turned off by that.</p>
<p>And most colleges won't penalize you for things coming in late that are not your fault -- test scores, letters of recommendation, transcripts. As long as they aren't way too late.</p>