Answering "Other Colleges Applied to" in Interviews

<p>So when an interviewer asks you, "What other colleges are you applying to?" Should you answer him?</p>

<p>I heard different opinions, the ones who says "answer it" think that it's about honesty and the interviewer may be able to offer his advice. The ones who say "no, politely decline to answer" think that by answering the interviewer would know where the school ranks in my college list (reach, competitive, safe).</p>

<p>Though I'm applying EA, I'd like to apply to a couple other colleges RD, and if I answered the question, then the RD interviewers would know that their school is not my first choice--would that be bad?</p>

<p>What is the purpose of that question anyway? (I'm praying here that I won't get asked) Thanks.</p>

<p>If the interview is for your EA college, then the obvious answer is that this is your first choice. If the interview is for your RD colleges, then an answer would be that you are applying to several other colleges but that you are really really eager to attend this college.</p>

<p>If it's the Harvard Interview, don't worry. Harvard admissions decision makers don't care where else you're applying.</p>

<p>How can you not encourage and expect your student to answer honestly?</p>

<p>Lessons are learned in day to day experiences like these. Having a proper moral compass is essential to a happy life.</p>

<p>I agree with originaloog. Answer the question honestly.</p>

<p>Thanks, I guess I'll answer straight. My EA college doesn't offer interviews, but my RD ones all offer it. The reason I asked is that a friend didn't get into Yale RD and she thinks it's because she said she was accepted early by Stanford...</p>

<p>Some interviewers ask this question to find out whether you have thought thru your college selection process. In this case, the "right" answer is one that shows some consistency or rationale in your choice of colleges.</p>

<p>wow! Who is talking about lying here? Or being less than honest? </p>

<p>To say that one is applying to a range of other colleges IS truthful and honest. And for colleges to think that they are the only college an applicant should be applying to is mind-boggingly stupid.</p>

<p>Answering the question honestly does not mean having to be provide full information. Colleges are known to reject applicants who they believe might go somewhere else, thus denying the applicants the possibility of making their own choice. Ever heard of Tufts syndrome?</p>

<p>Tufts syndrome is evil <em>shudders</em>. What schools are notorious for this?</p>

<p>I don't know. I actually discussed this with the president of Tufts. He assured me that, nowadays, the majority of Tufts applicants have Tufts as their first choice and therefore 'Tufts syndrome" does not apply to Tufts. But it's going to be hard to shed this description!</p>

<p>I think Marite is on track here. I would not be dishonest but I would not necessarily tell them every school on my list. You have the right to keep certain information to yourself, just as they have that right. You can limit yourself to a general statement that you are still looking at schools and refining things and/or you can give them one or two names you feel comfortable sharing.</p>

<p>The "correct answer" is one in which the schools on the list are all of the same ilk, ie, all large urban universities, all small northeast LACs with film departments, all schools without a core or distribution requirements, etc. Then you should follow that up in the app with an explanation of why you like that kind of environment. The entire idea, from this question to your essays to the teacher recs to the transcript to your ECs is to depict a consistent picture, and not one that is confusing or difuse or all over the map.</p>

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<p>I would then suggest a follow up description of specifice attributes of the college for which you are interviewing which make you feel that it is a good fit for you, and you for the school. I don't think it's a good idea to answer and let it just hang there.</p>

<p>By the way, I don't think it's at all unethical or immoral to offer a partial list -- the college is not asking you to provide the name of every college on your list, and it's foolish for any interviewer to expect that their school is your only option, unless it's ED. Even an EA school could have competition. If you are asked specifically if you are applying to "School X" then you should, of course, answer honestly.</p>

<p>Marite, in April 2003 my older son had to decide between Brown and U of Chicago and we went to the Chicago accepted students meeting. There we met a girl I can only describe as absolutely top --near-perfect SATs and SAT-IIs, val of a large top high school in California, a gizillion APs, original research and other amazing ECs and to boot, an intended physics major. She was rejected by the top Ivies and Stanford AND by Tufts. She was left with Chicago. She was a rather low-key person in many ways, surprisingly, and figured she preferred Tufts to Chicago and called the admissions department, figuring she had been victim of the Tufts syndrome. This girl told us that Tufts still refused to admit her, telling her she was overqualified for Tufts and would be bored and dissatisfied and transfer after a year. They STILL refused to accept her --even though she tried to convince them she would stay. I can only conclude the Tufts syndrome has morphed, expanded, evolved to include not just to students who might reject them but even ones who might transfer. (That ruins ratings too.) Is it any wonder so many braniacs default to Chicago? Where else can they go with the Ivies so random and the Tufts syndrome, perhaps evolved, still alive and well and probably not just at Tufts.</p>

<p>momofdzt:</p>

<p>Thanks for the anecdote. I think the Tufts pres was irritated by the label, which, of course, does not apply only to Tufts, and wanted to impress me with how competitive Tufts had become with HYP. I took it all with a smile and a grain of salt. That conversation, by the way, took place in 2003. :)</p>

<p>momofdzt, this is shocking. Nowadays, girls interested in Physics are real hot property. I've seen girls with qualifications which, in a boy, would be considered good but not outstanding, be singled out for special attention by admissions offices at top Ivies and MIT. Since you have met this girl, could you think of any reason why she was not the object of such pursuit? (not that Chicago is anything to laugh at in Physics)!</p>

<p>she was a lovely young woman. I think she just didn't strike a chord at HYPS --maybe too many from CA, she was white, etc? I can't figure it out, but her parents told me they knew she wouldn't be accepted at Stanford --something about some kind of pedigree she lacked, I didn't get it, I must lack the pedigree too. They said it was the large public --not elite like some top prep schools but not poor enough to make her a standout, etc. She would have been a shoe-in at Brown but she didn't apply. As you can see, the Tufts people took one look at her and felt she would never stay --in FACT, they even told her to call Chicago, but she had already been accepted there. Chicago cleans up there and imo could, possibly, compete with MIT for the purely brainiest kids. There's nothing special about them except that they're brilliant --that isn't enough to get into HYPS these days, necessarily, unless you have a national distinction to match. Tufts doesn't want them. Oberlin doesn't want them.</p>

<p>Actually, come to think of it, Tufts was probably quite honest in this particular instance. The young woman would be better served at Chicago whose physics department is definitely superior to Tufts and the equal of HPMSC. Tufts must have thought it was doing her a favor in telling her she should go to Chicago.</p>

<p>Tufts did not want her. They felt she would leave --yes, honest, but the decision was not hers to make. SHE liked Tufts better for personal reasons having to do with the level of intensity. By now most such students know not to apply to Tufts and in that sense, as Tufts gets the message out, the so-called syndrome becomes self-fulfilling. I saw another boy who was rejected from top schools and then his safety. For such students, it can be very difficult. Their chance of getting into one of the Ivies is still iffy, and many schools a level down literally do not want them. IMO such students should always apply to Chicago and one of the large state schools like Michigan, where they will get into honors college. It's all to easy to become complacent and be left with nothing. College acceptance may actually be easier for a terrific but just slightly less stellar kid.</p>

<p>=O scary...</p>

<p>Chicago scared me in its extreme brainiac-ism (look at the essays! the prompts themselves are half page long each). So I opted for Michigan...</p>

<p>So, if the interviewer asks, I say
"I'm applying to a range of colleges, like <strong><em>insert names of colleges similar to the one that's interviewing</em></strong><em>. As you can see from this list, I really like colleges that have a graduate student body as I am looking to go into engineering and would like to do research, _</em><em>list of traits</em><strong>. But I would be really really eager to attend your school because it offers _</strong>a specific program___."</p>