I’ve only seen two colleges on my common app so far that ask this question:
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Please list the other colleges to which you are applying.
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both RPI and WPI are doing this, and given that it seems to be an optional question, but I’m still kind of worried about it.
I’ve heard that some private schools like to deny over-qualified applicants if they think they will go to some other school to make their stats look better.
Should I be concerned?
This technique is called yield protection (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yield_protection). Every university practices yield protection to some extent, but it is more typical to reject marginally qualified students who are unlikely to attend rather than the other way.
WPI does not reject qualified applicants who are highly qualified and also applying to MIT or another top school. There is no reason to be concerned.
Most likely, this data is analyzed by those directing institutional research and marketing.
It’s also highly unlikely RPI is doing this either, given that both schools admit most students above a certain academic profile.
okay thank you
That is very disconcerting.
@lostaccount Except WPI does not do this. I know high stats students who were accepted and enrolled at WPI who were also accepted at CMU, Tufts and others. Many applied to MIT (I’ve never heard of a cross-admit who chose WPI over MIT though). Even Tufts University does not suffer from “Tufts Syndrome”.
Even as an alumnus, I have no reason to push anyone to apply to WPI. I’m just stating facts I’m well aware of.