I was unable to find this information on this wonderful community forums. But do colleges have a way of finding out where else candidate has applied or looking to apply especially if one is using common app.
No.
Hopefully not anymore. About a decade ago it was revealed that the FAFSA showed all colleges to which you applied and not only that, showed the order you listed them! It was claimed that some colleges were using that order as a proxy for the student preference. This was supposed to be fixed, colleges don’t see who else gets the FAFSA.
An article describing this from Inside Higher Ed is at Colleges use FAFSA information to reject students and potentially lower financial aid packages
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To be clear for the OP, this was fixed - several years ago.
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Thank you all.
I must have read some old thread here and got worried especially after learning about “Tufts Syndrome”. I never knew the extent of what all goes on in admissions office … It’s not an easy job
Pretty sure “tufts syndrome” is alive and well, based on admissions officers’ best guesses as to where they rank vis a vis an applicant’s overall application. One way to combat this is to make sure the colleges you are interested in know you are interested. Visit if you can, attend online info sessions etc and open emails from them in a timely fashion, click on their embedded links, and spend time on their website (they track this). If parents get emails, they should do the same. And if the school is your first choice, tell them!
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