<p>And do you tell them the truth? Will they ever know otherwise?</p>
<p>I've had it happen...idk if they're supposed to or how common it is to. It depends....personally, I wouldn't disclose everything...or anything. Unlikely...but who knows these days.</p>
<p>Yes. And they tend to be from certain schools: Penn, UChicago, Duke, WashU, etc. (the schools that worry about their yields)</p>
<p>What about HYPSC?</p>
<p>Can I just disclose several schools but not all of them? And if I do tell the truth, will it affect my chances (e.g Tufts Syndrome)?</p>
<p>Well it's a really difficult situation, since you need the interviewer to like you.</p>
<p>What I did was leave out the other very prestigious schools (HYPSM-Columbia) and mentioned some of my other schools (other Ivies, matches, etc)...but then assured the interviewer that their school was by far my #1 choice.</p>
<p>Tell them the truth. Let them know you're a serious/competitive applicant and that the school should want to have you there. As long as it doesn't come off pompous (mention PEER schools to do this) I don't see how it could hurt you in an interview.</p>
<p>Turn the tables on them and ask them what schools they were considering and what made them choose X school.</p>
<p>You are under no obligation to tell them the complete list of where you applied. You could either gracefully decline to answer the question or you could tell them the name of an equally competitive school, and some names of schools that are less competitive.</p>
<p>It also is perfectly fine, not rude at all, to ask where they applied and how they decided to go to the college that they accepted. It's also fine to ask admissions officers what colleges they lose applicants to. I remember asking the Brown admissions officer that when I interviewed, and she told me that Harvard was where the majority of students who turned down Brown go. (I ended up getting into Brown and turning it down for Harvard.)</p>
<p>As for Harvard: Its guidelines for alum interviewers asks alums not to ask students where they applied and not to use as part of their evaluation how interested the students seem to be in Harvard. (Since H has the highest yield in the country, it doesn't worry about whether it's students' first choice). Some interviewers don't follow those guidelines, but since those interviewers aren't following guidelines, I'm sure that H ignores the info about where the students are applying, etc.</p>
<p>Oh okay. Thanks! =)</p>
<p>"Yes. And they tend to be from certain schools: Penn, UChicago, Duke, WashU, etc. (the schools that worry about their yields)"</p>
<p>I had a UChicago interview and they never asked about that. Also, If Chicago was worried about yield, why would they have EA instead on ED?</p>
<p>^Becasue they can't get anyone to apply ED.</p>
<p>At both my Penn and UChicago interviews, I was asked.</p>
<p>I only had it happen once. Haverford, Swarthmore, and Bryn Mawr are very similar, close together, and they have a lot of applicant overlap. My Haverford interviewer asked me if I was looking at the other schools while I was in the area. It turned out to be a good thing - he recognized that applicants have trouble choosing between the three schools, so it was very helpful to exchange perspectives on the distinctions between them. (For the record, I haven't interviewed at Swarthmore or Bryn Mawr, so I don't know if they ask the same question.)</p>
<p>Colleges aren't dumb - they know you're not applying to just one school, and they know where other talented applicants often look. Moreover, no interviewer is going to put a note in your file saying "Great student, very talented, but REJECT - applying to Harvard, no chance at yield." I don't see any reason to conceal that info in an interview.</p>
<p>I'd apply ED, so there! :p</p>
<p>I wasn't asked at my Duke or Penn interviews, but at my Tufts interview I was.</p>
<p>i had an MIT interviewer ask me.
he seemed to have a problem that i was applying to caltech.</p>
<p>What would you do if you were interviewing at a reach school and were asked this? Especially if your other schools are vastly different from it?</p>
<p>I was told to mention one college similar to it, then say "but I really like (the schools you're interviewing at)" and then ask them a question about their school.</p>
<p>When my friend had her Princeton interview she was asked (she didn't get in if you're wondering... but I don't think that was a factor at all).</p>
<p>I had only been asked at only one at out seven, but I think it was sort of fair considering the interview was so late in the game.</p>
<p>If they ask you, and you choose to answer, I would suggest asking the interviewer to compare his/her school with the others you are considering--let the interviewer make an effort to "sell" you on the school. You may learn some of the school's strong points--and you may learn some weak points of the others.</p>
<p>My MIT interviewer asked me. I told the truth, and he just said that all of the schools that I applied to would provide a good education.</p>