So my question is do colleges intercomunicate or have a database where they add names and match?
Do they know who applied where?
For example if I apply to Harvard will Princeton know and vice versa?
I am asking to know If I applied to more colleges that would hurt my chances…
Thanks
<p>Usually, on their application forms, they want you to indicate where else you're applying. My advice: don't play games with them, and tell the truth.</p>
<p>One example, if you're applying to Princeton, Yale, MIT, JHU, and say... Cornell, and you have amazing credentials where you have a REALLY good chance at getting into an Ivy, and JHU knows about it, they'll be more leaned towards accepting you and giving you loads more financial aid because JHU is one of those colleges who is sick and tired of losing top-notch applicants to the Ivies.</p>
<p>Therefore, in this case, telling the truth might benefit you. Plus, some of those ivies wouldn't want to see you leave them and go to another ivy, but this is only like, one example.</p>
<p>Some colleges do ask on the form where else you are applying. Personally I think it is none of their business. If they use the information, it is probably to gauge whether you consider their college a safety or not. Colleges don't like to be considered safeties and may deny you because they want to keep their yields up for USNWR. This is sometimes called "Tufts Syndrome" since Tufts was a safety for the Ivies for years. </p>
<p>There is no national database of who applied where, but college do share info about ED applications and ED/RD acceptances within groups of colleges or consortiums. Similar colleges share info. For example, Emory, Vanderbilt, WUSTL, Wake Forest, and Duke might share information. When you accept a college's acceptance, you agree by signing the form that you are agreeing to attend (unless you come off of the wait list somewhere). By sharing the info, college may catch some people. </p>
<p>In general I don't think that colleges care that much about where else you are applying. The adcoms that do care probably have it as a question on their app form.</p>
<p>^^^yield isn't used in USNWR</p>
<p>I've heard that. I think it used to be. I don't know.</p>
<p>Schools that are not need blind will know where you are applying through the FAFSA which list all of the schools that are getting a copy it.</p>
<p>What on earth is the FAFSA??</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>The thing is I want to leave my country by all means so I want to apply to 20 colleges to be sure I am going to be admitted somewhere</p>
<p>If I apply all EA there would be no risk of them knowing I applied to 20 for instance.??</p>
<p>Do Ivy's share info?</p>
<p>Thats my main concern I dont want to get my chances jeopardized because of that.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>FAFSA is Federal Government Financial Aid. Students who need help paying for college use the FAFSA to get money. Assuming your from another country I do not believe you will be able to apply for US Financial Aid.</p>
<p>Actually, colleges say that they do not communicate with eachother. Whether or not you believe that is up to you really. People have all kinds of myths. But I can tell you that you must be very very careful with Early Anything and read the fine print. EA and ED are not always the same everywhere. They might have different requirements etc etc. If you fail to follow the fine print you might fall into a pit. For example, a student applied ED to two colleges and got accepted into both. He is legally bound now to go to both schools. Of course he wasnt about to pay for two schools so he told one of the schools he wanted to cancel, but he couldnt obviously. The college found out and contacted the other University and both ended up rejecting the student. Although this doesnt apply to EA it is still wise to read the fine print when applying to 20 schools EA.</p>
<p>However if You think about it, if your not a genuis that the college reallly really really wants then why would they bother to contact other colleges about you? They have tons of money yes, but with thousands of applicants would they honestly contact colleges about each applicant? No. That does not mean you should apply to 20 schools EA however.</p>
<p>Not to mention if you compare college acceptance rates with EA vs regular decision you will find that there are quite a few colleges that have higher acceptance rates in regular decision. Students who apply Early are usually either very confident that they want and will get into that college or just really desperate. Those who apply Early are being compared to that specific pool of applicants. MEANING you are competiting with a higher grade of applicants (like angus beef lol). Basically if you dont compare to quality of the Early applicants your rejected. Most of the time you wont get a second chance at regular either. Regular decision although pits you at alot more students, give you the advantage of a type of curve that could push up higher in the ranks due to the increased amount of poor applicants. </p>
<p>Thus this ends in you considering your scores, your stats, etc and comparing them against the college acceptance averages. Although these averages are not of course perfect in any way, they do give you an idea of the quality of applicants you will be competeing against. </p>
<p>Just dont be reckless. (in short yes colleges sometimes do share info like in Early applicants case to prevent bad practices, but in general they dont and really dont have the time or manpower or care to contact multiple colleges about a majority of students who wont even make the first cut. So yeah and Good Luck and hoped this helped</p>
<p>I think the general thinking is that ED helps your chances of admissions, but EA doesn't.</p>
<p>I am international! SO I shouldnt worry about the FAFSA. Also I am not asking for Aid.</p>
<p>So I will apply to as much colleges as I want without the fear of having my chances risked.. Do you guys think I am making the right decision?</p>
<p>The colleges do communicate with each other especially where ed is concerned. The Ivie league schools even state in their </p>
<p>Joint Statement for Candidates on Common Ivy Group Admission Procedure</p>
<p>*The Ivy Group is an association of eight institutions of higher education, established in 1954 primarily for the purpose of fostering amateurism in athletics. Representatives of these institutions now meet regularly at a variety of levels to discuss academic, athletic, admissions and many other topics.</p>
<p>The College Board-approved Early Decision Plan, which is offered by Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton, requires a prior commitment to matriculate; thus a student may not file more than one Early Decision application among these or any other institutions. Financial aid awards for those qualifying for financial assistance will normally be announced in full detail at the same time as the admission decisions. An applicant receiving admission and an adequate financial award under the Early Decision Plan will be required to accept that offer of admission and withdraw all applications to other colleges or universities. All Ivy institutions will honor any required commitment to matriculate which has been made to another college under this plan.*</p>
<p>You must remember that in the world of admissions the world is a big place but it is also a small one. Admissions Directors at Peer institutions all know each other as they often travel together delivering presentations. Since ED applications must also be signed off by your GC, their integrity is also on the line. While the process may not directly impact you, it can have a negative impact on your school as far as your fellow classmates, and future applicants gaining admissions.</p>
<p>Being an international scamming the ED system places you at risk because you will have to get a visa in order to attend school in the U.S. so your information will definitely be in a database. You could risk not being able to attend school in the U.S. all together.</p>
<p>if ur international and not asking for finaid dont worry too much.</p>
<p>
[quote]
if ur international and not asking for finaid dont worry too much.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>You will still need the college to sign off on your visa</p>
<p>For plain RD applications and also for most EA you are unrestricted. But you are restricted for ED and SCEA and some EA. Be sure you keep this straight because they do share information and if you do something unethical they will have no problem withdrawing the offer of admission.</p>
<p>"Not to mention if you compare college acceptance rates with EA vs regular decision you will find that there are quite a few colleges that have higher acceptance rates in regular decision."
Care to prove that?
"Students who apply Early are usually either very confident that they want and will get into that college or just really desperate. Those who apply Early are being compared to that specific pool of applicants."
Yes, EA applicants are SLIGHTLY better quality on average. But they are not being compared to each other, but compared to the previous year's acceptees. If it's obvious that the applicant is stellar, he will be admitted. If it's too close to tell, he will be deferred. Here is a quote of an Amazon review, quoting a book about early admissions: "Their research is unequivocal; applying Early Action (EA) is the equivalent of a 100-point boost in SAT score. While applying Early Decision (ED) is the equivalent of a 150 + point boost in SAT score."</p>
<p>Your statements are not logically sound. Why would colleges reject more qualified applicants, solely because their cohorts were stronger? These same colleges would accept less qualified candidates during the RD, because that pool of applicants is slightly weaker? Colleges are going to take as many relatively strong students as possible. They do defer in the case of EA if you are not an obvious admit, then decide later to reject or accept you.</p>
<p>Thanks guys for all the feedback</p>
<p>sybbie719: I never said I want to scam the ED or EA system. I am not even applying EA o ED or anything early becuase I did not take any SAT or TOEFL yet.</p>
<p>Yea, I'm not sure what happened with the thread. I took the OP to be asking about colleges sharing info when applying to multiple colleges during RD.</p>
<p>there was a scandal a couple years ago with i think harvard a princeton. a harvard admissions officer hacked into the princeton database to see whether certain applicants were admitted or not. it was illegal, and the guy got into trouble. colleges don't share that kind of informaiton. of course, the ivies have to verify that you honor their ED/SCEA policies, so they communicate that sort of information. but that's pretty much as far as it goes.</p>
<p>FAFSA is a useless form unless you're really poor. i got nothing from it but headaches. all the aid i got was academic.</p>