<p>A couple of my schools' supplements (both small LACs) give me the option to list the other colleges to which I'm applying. Is it possible that this is going to hurt me? I don't want them to see some ivies on there and automatically assume that I'm looking at them more as safeties (I'm not). And yet, not writing anything might make it seem like I have something to hide. I know I'm overthinking this, so what exactly are they looking for with this question?</p>
<p>Here's the FAQ: </p>
<p>APPLICATIONS TO OTHER COLLEGES </p>
<p>You could quote chapter and verse from the Statement of Principles of Good Practice of the National Association for College Admission Counseling:</p>
<p>
<p>B. Admission, Financial Aid and Testing Policies and Procedures</p>
<p>Postsecondary members agree that they will:</p>
<ol> <li><p>accept full responsibility for admission and financial aid decisions and for proper notification of those decisions to candidates;</p></li> <li><p>not require candidates or the secondary schools to indicate the order of the candidates’ college or university preferences, except under Early Decision plans;
</p></li>
</ol>
<p>and once you have done that, you could say, based on whatever is the truth, "Not wanting this to be construed as a statement of my order of preference, I am applying to"</p>
<p>a) "other colleges that appear to offer some of the same features as your college"</p>
<p>or</p>
<p>b) "a varied list of colleges to ensure that I carefully consider what is the best fit between me and each college"</p>
<p>or</p>
<p>c) "small liberal arts colleges with a focus on undergraduate teaching" (or whatever summary characteristic applies to all colleges on your list)</p>
<p>or</p>
<p>d) "a list of colleges developed according to policies of my high school counseling office"</p>
<p>or</p>
<p>e) "[actual list] but this list should not be taken to be in preference order"</p>
<p>or</p>
<p>f) "a list of colleges that I would rather not mention here, so that we take extra care to follow NACAC principles of good practice."</p>
<p>Your own creativity can probably come up with some more choices. I do NOT see this question on many of the college application forms I have downloaded from the Web this year.</p>
<p>One student mentioned that a college that he was applying to online allowed only fifty characters in its online form for listing other colleges that he was applying to. That would allow for lots of fun possibilities, such as</p>
<p>Q: To what other colleges are you applying? </p>
<p>A: [in online form:] I am applying to other colleges that share some of the great characteristics of your college, for example </p>
<p>To sum up, if you are applying early decision somewhere, OF COURSE that college is your first choice, and you plainly signal to that college that it is your first choice by applying for a binding early decision program. But if you are applying for nonbinding early action, for rolling admission, or for regular action admission, no college should care much where else you are applying, and you are certainly not obligated to tell the college where else you are applying, especially not in a rank-ordered list.</p>