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By contrast, an honest answer means you can go into every interview with a consistent story, and impress each interviewer that at least you have thought ahead and shown some capacity for mature, reasoned thought in building your college list
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<p>First of all, many interviewers don't ask. Some colleges explicitly tell their interviewers not to ask, because it is an uncomfortable question. I have talked to a number of my students (as well as my own child) about their interview experiences and the question came up quite rarely.</p>
<p>Second, there are some plausible scenarios in which a student may have a "consistent story" behind his application choices that includes reasons he may not want to reveal--for good reason. E.g., suppose he has an unusual medical condition that requires continual treatment and monitoring and there are only a very few cities with appropriate medical centers and specialists. Or suppose she wants a campus with at least a sizable minority of students from her particular religious denomination, but she is concerned that her interviewer may have negative stereotypes about her religion and does not want to share her religious background. </p>
<p>It seems to me that the student is on more comfortable ground answering questions about his college choices in general terms that focus on some attractive particular strengths of the college AT HAND, without going into specifc detail about the competition.</p>
<p>After all, a student doesn't have the right to ask the college, "What other students are you considering besides me?" </p>
<p>By the same token, why should the college have the expectation that it's okay to ask, "What other colleges are you applying to?"</p>