@ucbalumnus We are obviously just going to disagree on this and I am not advocating for the use of expressed interest as one of the major factors schools should consider in their admissons decisions. However, when it is broadly defined and is utilized the way the schools I’ve mentioned do to identify the “Harvard material” applicants who actually want to attend it adds value. This assists the schools in winnowing down their applicant pools to focus on match and high interest students instead of forcing them to wait passively to see which disappointed Ivy rejects fall into their laps. It gives both the schools and the students more control over their destinies. Used more broadly, this type of process would add a bit more logic and sense to applicant behavior, IMHO, by preventing rather than encouraging pointless applications.