<p>i recently had an interview for dartmouth.</p>
<p>he asked me my #1 choice. i said "darmouth is my 1st choice!"</p>
<p>but i lied. it wasn't my first choice at all. what was he expecting when he asked me that?</p>
<p>do u guys do the same?</p>
<p>if I said, "5th choice" wouldnt that lower my chances of getting good input from him incredibly?</p>
<p>if i were to be asked this again, i would tell them all that they were my 1st choice.</p>
<p>....</p>
<p>This is what I'd say:</p>
<p>"I don't know yet - I'm still visiting schools, interviewing, etc. and seeing which ones may fit me best. So far, [insert school name here] is even more amazing than I thought it would be."</p>
<p>ditto. Interviewers are not supposed to ask questions like this (and if they are, it's their own curiosity getting the best of them), and unless you're applying to a school ED, you should not feel pressured to call it your first choice! Doing so is not only disingenuous, but if it sounds fishy to the interviewer, he or she might even call you out on it.</p>
<p>If they ARE your first choice, tell them. Otherwise, don't lie. Change the subject: "Well I really love School A's blah blah program" or something.</p>
<p>I'd just say something like, "I think school x would be a great fit for me because...." etc. If there's not at least a few good reasons its a good fit for you then you wouldn't be interviewing there.</p>
<p>Apply and interview at every school as if it's your first choice. Think of applying to schools as your biggest marketing job. It's not any different than those schools sending you beautiful brochures to try to get you to apply to their schools - even Harvard sends out those brochures when they reject over 90% of its applicants. Every school is your first choice until you make your decision.</p>
<p>You'd be an idiot to tell an interviewer that School X is not your top choice.</p>
<p>Do you realize how many other individuals want your spot or are smart enough to say it is their top choice?</p>
<p>You should tell every school that they are your first choice. They may wind up being your first choice after you find out where you are accepted and see the financial aid packages.</p>
<p>Well what I said (which was true incidentally), was that I chose each of the colleges I applied to for different reasons. It really isn't a numeric list that you generate with ranks and so on, so why pretend it is? Each school that you end up applying to will (hopefully) be one that you'd be happy at; if you explain that to your interviewer, you should be fine.</p>
<p>^ k_twin, that's a great answer. Also if you have great Financial Need, tell me x University is really good at Fin. Aid and my socioeconomic status plays a role too...blah blah...I don't want to put a undue burden on my family...x University is a great fit for me personally, but Fin Aid would have a role too or something like that!</p>
<p>Some schools want to hear that you are their first choice. They want to accept stuents who are most likely to enroll. This keeps their "yield" high and boosts their status. Same reason ED has a better chance of acceptance. It makes the schools numbers look good. I don't think admissions officers will be impressed by the nuances of a carefully reasoned reply. They want you to want them. Its a numbers game.</p>
<p>I got asked in an interview last year with someone from Franklin & Marshall. I told the truth (I suck at lying) and said something along the lines of "Well, it's not my top choice, but there's lots about it that appeals such as A, B, and C, and I'm definitely applying to the school." </p>
<p>Ended up getting and and recieving a merit scholarship, so the answer didn't kill me by any means :D</p>
<p>my strategy was apply each school as if it was #1.
though I had a #1, i made sure each essays i wrote and stuff I filled was treated like my #1.
nowadays, it's more like college pick u rather than u pick a college, so treat each one like #1, then pick from the ones that accepted you b/c they (the colleges) have more to say than you do! (if you're aiming high)</p>
<p>Here's my suggestion: "I'm still working on determining which school is the best fit for me...could you tell my why Dartmouth should be my top choice?"</p>
<p>As an admissions counselor, I would not ask a student if this was his or her first-choice school. It is a pointless question which yields one of four predictable responses ... (1) the student says yes and means it, (2) the student says yes and doesn't mean it, (3) the student responds with some polite, tactful, and therefore meaningless listing of schools being considered, or (4) the student makes positive statements about the school being visited. </p>
<p>Any time I hear from a student that this is his or her first choice school, I take it with a grain of salt. I do note it in my interview notes, however, because it is always amusing when a reference letter or essay later arrives, which indicates that the student has always wanted a particular school as a first-choice school ... and that school's name does not match our school's name!</p>
<p>a rec might indicate XXX school is the first choice?</p>
<p>DAMn, that student is so unforutnately to have such a stupid teacher who make such a stupid mistake that can potentially harm the student FOR LIFE</p>
<p>DAMNNNNN</p>
<p>^ lol. totally agree!</p>
<p>The bottom line?
Lying (of any kind) is not a good admission strategy. If you never lie, you will never be caught in a lie.</p>
<p>The concept of a first choice, at this stage of the process, is not very helpful. No college is perfect, all have some downsides. The whole idea of the selection process from your point of view is to identify a small (maybe 10) group of schools that are all fairly good fits for you, but where you have reasonably wide a range of liklihood of admissions. Don't get trapped into the position of having to name a first choice by anyone including adcoms. I know many on this board will disagree with me but I don't think even an ED school has to be your "First Choice." It just needs to be a school you would be very happy going to and one where applying early decision gives you a much better shot at admissions than you would get RD. If asked the question by an adcom the correct response is: "I think _____ college is a great fit for me because_________." If the reasons make sense, they will accept and appreciate that answer much more than an unexplained "Yes, it is my first choice."</p>
<p>The time to name a "first choice" is after the admissions and financial aid offers (merit and need based) are in hand.</p>
<p>admisscouns-
Any school COULD BE the student's first choice once the student is accepted and the financial aid packages are offered. There should be a regulation or code of ethics for admissions people that forbids them from asking the uncomfortable question about first choice. If an admissions counselor asks the question, then the student is morally justified to answer with a lie because a politically incorrect answer might prejudice the admissions decision. It should remain a private matter. Job applicants are encouraged to be knowledgeable and enthusiastic about prospective employers. Same applies to college applicants. When you applied for your job as an admissions counselor, if you were asked the question "Of all the places you have applied, is Anderson College your first choice?", and it really wasn't your first choice, how would you have responded?</p>
<p>"Ask me no questions and I will tell you no lies."</p>