<p>It will look unfocused to whom? What your counselor describes is a shared list between universities for record keeping purposes. This will influence marketing and admissions decisions as compared to their peer institutions eg. which demographics to target, what type of info to send, how much contact. They won’t be weighing your grades, test scores and which schools you applied to in order to determine whether to accept you. I think that if you have good reason to apply for each school you are applying for, then go right ahead. FWIW, I also think it would be wise to hedge your bets and apply to a safety school in case you are way off on how competitive your app will be.</p>