Listing Other Schools Applying To

<p>just wondering, what is the significance of listing other schools you are applying to?
Shouldn't you just leave that blank so they think that you only want to go to that school...</p>

<p>bump......</p>

<p>What are you referring to?</p>

<p>a couple of the schools I am applying to ask to list the other schools that I am apply to for admission</p>

<p>That is rather odd...
They're probably trying to find discrepancies within your application ("X is the only school for me!!" when you're applying to 12 other schools). It's a shame that they're asking, but be sincere and specific to each school you're applying to. Don't leave it blank in some horrible case that they rescind your admission.</p>

<p>This question is on the application for freshman admission a lot and may also be on applications for transfer admission.</p>

<p>There is no right answer. And you are under no obligation to list every single school you are applying to (after all, you may not even have decided how many/which schools you are applying to at the time you complete a given application).</p>

<p>The common wisdom is: list a school or two (or three or any number) that are in the same relative degree of selectivity as this school. Or say "undecided", or "to be determined." </p>

<p>Why do schools ask this? Well, who knows? Again, the common wisdom is that:
1. They want to see if you're using them as a safety. If they're worried about their "yield", this would hurt you. Not as much of an issue with transfer admissions as it is with freshman (for those schools where it's an issue at all).
2. They want to know who their competition is and who they're losing students to. This is better determined when they ask you - if you decide against attending - where you did choose to go.</p>

<p>Bottom line. Don't worry about this. EVERY school knows that applicants almost always need to apply to a number of schools. They expect it. You can certainly apply to a dozen schools and still feel that "school x" is the <em>only</em> school for you, if you could wave a magic wand. Since you can't, all schools understand that you need to hedge your bets. They will not rescind your admission based on this question.</p>

<p>Could one argue that omitting the names of the colleges you're applying to may be dishonest? (by whatever measure of honesty)
To me this seems analogous to leaving out bad coursework over the summer, although not to the same degree of importance. I don't know, I'm just a noob.</p>