Hi,
Today, I had my last interview for prep/private/independent schools. This was for one of my “average” schools, not a safety, but not a dream school. Anyways, the interview went pretty well, but he asked what other schools I was applying to. Though I should’ve prepared for this question, the other interviewers didn’t ask for it, so I assumed it would probably not come in this interview. The problem is that I said all of the schools I am applying to, not a couple of them. Is this a big mistake or am I good?
Thanks!
You are good. You’ve just pre-emptied both the chance that you may be caught lying and the impression of appearing sneaky by being purposefully vague about something long past the deadline.
Honesty is the best policy. This is not something you can get around. If a school is so insecure as to reject someone it really wants out of the fear that he/she may choose somewhere else, common, would you want to attend it? How can you entrust your education to it for 4 years? Your honesty gives you the right to expect the school’s honesty, and the school promised you that it will be fair in its judgment the moment you paid the application fee. I don’t think playing yield would be deemed fair by any measure.
However, some colleges do this exact thing, so be aware of it when applying to colleges. “Overqualified” applicants who appear to be using the college as a “safety” may get an unexpected (to the applicant) wait-list or reject result.
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You’re fine. This topic comes up every year.
Schools ask to see how you’ve thought through finding schools that meet your interest, not for a reason to reject you. Now, if you sat and gushed over how you only want a girls school and the other 10 schools were coed, that’d be an issue. But it wouldn’t be if you said you were thinking it through and were really interested in this school because of xyz program.
And some schools may ask to make sure your FA offer is competitive enough to keep them in the running. Or to make sure a coach or teacher follows up with you to make sure you understand what that school can offer (because they think they have an edge.)
AOs are evaluated for creating a community that meets the school’s mission. They are very invested in that, not in knocking applicants out of the running as quickly as possible.
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to add to @gardenstategal 's solid response, they are also looking to see if there is rhyme or reason to your list. You have one super large school and the rest are all under 400 students…or vice versa.
DD responded to this question by saying, I am looking at schools that have X, Y and Z because those are the attributes that are most important to me.
First time around, DS, just listed the schools. And I think it made it apparent we had no clue as to what we were looking for nor what we were doing.
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Thank you all @ucbalumnus @enpassant2019 @buuzn03 @gardenstategal. I think I’m good for now. Good info for when I apply to college… 
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@avi4040 – it will not make so much of an impact that it will determine your outcome. So, do not sweat it.
A word of advice all of this year’s (any year’s, for that matter) applicants should all remember -
Focus on the overall strength of who you are and what your entire application says about you, instead of the trivial blemishes that probably only you see. The AO’s do not have time to dissect your file to find these microscopic “flaws” that you are finding. So, why waste precious moments fretting about them?
Disclaimer-- Myself and My DD may even have to remind ourselves of this on occasion over the next 40 days.
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