<p>Is there a strategy for answering a question on an application about the other schools the student is considering? </p>
<p>D listed a few equivalent schools, but did not include her reach schools. She didn't want them to think she considered the college a safety, because it's a good match for her. It wasn't a required question, so I told her she didn't have to answer. On the other hand, does it help if they know the levels of schools that she thinks she's qualified for?</p>
<p>Way back when…we were mystified by this question as well. We decided to err on the side of honesty. I do not know if it made a difference one way or another. BUT strangely enough some of her merit aid from the privates offset the low price of the publics we listed very very closely.
When she auditioned for grad school, she was very upfront with each teacher as to her other prospects. During lesson sessions with potential teachers, they all wanted to know exactly who, what ,where and how much. I do know for a fact that in that case it did have a positive impact on offers. Besides,a lot of the teachers know one another and there was no point in being coy.
Do a search on the subject, it is discussed every year here.</p>
<p>I tried a search, but can’t come up with the right combination of words to get at the question.</p>
<p>Mater, I think your D’s strategy is fine. My D was honest and listed all of the schools she was applying to on her application for her safety. Her audition went well and we were shocked when she was rejected from her safety. She ended up being accepted to her reach, but I’m sure listing all of the schools, including her reach, on her application for her safety was not the best approach.</p>
<p>My son had to answer this question on an application last week. Neither of us noticed that it was optional. Maybe it was and he missed that detail. Anyway, I had the same concern - that the school would think it was his safety. However, I was also concerned that in interviews, he would not be able to keep his story straight. In general, I felt more comfortable with him being straight forward with his answer.</p>
<p>Here’s another question- I have an application asking for a list of a few of the other schools I am applying to but there isn’t room for all of them. This only comes up with one school; in this case, which ones should I go with?</p>
<p>Go with comparable ones if there is not space.</p>
<p>S noticed this too on some of his conservatory apps. He was asked point blank at a high school visit by one conservatory college (he was the only student that attended the info session). Seems like it is more common with music schools? We only ran into 1 university that asked this when D was applying a couple of years ago (not music).</p>