<p>I have real questions about this. We are supposed to have some "safeties" and no school wants to be considered one. If they see the list they will get that idea, but if s doesn't list anything, does that look uncooperative?</p>
<p>I am no expert but I don't think you should leave it blank. My son applied to George Washington U., Boston U. Northeastern UCLA, UC Irvine. He listed them all...got into NEU, GWU, UCI, waitlisted at BU and declined at UCLA. I think leaving it blank looks uncooperative...and in our case anyway, NEU came up with some good merit money cuz they wanted him and they wanted to sweeten the pot...</p>
<p>As a general rule of thumb, I would not provide that information unless there were a specific benefit to the applicant in doing so.</p>
<p>An example of a specific benefit: my New England daugher was asked that question on an application from a southern school. She answered it by listing the other southern schools she was considering. She did not list all of the schools on her list. The reason for answering the question was to communicate that the school was not a "safety" to someone applying to the standard boilerplate list of New England schools, but that she was indeed seriously considering several schools in the same geographic region -- all of which were direct competitors of the school asking the question.</p>
<p>In other cases, she simply left that question blank. One thing is for sure, the colleges aren't seeking that information for YOUR benefit! They are attempting to gauge your likelihood of actually enrolling and/or how much merit money they might have to give to get you to choose their school.</p>
<p>I agree with what interestedad posted and I'd take it even a bit down the road. The schools are playing an enrollment management game. They have all sorts of data crunchers at their disposal that will predict yields, etc based on certain data. I'm betting this is one piece of the data they'll use. (And I don't really like playing poker when they can see my cards and I can't see their cards). </p>
<p>So , if you are a high stat kid applying to a small regional LAC it probably does not bode well if you list H,Y,P,and CalTech. Likewise , if you want to get Emory's attention, you won't do it with Albion, Hope, Kalamazoo, and Coe. </p>
<p>There are only a certain number of blanks , I'd say use them to your advantage. ;)</p>
<p>A bit OT, but an acceptance to a school that your intended school considers a direct competitor or even rival, or to a school they aspire to be in a few years can be a very effective negotiating tool, both for need and merit aid.</p>
<p>yeah Curm..that's why I say don't leave it blank...but of course you don't have to list everything....</p>
<p>It's been a couple years, but I believe if you're applying for financial aid, the FAFSA form lists 6 schools (you file 'corrections' to add additional schools) so colleges can easily see where else a student is applying. I don't think a college can tell from the SAT report what other schools are on the list, but I'd double check this. My point is: if you don't want to reveal that information, make sure you aren't inadvertently revealing it somewhere else in the application process - that might raise questions about the truthfulness of other answers.</p>
<p>Oh, I'm all for being truthful. I'd never suggest anything but being truthful, but if there are only three blanks and you are applying to 8 schools.....</p>
<p>I believe that you should list other schools, but that doesn't mean you list all the schools. I think, (who really knows??) that smaller schools particularly want to know that you are truly interested - perhaps for a number of reasons. We listed peers with peers.</p>
<p>
[quote]
So , if you are a high stat kid applying to a small regional LAC it probably does not bode well if you list H,Y,P,and CalTech. Likewise , if you want to get Emory's attention, you won't do it with Albion, Hope, Kalamazoo, and Coe.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>This just highlights the value of considering each school on the list individually. What are THAT school's competitors? What is that school looking for that you might offer?</p>
<p>Another example: my daughter applied for the merit aid program at a stone cold safety school. She was in the top one or two percent of their applicants. It would have been INSANE to give them the other schools on her list. In her communications with the school, she simply said that she was applying to their school, plus several other good liberal arts colleges.</p>
<p>Having said that, she did violate the rule by starting off her "Why Swarthmore?" essay with a somewhat risky: "Williams College would have been the easy choice..." </p>
<p>The purpose was to highlight that she was walking away from a double-legacy and almost certain ED admission at a direct competitor school ("most kids would kill for a double-legacy admissions edge at a top school") to apply to Swarthmore early decision.</p>
<p>If you are worried about leaving a blank space, maybe you should list the schools of equal and lower caliber, i.e. if you are filling out an application for what you view to be a 'match' school, list your lower match and safety schools and conveniently run out of room for your reaches...</p>
<p>I think that college admissions officials are also aware that students change their minds all the time from experience (major to major, school to school, etc.) and that the list you provide is not a 100 percent definite list. But don't expect it to be a cinch for a 4.0 GPA, 2380 SAT student to get into a safety...they know you are aiming for 'bigger and better' things that you may mention.</p>
<p>I agree with Cangel as D did the same thing. she listed schools that were peers to other schools. Even though she used the common app, she did not send to all of the schools in the same batch. When she applied to Dartmouth she answered the question using Williams and Amherst peer schools. That is what when the schools saw the list they already knew the schools were direct competitors and draw from pretty much the same applicant pool.</p>
<p>Although the information is listed on the FAFSA, at most need blind selective schools, admission and financial aid are handled in 2 separate places so admissions never gets to see the FAFSA selections.</p>
<p>I advised my S to go one step further and not list any other colleges, AND send/ submit the application to each college one at a time [ something that was suggested here on CC 2 years ago.] instead of sending it to all the colleges at once. It took a little more time that way, but he also tweaked his essay and made it more focused for that particular college. The net result: each school no clue where else he was applying , and he was accepted at all the common app schools he applied to. No guarantee, but it worked for hom.</p>
<p>Our son listed all others he applied to and it didn' seem to make a bit of difference as he was accepted to every one and received excellent merit aid offers with the exception of Oberlin College.</p>
<p>While he was very laid back over the whole admissions process, he felt obligated to complete the Common Application with total honesty. And because the CommonApp did not designate that item as optional, he had no qualms about listing the other colleges he applied to.</p>
<p>As I recall the only time he had an opportunity to choose among candidate colleges was on the PSAT application where students are able to list two colleges for score reporting. I believe his two choices at the time were RPI and CMU which did not make his final list.</p>
<p>In any event, I believe that adcoms know most other colleges applicants have applied to via either FAFSA or College Baord data. If the lists do not match up, wouldn't you question the ethics of the application you are reviewing?</p>
<p>Fafsa info doesn't go to the colleges until Jan at the earliest, after applications have been submitted. Colleges afdmissions offices don't have the time to contact Fafsa to ask where else a student has applied. Students often submit applications to colleges at the last minute, and are not expected to contact colleges they have already applied to, to let then know they are also appliyng elsewhere. And finally, students are not required to list other colleges on the common app, not according to last years directions. Those directions read " select only those colleges to which you want to apply at this time". The intent of the method I suggested was not to deceive, but to have his application looked at within a narrower context when and if possible- i.e .
was the school interested in him as an applicant, regardless of where else he applied.</p>
<p>
[quote]
AND send/ submit the application to each college one at a time [ something that was suggested here on CC 2 years ago.] instead of sending it to all the colleges at once.
[/quote]
D submitted by mail and at different times. </p>
<p>I pulled the commonapp for 2006-7 and I can't even find where they ask for the other schools . I may be losing my eyesight but I can't even find it on the two supps I looked at.</p>
<p>If the lists do not match up, wouldn't you question the ethics of the application you are reviewing? Nope. Not enough blanks to be accurate so it gives the applicant in that case the ability to choose those schools most beneficial to her app.</p>
<p>I don't believe anyone has suggested listing schools you do not intend to apply to .</p>
<p>Thank you so much; all of you. I'm going to study these replies. It's exactly as complicated as I'd thought. How do safety schools think they'll get top- quality applicants if they won't accept anyone who'se also applying to schools that are more selective than they are? And how can our kids acheive safety if safer schools won't consider them?</p>
<p>Well, we used good ol' shoe leather. We beat the pavement. Visits to campus, adcom e-mails, if they had a roadshow coming through we were there if it was within 120 miles.</p>
<p>Demonstrated interest.</p>
<p>It also helps if it is a genuine fondness for the school. ;) I don't think my kid is a good enough actor to feign interest over a long period of time. She genuinely loved her admissions safeties and is happily attending one over her higher ranked choices. I think that her love for the school is what came through in her 3 day scholarship visit.</p>
<p>Now if what comes through is that it is a "school of last resort" well, then I submit it is not a safety using my definition.</p>
<p>Even with all of that D did get dinged a little at her least selective schools. Her scholarships were the lowest at her two lowest ranked schools.</p>
<p>That's exactly why, IF a student is going to apply to colleges using the common app, AND they choose to let the colleges know where they are also applying, they should only submit peers colleges together, instead of all the colleges all at once . Group colleges with similar SAT scores, and submit them together. Then submit the next group, etc. - reaches submitted seperately from matches, and those seperated from safeties.</p>
<p>My son does like, if not love, the safer schools he's picked (thanks to CC) and he knows they have special qualities he could learn to love. And we have visited them all (feeling fortunate we have the time and resources to do so). What bothers me is hearing from people that their kids have been rejected from "safeties" and no one knows why; do they (the colleges) see the more selective schools listed on the common app and just say no? Where does that leave our high performing kids who could, by chance, need their safety schools because the others reject them? And if we reveal the total list, isn't it giving them (the schools) info they're not giving us? I would love to be totally open and trusting, but I feel that, as parents and applicants, we're up against a mystery. We give them the prose and they come back with the poetry about why it's all an art and unfortunately, they can't use our kids this year. Hope this doesn't sound bitter; we haven't even been through the process yet and I don't believe our child has a God-given right to any particular school. I just want to be informed going in.</p>