The "Conspiracy"???

Applying to College
1

<p>That title though.</p>

<p>Anyways. I have a question. When I apply to colleges, do they share information with each other. Lets say I apply to Princeton, Harvard, Yale, MIT, etc.</p>

<p>Will Princeton know that I applied to Harvard, Yale, etc?
Will Harvard know that i applied to Princeton , Yale, etc?
etc?</p>

<p>If the colleges will know that I did apply to competing colleges, then I have another question:</p>

<p>How would Harvard know that I applied to Princeton, Yale, etc?
Would the Harvard Admissions office ask Princeton, Yale, etc, and check if I've applied there?</p>

<p>Or would the common/universal application system automatically inform all colleges that I applies to of all the other colleges that I applied to? (This seems unlikely)</p>

<p>Is there any way they could find out if I applied to any other colleges? I am trying to make sure that I don't apply or show any good faith to any of the schools that appear to be the competition of my dream school, but I do need safeties to apply to, many of which, in the NJ area, are Princeton's rivals. (no, of course not harvard or yale, those were examples).</p>

<p>So. Can colleges find out if I have applied to other colleges? and if so, how? (yes i am very paranoid (yes I try to cover all my bases (yes i have adhd and schizophrenia (yes those last two statements appear to be contradictory, however it is the byproduct of a lifetime of actively reminding myself to be thorough))))</p>

2

<p>The answer is no. This actually used to go on some 25 or so years ago, but the Federal government intervened and brought a halt to the practice. They would be in deep …muck…if they got caught doing it now. No college knows what other colleges you applied to unless you tell them. Many schools ask, but you should feel free to ignore the question. It is none of their business.</p>

<p>Here is an article from that time. <a href=“8 Ivy League Schools Sign Collusion Ban”>8 Ivy League Schools Sign Collusion Ban; They talk about financial aid mostly, but they were colluding on everything involving admissions. FYI, the Mark Wrighton that is cited in that article now runs Washington University in St. Louis. Anyway, I think you can see that even a whiff of them going back to the old ways would be a huge problem for them. No worries. But 25 years ago, at least, the old saying “just because you are paranoid doesn’t mean someone isn’t after you” would have been true! At least in a sense.</p>

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<p>First there is no conspiracy. Why would they care, they know you aren’t just applying to one college, right? </p>

<p>Further, there is no reason to avoid applying to ‘rivals’, it doesn’t matter for any reason whatsoever. There is no such thing as good or bad faith with regard to your personal college application choices. Please do not let something that doesn’t matter at all affect your school choices.</p>

<p>They do not share info. Not. But if there is a place on the application where they ask you where else you are applying that is optional info and you don’t have to fill it out. Leave it blank, no problem.</p>

<p>If you fill out the FAFSA, you have to list the colleges that you want it sent to. I think that info is printed on all the copies sent to each. If you search in the Financial Aid forum, there is some discussion on how this works. There is some speculation that some schools do notice the order that you list those schools and assume that is your order of preference. Some people think that can affect how good of offer you get from schools the practice ‘preferential packaging.’ But for most schools, HYP, that form isn’t part of admissions, it just goes to the financial people.</p>

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<p>Delete. Ditto above re FAFSA.</p>

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<p>I think the one exception to the above is for students accepted ED. I don’t recall where I saw it exactly, but I believe schools do report to their peer institutions which students they’ve accepted ED - so don’t think you can get in a high ranked “safety” ED (e.g. Penn) and keep your RD application to Harvard going, then claim Penn didn’t meet your FA requirements when you get into Harvard. They may also compare at some point for purposes of policing things like SCEA or REA.</p>

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<p>The simple answer, is no - they don’t do this. I’m not sure I believe it entirely, unequivocally. I strongly suspect - especially where elite private schools and “feeder” high schools are involved - that some information is surreptitiously exchanged. It’s too small a world at the top for this not to happen. I know that prep schools have always worked closely with colleges, and probably push certain students at, say, Harvard, and others at Yale and Princeton. There is probably a very thin, wobbly line they cannot cross, though.</p>

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<p>@MrMom62 - I am almost certain that doesn’t happen either. I can understand people thinking that and starting a rumor, but I would need to hear that from an admissions officer in one of the schools to believe it. I just do not believe that sharing any of this kind of information is allowed under the terms of the agreement with the Feds, and possibly by privacy laws. Besides, I have known maybe half a dozen students over the last 6-7 years that got in ED to Brown or Columbia or Duke, for example, and forgot to inform Harvard and/or Yale and then got into one of those. Or the kid thought the school counselor was going to do it and they thought the kid was going to do it. Or they got overwhelmed and/or sloppy and forgot. And that is just me personally, from talking to and working with lots of kids on their apps and school choices. One way or another it has happened and so the results when it does happen belie those rumors. Also, the odds of any of the Ivies not meeting need these days, especially for an ED admit, is extremely small, so claiming financial reasons for backing out would be most unlikely.</p>

<p>And regarding the original premise, if it were true how do you explain the kids that get into 4, 5 even all eight of the Ivies? It wouldn’t happen if they were colluding. And it happens a fair amount that kids get into two of the schools. Sure, people that want to believe this stuff can say that they are clever enough to make sure it looks like they are not colluding. I just hope those people can someday hear themselves. It really isn’t that big a deal for them to not collude. They get along just fine with their admissions. Really, what would be the motive? Given the demand for these schools, they can easily pull exceedingly qualified students off their wait lists if somehow the yield falls a little short from their initial offers. It really makes no sense to add that much work for themselves.</p>

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<p>You might be right about the ED lists, I haven’t been able to find my source, but the story is definitely out there, even if not true. If I find something to officially back it up, I’ll post it, otherwise I’ll go with your version.</p>

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<p>@MrMom62 - Yes, if you see anything that speaks to this topic that seems to have some reasonable evidence or at least some logic that makes it more plausible, I would love to see that. I don’t think it’s impossible, just unlikely in the absence of some countervailing evidence or reasoning. Thanks!</p>