@uskoolfish I don’t think that is true since Pace was on the list but not at the Unifieds.
I firmly believe there is a place for everyone and everyone will land where they are meant to. I am not taking a negative path when I say the odds are stacked against us. Just firmly believe that as well.
Gosh, go away for a couple of days and you can be certain that there will be a fracas afoot.
On the subject of being misquoted, @soozievt writes (wrongly attributing my comment to the charming @VoiceTeacher) “you post that an applicant who appears to not fully answer the question and reveal ALL of their schools is revealing something about their character.”
Not only is the quote misattributed, it misinterprets what I wrote, which was “An evasive answer is transparent. Auditors know that you are applying to other schools. How you answer this question will tell them more about who you are than the names of the schools themselves. If an applicant to CMU with high level skills that would make him competitive claims that he has applied only to that student has revealed more about his character than his school list.”
Nothing about revealing “ALL of their schools”. Nope. Not what I posted and not what I meant.
I was reacting to previously suggested responses on prior threads like “Sure, I am applying to other schools but yours is the only one I’m thinking about right now!” None of the admissions personnel engaged in this do-si-do are dim witted and it defies credulity that any one of them, on hearing this sort of response, would find it straightforward, forthcoming, or a demonstration of the many other characteristics desirable in a candidate. I think that often auditors are seeing how you think on your feet and handle tough questions and to imagine that a slippery response won’t seem slippery is just silly.
I am not an admissions officer and my reaction is based only on what I imagine I would think if I were. Which I’m not. Nope.
^strains credulity
So to stir the pot…an admissions official for a vp program we visited told us off the record that they use the schools list and interest for that particular school as a tool when determining who to offer scholarships to and how much to offer. The reason stated was that if they offered the $ to a candidate and the applicant did not chose their program, as a dept “they lost” the money and could not reallocate it to other accepting students. That schools admission program wanted to give the most scholarship to the students with the highest talent to interest ratio.
I knew it was not an innocuous question….
I think VT made that clear as well; that it becomes useful when asking for additional FinAid to land a student.
So, should our answer then be schools of similar or slightly higher overall costs?
If the school asking the question, is already on the lower end of the cost of attendance, why would they offer more money? They’re already low. If they were higher than the others on ‘my list’, is there an assumed incentive for them to offer more to be competitive? (not that I’m reading into this even more; and probably shoulda let it go a long time ago).
@Sguti40 this is just the sort of thing that strikes fear into kids (and parents) when answering this question. And is why it really shouldnt be asked. Once they’ve admitted the student, why don’t they contact him or her and ask the question, What would it take to get you into our school today? Sounds a lot like a car dealership. :)]
bisouu writes:
Agreed! If the information gleaned from asking an applicant where else they applied to is not taken into account or is considered meaningless in the process, why even ask it? It can be asked for enrollment purposes to glean information after decisions are rendered. Schools asking ahead of time are asking for a reason. I don’t think it is right, but they can do what they wish!
Vocal1046 writes (and this time I got the name right!):
While I did apologize for attributing your quote to another poster with a similar name, I didn’t really think I had misinterpreted what was written, though you are saying you meant something else. But you did say that if the highly competitive applicant only admits to applying to schools less competitive than the ones he/she really applied to, it reveals about their character. And I responded to that and not to what you are saying now that you meant giving an answer like “Sure, I’m applying to other schools but yours is the only one I’m thinking about right now!” Your original post came across as saying if a student states that they had only applied to schools X, Y, and Z, when they really applied to A, B, C (more competitive schools) and X, Y and Z would reveal something about the candidate’s character. I think it shouldn’t. The question itself is not really one that should be asked in the first place and I don’t think the candidate is under obligation to reveal their full list. If you apply for a job, do you tell every interviewer what other jobs you are also applying to? I doubt it.
evilqueen writes:
Yes, mathematically this is very true and something to keep in mind. When my D applied, sure, I was anxious about the very low acceptance rates to her schools. But I felt she had a list appropriate to her. I felt based on various benchmarks, that she was an appropriate candidate to the schools on her list. I felt I could not predict where she would get admitted, but I felt pretty confident she would not be closed out of all programs. It turned out quite positively in her case with plenty of options including an acceptance to her first choice school. I could not have predicted that, but I still felt she was going to get in SOMEWHERE, but I just didn’t know where. Building a college list appropriate to each candidate is crucial in this process. The same list is not right for all those who apply to MT programs for many reasons.
As an aside, there was always the concern that D might have made the odds tougher for herself (no proof in that) by auditioning for schools right after turning 16 and only attended high school for three years. It turned out to not be of issue and didn’t hurt her odds, it seems.
Oh for goodness sakes, people…
Dusing,when I said NYU was her first choice and UMichigan was her second choice (though she liked all 8 programs she applied to), that was looking at her college list, not her list of acceptances. She got into most of her schools, but not UMichigan. However, had she gotten into both, I can say that she liked the NYC location more, had wanted to go to Tisch since she was 12, liked the various studios and options and flexibility in Tisch’s program, the challenging academics, and even the size in a way because she got to work with more students in the program and in terms of choosing friends and more faculty members than a handful. She had friends at both programs who were happy.
This thread has taken some interesting twists and turns- but has been really enlightening as well. I think one of the best parts of CC is the discussion/debate. I don’t always agree with what people have to say- but the conversation itself helps me clarify MY opinion on matters that apply to my kid.
Oy
Sorry if I offended @vocal1046
LOL…@toowonderful…I'm 100% certain you were not offensive.
I think it was a general “oy”
Go puma, go!
A very general “oy”. What’s the emoticon for that?
^^Maybe this?:
-o
My son is at a MT program as a freshman and finished this process last year. I am reading CC occasionally thanking the stars we are done with this process. It is so hard and it gets worse every year. For informational; purposes only, Emerson College had over 1000 applicants for its MT program and only accepted 19, though they initially wanted only 16. The odds there are less than 2 percent. No prescreen yet but no cut program any longer .