<p>hey, </p>
<p>so now that it's application season the underclassmen (and some of my own senior classmates) seem to have this obsession with asking everyone where they're applying or what their top school is. i'd prefer most people not know so i usually end up with something along the lines of... "well i'm applying to like 10 schools so i can't really go through all of them/ i love all of them" </p>
<p>anyone have any better replies?</p>
<p>Choose 3 schools to mention, avoiding your top reaches. You do not owe anyone the entire list of ten, this is personal information. Students are nervous, parents can be nosy, this is the time to use a little discretion. Should you not be admitted to some reaches, such news can be kept private.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>thanks!</p>
<p>10 char</p>
<p>My Ds would both mention their top "target" schools, and indicate that they'd also be applying to a few schools as "long-shots."</p>
<p>Oooh, thanks for this question! I have asked similar ones, because my school is a "small school" with gossip, and huge college pressure because we have a lot of kids (5+) getting into HYPS, etc.</p>
<p>The common strategy is obviously to mention targets, but people who know you well enough to know your placement in the class probably will know that you're hiding something. I have two responses:</p>
<p>"Are you applying anywhere early?"
A: I don't know.</p>
<p>"Where are you applying?"
A: I'm sorry, I'm not sharing my college list. It's personal, I hope you understand.</p>
<p>They do, and so I'm starting to use the second one more.</p>
<p>It's so late in the application season that you can't really use "I don't know where I'm applying early" anymore :)</p>
<p>Well, the deadline for knowing just passed last week, so you're right. It's still applicable for RD schools, at least if your school doesn't make everyone have their lists yet. If you don't mind telling people it's personal, I still think that's the best option. It's totally honest, and they don't feel cheated or like you're hiding something, which they will if they know you are really qualified and have the resources/ability to consider super-stretch schools.</p>
<p>Wow. Why the secrecy?</p>
<p>Be realistic and step outside of the realm of your perfect test scores and stellar test scores. and not so conceited. I am hesitant to assume, but I would believe most of the kids are asking the question as a simple conversation starter.</p>
<p>What is the shame in being rejected from the ivies? You join a large percent of the general applicant pool.</p>
<p>Well, in the case of my D2, her older sister was already at H so the question wasn't really "Where are you applying?," it was "Are you planning on going to H too?" The local newspaper asked her the question and she gave a non-committal answer, so they asked for specific schools and she gave a few (not including H), and then they asked about H a third time and she acknowledged that yes, it was on her list, so of course the paper wrote "D2 hopes to join her sister at H next year." The questions can get pretty intrusive.</p>
<p>ya, i think "it's personal, i hope you understand" is a pretty good answer. </p>
<p>i understand your point AirUpThere it's just that you couldn't possibly know the atmosphere at my school. when fellow seniors ask where you're applying, they're not asking to be polite, they really just want to size up the competition (i'm not kidding, someone last year made this list like of all ppl applying to HYP, etc. and ranked who would get it - it's ridic). i would just like to not get dragged into the mess that obviously results from highly competitive/stressed classmates.</p>
<p>I agree with bostongal. It all depends on the school. Mine is almost exactly like hers, and of course you don't share. Shame? Of course there's shame when you are expected to get in by people who actually know what they're talking about.</p>
<p>No shame at my school.</p>
<p>I say I'm applying to Harvard with a smile on my face!</p>
<p>I just toss it out there casually. I've got 9 schools that I'm applying to, two of them only for the advanced medical programs (doubtful, but worth a shot) and I usually just chuck out the first three names that come to mind, usually my safety, a match, and say "yeah I'm applying to Harvard for kicks" just so people don't think you're an arrogant prick.</p>
<p>Why do you care if they make a list? Why do you care what they think of you? Their actions sound a little weird to me. Creepers.</p>
<p>Word to the masses; there are colleges outside HYPS that provide a damn good education.</p>
<p>Do you guys really care that much? To actually say "I can't share it, it's personal?"
Unless some complete stranger comes up and asks me, I tell them where I am applying to.</p>
<p>haha ^ agreed with the above poster.
If they get offended, that's their problem. Harvard's a great school, and you shouldn't feel ashamed to tell people that you desperately want to go there!</p>
<p>AirUpThere, of course they are extreme. But when you go to a small pressure-cooker school, you can't actually escape any of that. There's no choice involved. It's not as if I can't care about what everyone around me thinks.</p>
<p>I have a grasp on the process, others don't. Unfortunately, many top students equate rejection with failure (in a weird sense, it kind of is). Why would I want that to even be a factor? Much easier to be happy with myself, the results, and the process without worrying what others think. The best way to do that is to keep it all to myself.</p>
<p>Not kidding, these kids go around and talk about college lists. I do too. When you have double-digits applying SCEA to Yale, Stanford, etc. out of a class size that's less than 200, do you see how the pressure mounts up?</p>
<p>I don't really care if classmates ask me. We're a pretty tight bunch so we don't mind telling each other. The only bad part would be if you get rejected and everyone finds out. But still I'm not uptight about it.</p>