What just happened?

<p>Hi, </p>

<p>I'm a HS senior, and I recently got accepted into college "x", several months ago. Today, they called me up and asked me if I had made a decision to attend or not, which seemed reasonable enough. Next, they asked me what other colleges I had applied to that I was waiting on. I said I did not want to answer, and they were fine with it. However, the conversation ended there. What was the point of that? I don't understand why a college I was accepted to would make a phone call for the sole purpose of finding where else I applied? It makes not sense to me. </p>

<p>Anybody have any ideas?</p>

<p>Sometimes schools want to know what their competition is. If they know that you applied to Harvard and are waiting on them and they think you won't get in, then they know you might be more likely to pick them. However, if you are waiting to hear from a comparable school and they really want you, maybe they would offer you more money to come to their school. At this point, you really don't lose anything by letting them know where else you applied.</p>

<p>They also may want to obtain an idea of what their yield could be.</p>

<p>I doubt colleges are phoning to offer people money for certain answers. Many schools are calling people they admitted EA, or a few months ago if they're rolling admissions, to determine whether the student is still interested or has decided to go elsewhere but has simply forgotten to notify the rejected school(s). With a record number of applicants this year, and so many more students applying to large numbers of schools, colleges are trying to estimate the size of the incoming class and how many more admissions offers, if any, they can make.</p>

<p>And maybe the caller wasn't the best and should have asked if you had any questions or needed more information, etc...</p>