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People don't want to be completely honest because they're scared. I mean, if someone applying to BU said that they were also applying to Stanford, Yale, Williams, Amherst and MIT, then the adcoms might realize that this applicant was only applying there as a safety, potentially taking a spot away from someone who really wants to go there and resort to Tufts syndrome.
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<p>And you don't think that's inherently unfair? What if a student is rejected from all his reach universities? Shouldn't he have a place at BU, as his application is clearly superior to other candidates? Or shouldn't BU, instead of rejecting these applicants, offer some incentives to help make their own institution a better place? Maybe an honors program or guaranteed housing. That's how colleges improve and eventually draw in the best students from around the world, instead of deiciding to "give up" on these students by rejecting anyone who seems "too good to be true" for BU.</p>
<p>And if this section is truly just for statistics or reporting, then it should be entirely optional.</p>
<p>For my George Washington supplement I'm only putting half of the schools I'm applying to. I want to show that they are not my top choice but that they're not too far off. And to show that I truly have an interest in GW, I have a great why GW essay talking about a great conversation I had with some students on campus.</p>
<p>I'm putting Northwestern, Georgetown, and UIUC (instate); but excluding Yale, Penn, Harvard and Stanford...</p>
<p>I've said that being honest is the best option.</p>
<p>Do you guys seriously think the admissions officers sit around saying "Oh, this person applied to better schools than ours? The nerve of him! REJECT!"</p>
<p>Or, "What? Is this person using us as a safety? Let's reject HIM before he rejects US! Ahahaha!"</p>
<p>Do you really think they say, "Oh, look, this person with a 2400 SAT and 4.0 GPA is only applying to Boston U and worse schools! Gee whiz, we must be his top choice! ACCEPT!"</p>
<p>I think it's far more likely that they breeze over the section, taking notice of schools that are deemed to be peers, seeing where they stand with applicants, gathering data, etc. I believe this section is used more for informational purposes than for evaluating an applicant.</p>
<p>If you want to be cagey about which schools you put down, go ahead. Do what you think is best. I'm just telling how I see it.</p>
<p>I asked this like a week ago, and it's good to see that this is bothering other people too. </p>
<p>i agree with the people who said that it might affect admissions, there's no way they won't notice the HYSPM etc. for like BU and not care about it. So personally, I think I'm going to write four other schools (one safety, two match, one reach) for the BU supplement and live with it.</p>
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Do you guys seriously think the admissions officers sit around saying "Oh, this person applied to better schools than ours? The nerve of him! REJECT!"
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Yes, many people think exactly that happens and have gathered pretty good examples of schools like Tufts doing it. You can choose not to believe it happens, that's up to you. Maybe you think nobody acts in their own best interests, or more narrowly that college admission offices are filled with saints having hearts of innocence and gold, I dunno. </p>
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So..nobody thinks that just being honest is an option? Folks, how about trying that? Not because it games the system, not because it improves your chances..just because it's honest.
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When you spend some time out in the real world you'll learn that life is not this simple. It would be nice if it was ... but it's not. When you go into the car dealer and he asks "what's the most you'd pay for this car" do you feel some compulsion to answer honestly? If someone breaks up with your best friend would you console them by saying "that person can do so much better than you, I'm surprised you were even able to date them at all?" if its what you really felt?</p>
<p>It's easy to spout off sanctimoniously about "honesty" when you've never been in the position of paying the price of answering inappropriate questions, whey you don't give a darn about tact and other people's feelings. But someday you'll realize that just because someone asks you a question sometimes the best reply is not what exactly what you are thinking. And rather than a child-like black-and-white view of the world, you'll be on your way to exercising maturity & judgement.</p>
<p>Tufts is a school trying to shake its reputation for harboring bitter Ivy rejects by manipulating the USNWR criteria (i.e. yield rate) to move up in the rankings. I highly doubt other schools are this concerned. (Notice, also, that Tufts doesn't ask "where else?" on their application...)</p>
<p>Do you really think you're tricking the adcoms by only including some of the schools you're applying to? If so, I suppose I can't change your mind, but that seems absolutely ridiculous. BU knows they aren't a first choice school for someone with amazing stats. Even if you try to boost their egos by saying "oh, I'm only applying to BU and (insert open-admission state school here)" they'll be able to see through that.</p>
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Do you really think you're tricking the adcoms by only including some of the schools you're applying to? If so, I suppose I can't change your mind, but that seems absolutely ridiculous. BU knows they aren't a first choice school for someone with amazing stats. Even if you try to boost their egos by saying "oh, I'm only applying to BU and (insert open-admission state school here)" they'll be able to see through that.
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<p>I think you're rather stuck on this example. What about students that aren't applying to BU with 4.0's and 2400 SATs (i'm pretty sure that those students exist, too). What about a student with a 2050 SAT and a 3.1 UW GPA at a VERY difficult high school that is applying to carleton, grinnell, uchicago (his/her top school), kenyon, and then a state school. grinnell, as a matter of fact, asks what other schools the student is applying to. grinnell is very high on said applicants list, but the schools that the applicant is applying to are all very rigerous and all very good. Grinnell is not the applicants safety, but grinnell may still reject the student because, if accepted seemingly any of the other schools, very well may go to any of them, hurting grinnells yield.
yes, schools think about this. why else would they ask the question?</p>
<p>a great thing to combat this would be to write amazing "Why _______ Univeristy/College" essays... but I still don't want to answer this question (but I have decided how I'm going to do it).</p>
<p>You guys can fill out the question however you want. I think you're grossly overestimating the weight of that question as compared to the rest of the application, and it's coming off a bit like paranoia. I'm trying hard to understand this perception of how college admissions works that some of you seem to hold - I'd have to say that either of our guesses is just as good, since none of us are adcoms and we don't know what goes on behind closed doors. If all colleges were practicing yield protection, we'd be seeing very different results every admissions season IMO - everyone underqualified would be accepted, everyone overqualified would be rejected. Funnily enough, it usually seems to be the opposite situation. Colleges ask that question on their applications in hopes that you'll answer it honestly, so they can see where they stand with their applicants. It is my opinion that your answer to that probably has very little bearing on whether or not you are accepted.</p>
<p>I should take care to draw readers' attention to the point that I already advocated answering truthfully: </p>
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<p>But it's important to note that if you write down a list of names of colleges, it will come out in some order, but you are NOT obligated to list your colleges in preference order on any application to a college that is not an early decision college. (In an application to an early decision college, your application to that college is presumed to be your first preference, as it had better be if you are applying rationally.) </p>
<p>So it is important to note that your list, which I agree should be truthful, is in no particular order if in fact you are still making up your mind about what college you like best. Let the colleges win you over after they offer you admission. (Most colleges that even ask this question have yields well below 50 percent, so they are used to offering admission to students who ultimately spurn them.)</p>
<p>I like the idea someone suggestion. If it's a match school, putting down a reach and a safety. If it's a reach, putting down another reach and a match. If it's a safety, putting down 2 other safeties.</p>
<p>I'm sure mostly everyone has more than 2 or 3 schools on your list.</p>
<p>The question about where else you are applying is NOT a Common Application question, nor is it a standard question on the supplements to the Common Application of many of the most selective colleges in the country, or on the applications of many colleges that still have their own application forms. Does any Ivy League </p>
<p>college ask where else you are applying? Does your state flagship university ask? </p>
<p>The original poster of this thread mentioned the range of colleges he (she?) was applying to, and an early reply named Boston University as a college that asks this question--which I haven't confirmed by looking at the application form--but what other colleges ask where else you are applying? It would be helpful for the thread to have links to online application forms on which that question is asked, to get an idea of the context for the question in the overall application process.</p>
<p>Claremont McKenna asks this question and it makes me nervous because how do they react if you are applying to other Claremont colleges? </p>
<p>I do feel this is an intrusive question but of course don't want to come across uncooperative. May say someting like "the colleges I am considering applying to are..". Probably wont' put all. Maybe it doesn't matter but then why ask?</p>
<p>How about: "My final list isn't complete, but will likely include..." Then list a couple of schools. Your final list isn't complete until you actually apply.</p>
<p>Unless the question was posed in a specific way (for instance, "Have you found any schools you like?"), this was a question I was uncomfortable answering when I was in high school and applying to colleges; I suspect if I were going through the process today, I would feel similar discomfort with it. Answering always led to looks that felt judgmental - and I don't think my impressions then were far off. If I were filling out an application for college today, and I came across that question, I would probably respond with criteria instead of names: universities with strong liberal arts programs and proximity to an urban center. </p>
<p>I'm also going to recommend a radical course of action: call the schools and ask, "Will I be penalized if I choose to not to answer this question or to answer without giving away specifics?" If the question makes you uncomfortable, and a school needs to know, that tells you something useful. If you feel uncomfortable even asking that question, ask your guidance counselor to call and ask. I suspect, however, that most of these institutions won't mind if you opt out of the question and simply leave it blank. I'm glad we don't ask our applicants this question.</p>
<p>Now, for my (slightly) off topic contribution: a contribution I make as an Tufts admissions officer and committee member. </p>
<p>'Tufts Syndrome' has no basis in the reality of current admissions practices at Tufts (ironically). We do not waitlist or deny students because they are so strong we believe they'll have other options. I've no doubt some of you will be skeptical, but the practice of denying admission because a student is highly qualified does not exist at Tufts.</p>
<p>I'll note for the record that I heard a talk by Robert Sternberg about the new admission system at Tufts in November 2007 in Minneapolis. It's clear that TODAY Tufts is doing some very innovative work in developing new systems for evaluating students for admission, and it's not looking over its shoulder at how more old-fashioned colleges are admitting students. I'll also note that the one local student I know who is about to start as a member of Tufts class of 2012 student is an outstanding student by any measure, and chose Tufts because she really liked it.</p>
<p>Dan, first of all I'd like to thank you for responding. An actual admissions officer is helpful in this discussion.
I was wondering, though, do you know of any schools that have practiced policies like what have been mentioned in order to help yield, or am I being irrational and paranoid? I don't need any specific examples (I don' want any names or anything), and I understand if you don't know the policies of other admissions comittees. </p>
<p>Oh, and I will call the school in question for my example. thank you.</p>
<p>I know that when our private high school asks this question, it is purely to gather information useful in terms of our admissions/recruiting efforts. There is no effect on admissions at all.
I can also vouch that DanAdmiss@Tufts is correct. I have a second hand connection with Tufts who has mentioned that there are definitely candidates that they accept but strongly suspect will go elsewhere. I imagine that having candidates list the other schools to which they are applying helps schools figure out how many kids they can admit. Schools , of course, have to try to make a very accurate estimate of yield.</p>