<p>Does this seem odd to anyone else? I find it strange that an adcom might be swayed on my admission decision (even if not consciously) based on where else I'm applying.</p>
<p>How do people feel about this? What have your responses/reactions been?</p>
<p>It does seem odd, yes. I would hope that your response would have no bearing on your admission decision, and that would only be used for statistical purposes, to help in compiling lists of overlapping schools for college info sites like US News or PrincetonReview.</p>
<p>Don't colleges see where else you're applying when you send you testing scores anyway?</p>
<p>No colleges don't see where else you appy to unless you tell them. I don't like the idea of colleges knowing where else you apply either. Do they base their decision on where else you applied?</p>
<p>its not an ethical question to ask, so if you DO get it then answer to your advantage. They'll expect to see a clear safety, a list of their competitors (some a bit harder to get into, some a bit easier). So give them that list. And be sure to give them a school known for generous financial aid where you have a decent shot of admission.</p>
<p>Pepperdine says list five schools and why you are applying to them!</p>
<p>Just list local colleges or community colleges so it seems like the school that asks you is your first choice!</p>
<p>That seems not only deceptive, but obviously deceptive, bobmallet. Maybe you are joking (the interweb isn't great for expressing humor or sarcasm).</p>
<p>"Pepperdine says list five schools and why you are applying to them!"</p>
<p>What? Really? That is ridiculous!</p>
<p>assuming you're serious, bob, the problem is that schools can adjust your financial aid package based on their guess of how likely you are to attend. If a school is clearly your first choice then it is possible they will heavily tilt your aid package towards loans and work-study</p>
<p>lol, I was joking... But if you were like applying to northeastern and said you were also applying to like Yale and Harvard, that wouldn't be good...</p>
<p>I'm assuming that they're just curious to see some things that they could perhaps laugh or smirk about. ie.) Stanford/Cal, USC/UCLA, Harvard/Yale, etc.</p>
<p>Rick, actually it can be more sinister than simple curiosity/smirk. Some schools are working hard to climb in the rankings. Ever heard of Tufts syndrome? Reportedly some of these schools will reject their best applicants because they know they'll get into (and enroll in) better schools. And if they catch a whiff that all your other schools are higher ranked than they are, they know they're the consolation prize and they'll reject you for that too.</p>
<p>Mikemac, what if most are in the same general rankings (say, one at 11, one at 17, one at 20, and one or two at 60-something)? Will #20 automatically assume that #11 is the first choice, or not care because they are pretty close to each other?</p>
<p>It's nothing special, just for their statistics. I know at the college I attend, I have a seminar with the Dean of Admissions and he said it was to compare what kinds of colleges the people who applied also applied to, to sort of get a kind of idea of what other schools are considered "rivals". I go to MIT and the other colleges mentioned were expectantly Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford and Caltech. Using this data they (admissions office, whoever deals with these things) try to see why people also chose to apply to those schools and try to keep competitive by matching programs with them (or attempting to)</p>
<p>Only one purpose for a college to ask......to try to gauge whether the applicant would enroll if accepted to that school. A guessing game all around... the applicants try to guess / gauge where they will be accepted and the schools try to guess / gauge who will enroll.</p>
<p>
[quote]
what if most are in the same general rankings (say, one at 11, one at 17, one at 20, and one or two at 60-something)?
[/quote]
Its not quite so cut-and-dry with numbers. The good folks at WUSTL, for example, know that if kids are all Ivy and WUSTL where they're going to go if they get into an Ivy. And WUSTL is a top-10 or top-20 school. Colleges know who their competitors are, and where kids tend to go if they have a choice between schools.</p>