<p>is it best to include them? I don't really see the harm in doing so, because no school that I'm applying to is so out of reach compared to the other. Thoughts please?</p>
<p>If you are an exceptionally strong candidate for the school and you say that you are applying to more selective schools, then the school might think you are applying to them as a safety school and not likely to enroll if accepted. At schools that track interest, answering Harvard or Stanford might work against you. Putting schools that are of similar or lower caliber probably won't affect you.</p>
<p>I wondered this when I first went through the application process in 2006. By no means is my research scientific, but this is what I did:</p>
<p>Applied to 12 schools {don't judge me :P}, all of whom gave you the option of including other schools to which you are applying. I included the information on 6 applications and did not include it on the other 6.</p>
<p>I got into all 12, but I noticed that the 6 that did not know where else I was applying offered me significantly less financial aid (an average of $5,000 compared to an average of $23,000 from the schools that knew where else I was applying).</p>
<p>I'm not sure if it was just coincidence but I did want to offer my experience as I wondered a very similar thing during the application process.</p>
<p>Good luck :)</p>