Due to a proposed change to Common Application policy, we may start to see more colleges asking “Where else are you applying?”
I routinely receive “Ask the Dean” queries about how to best respond to this thorny question–one that seems to raise the stress level in an already stressful process. Students (and their parents) often try to second-guess how admission folks will view their answers. (“Is my list too long?” “Does it include too many competitor colleges?” “Will they think their school is my Safety?”)
I’m not a big fan of applications that expect prospective students to disclose their college lists. But how do CC members feel? If you think this question is okay, why? And if you don’t want to have to deal with it, why not?
@Sally_Rubenstone, could you please tell us more about the proposed Common App policy change? Would it be in effect for the HS class of 2016 applying this fall?
As far as I know, the Common App change would merely officially ALLOW this question, presumably for the HS Class of 2016, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that a lot of colleges will actually add it. We may find that the change ends up not happening at all or–if it does–it will affect only a handful of colleges.
But I think that feedback on this thread might possibly help to sway policy, if enough students or parents explain why they dislike the question or even say that they would consider deleting a college from the list in order to skirt it.
Of course, there may even be some who think it’s a worthwhile question for colleges to ask.
I think it’s appalling and hope it becomes seen as a bridge too far when it comes to colleges’ attempts to manage their yield. Let’s face it, many Admissions offices are very opaque when it comes to decision-making and criteria. You can just imagine their response (or lack thereof) if a student were to ask a question like, “Who else from my high school is applying to your college?”
Questions like this just add to the perception that college admissions are a rigged game, where an individual student’s qualifications are less important than some unknowable combination of factors that a college’s Admissions office is trying to juggle. Seriously, each college should evaluate an applicant based on his or her suitability for the school and demonstrated qualifications. His or her list of applications has ZERO impact on whether or not they are qualified for a school. Are we really going to tell kids that their admittance is based on GPA, course rigor, test scores and recommendations, extra-curriculars, and an algorithm that predicts their likelihood of enrolling based on the list of schools where they’re applying?
Totally agree with @baltimoreguy’s post. Appalling idea.
If colleges are interested in developing an algorithm to predict/manage yield, I suggest that they pay the College Board for data (scrubbed of the students’ identities) that shows the other colleges to which applicants submitted scores. If the colleges are looking for meta-data, they can buy it and mine it themselves AFTER the close of the specific application cycle. They don’t need to put applicants on the spot by asking for it.
I really hope this idea doesn’t take off. If it does, I will certainly do my best to help my child answer the question as narrowly as possible.
Somehow this seems to cross some kind of right to privacy line. My daughter got an email from RPI where she had been admitted that reminded her of the May 1 deadline then gave three choices to respond to a question about her decision. Since she had already decided she wouldn’t be going to RPI, she clicked “I will not attend, I have made another choice” and when she did that a survey asking her all kinds of questions about why, but also about her college of choice and why she ended up choosing it was launched. My husband and I advised her not to answer these questions as it was none of RPI’s business. This doesn’t even come close to exposing an applicant’s entire list.
I am not in favor - and I agree that a student’s list is nobody else’s business, however, I could see that some schools might be looking to see how cohesive a student’s list is. In other words, is the student really looking for a fit at a school like their school. It goes back to, if you are applying to all the Ivies - why - you wouldn’t fit at ALL of them.
Also, in regard to proposed Common App changes – last Saturday my D told me that she read an article that Common App is proposing that students can only use Common App to apply to 10 schools.
@Sally_Rubenstone@DebraOfUSVI could you both provide links to published information about these proposed changes? I have googled a few different ways and can’t locate anything. Thank you both from this worried mom
Totally agree with @baltimoreguy. Where a student is applying should not be a factor in an admissions decision, therefore it is an inappropriate question on an admissions application
@GnocchiB- The “Where are you applying?” issue is still in the works, and I don’t think you really have any reason to worry. Some colleges already ask students for their college lists and most will NOT start to do so, even with the potential change. The information I have comes mostly through hearsay and from the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) forum. NACAC forum Terms of Service prohibit the public quoting of members’ posts. But I really don’t think that this is something that you should stress over, and I suspect that, even if more colleges start to ask about college lists, the question is likely to be optional, as it is on most of the applications where it already exists.
Thanks, @Sally_Rubenstone! I wasn’t sure if the idea had already been developed to the point of implementation. It is helpful to have hints about what’s percolating in the NACAC world, so thanks for bringing up this topic.
Regarding your post, I wonder if any applicants or parents WILL be in favor of being required to provide the names of other schools applied to.
If asked, there will probably some students who will answer with the truth, but perhaps not the whole truth. Of course, many students could not be completely decided what other schools they want to apply to when they make their applications.
Students should basically look at the presence of this question at a school and the use of “level of applicant’s interest” as an indication that the school does not want to be used as a “safety”. I.e. find a real safety where admission and affordability are assured, rather than risk getting shut out because the “safety” rejects you because it (correctly) assumed that you were applying to it as a “safety”.
A definite stressor for a teen already worried about two or three dozen things regarding the college search and application/financial aid process, and for me as a parent, it might lower my opinion of the school asking that question. Even if they make the question optional it is a terrible idea, since that would add another layer of do or don’t I stress. I appreciate you bringing this subject to everyone’s attention, hopefully more sensible heads will prevail at most institutions if the question is one potentially included on future versions of the common app.
Perhaps of more concern would be if The Common Application revealed the list of schools applied to using The Common Application to each school (much like the FAFSA does). Similar for the Universal College Application.
@GnocchiB - just asked my D to send me the article and with my apologies and hers - its an OpEd piece in the Washington Post! So no validity at the moment!
As I said before, I don’t like this question at all. But if colleges somehow feel compelled to ask it, I could live with an amended version that says something like this:
** Name 3 or 4 other colleges that you are also considering and explain briefly why you have chosen them**
This way, the colleges could get some satisfaction from knowing why the candidate is making certain choices, while the student wouldn’t have to stress too much over showing his or her whole hand. Moreover, responding to this question might even make the student wonder, “Gee, why am I applying to this place?”
I think that revealing a student’s list can hurt students who need financial aid because many of these students feel that they need to apply to a broad range of colleges in order to boost their chances of getting adequate funding. When the admission folks spot the long list, they’re likely to wonder, “How serious can this kid be about US?”
This issue especially affects students who are counting on merit money … those students whose EFC doesn’t fairly represent what the parents are truly able–or, in some cases, willing–to pay. The student often gets caught in the middle if the parents refuse to shell out what the EFC proclaims that they should. I have often encountered this when the parents are divorced and Dad has started a new family, has little kids at home, and insists that the child from the first marriage should attend the local state school. So if this child wants other options, he or she may need to cast a wide net because merit money can be so hard to predict.
As it is, colleges can already see where students are applying on the finaid forms. So the kids seeking aid are being penalized now. But asking this questions on applications could just penalize them even more.
Some students may not be applying to that many colleges. They might get an answer like “I am applying to [your school] and a safety which is University of Automatic-Full-Ride-For-My-Stats.”
