@Momzie - I totally agree (and I think I may have even said something earlier on this thread about the importance of colleges requiring a 'Why" if they require a college list).
I think that admission officials in general spend too much time assuming things about their applicants (e.g., WHY a student took–or didn’t take–a particular class) when they could learn a lot by simply asking. And this is particularly true when it comes to the college list. Students can have some surprising (but very sensible) reasons for deciding where to apply and even for deciding where to enroll … and it may not be the “obvious” choice.
Thank goodness the Common App is getting some competition – I increasingly see the “Universal Application” https://www.universalcollegeapp.com/ offered as an alternative by various colleges to which my son applied! This might put some pressure on the Common App to behave itself and fix various issues as well.
As a student, I can see both why colleges may want this information and also why other students are hesitant to disclose this information. In the case of Highly Selective Colleges/Universities, they may be trying to make sure that you REALLY want to attend THEIR school and that you are not just, for example, attempting to get into all of the ivies.
@PilotKhyle wrote: “In the case of Highly Selective Colleges/Universities, they may be trying to make sure that you REALLY want to attend THEIR school and that you are not just, for example, attempting to get into all of the ivies.”
Except that such a list wouldn’t give that. As others have pointed out, a simple list of schools doesn’t give the reasons for applying to them, it just gives a list. A school might misinterpret the list as meaning no interest, when in fact the student might be very, very interested in the school. This is just a bad idea all around.
The schools who do this probably do not care if they are correct for each individual student. But they know that if they are the most selective school on the student’s list, the student is more likely to attend if admitted than if they are the least selective school on the student’s list. So they can estimate that admitting the former student gives an expectation of (for example) 0.5 matriculant, while admitting the latter student gives an expectation of 0.05 matriculant.
^^ That—but it’s a silly assumption. On my daughter’s list, for example, the two most selective schools (and highest USN&WR-rated) aren’t currently at the top of her list. (Order subject to massive change after touring schools this summer, of course, but still.)
I think this is a REALLY bad idea. A student grows and changes a lot from August to May 1 of senior year. Many say they never would have guessed they would pick the school they matriculated at when the process began. Let’s not rush that process by making them answer this question.
As a parent, I really don’t support this idea. In the country that I am originally from, we had to fill out the college list in the order of your preference. Often times, the 2nd choice college does not like to admit you, just because you put it as a 2nd choice, not the 1st choice. I do not want my kids to have to face this problem.
This would be a highly concerning development in an already overblown application process. The Common App’s success has also become its greatest downfall. It has made it too easy for students to apply to multiple schools. Remember when we used to apply to 3 schools? Now 3 in each category (Safety//Target/Reach) is standard and even that’s less than what many send out. The problem is self-perpetuating with kids feeling forced to apply to more schools if only because the likelihood of acceptance has become so low due to the sheer amount of applications. Now, to have to tell colleges where else applicants are applying means that colleges can use this as yet another tool in the decision making process- when the kids are just trying to ensure they get in somewhere. If the folks at the Common App were to limit the number of schools for which one student can use the Common App, this problem would be eliminated and in turn bring applicant numbers back down to more manageable levels. Until that happens, college bound students should not be penalized for their efforts.
I would assume that NON-highly selective schools wouldn’t care much about matriculation rates. However, those which are highly selective DO care and ultimately it’s their decision… It’s rare that most students get accepted in the first place, so I would say it’d be a risk worth taking.
Also, maybe what they should ask is not how the STUDENT ranks the colleges, but how the parents rank the colleges. I think in a lot of families, once the actual financial aid numbers show up, the person who writes the checks will have a pretty big say in where the kid ends up. Also, there are certainly cases where in September the kid thinks they want a large urban university and the parent says, 'I really think you would learn better at a small, nurturing liberal arts college," and when it comes down to it, the kid ends up listening to the parent. Back in September, my kid thought it was really important to go somewhere in a warm climate – which might have affected how she ranked the colleges. Later on, it became obvious that that probably shouldn’t be the deciding factor – and now we’re shopping for a winter coat, which she has never had cause to need before.
We noticed that the CA already shares students’ names with schools before they apply - without telling you this! - since as soon as our son put a college on his Common App “dashboard” in the planning stages, he started getting emails from those schools within a day. This sharing of a student’s research/interest is something the CA doesn’t disclose, but it means you can’t just quickly explore what a college requires in their Common App supplements without alerting them. I wondered if they also shared draft essays, etc. Anyway, given that sneaky practice, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Common App just decides to reveal whatever information they have about students to their various schools, including where all they have applied - without telling us.
Regarding @ucbalumnus comment above - Many variables affect the “applied-to” list of schools, including wanting schools with different price points (in-state/out-of-state, scholarships), degree programs (some have engineering, nursing, journalism and you’re not sure yet), number of students (small LAC vs. huge state), geographic location (close to home/not), etc. so it’s not always about how interested you are but what kind of options you want to have in April! This makes the list apples-to-oranges, and the schools are tough to compare if you dig into the reasons for each choice.
Great idea on the InsideHigherEd article quoted earlier – “Why not collect this data after students have committed to college on May 1? That seems a reasonable solution to me.”
Here’s an idea…limit the amount of colleges a kid can apply to. If Colege Board and Common App work together, this madness might calm down a bit. Students routinely now apply to ten+ colleges, and they have to because it is now a free for all. Why should a college know what other colleges my kid applied too? My kid has to apply to at least ten to being assured an acceptance anywhere! Terrible policy.
It’s a good idea in theory–one that’s been discussed for years–and some high schools (maybe only private ones … I’m not sure) actually do this already. But the problem with imposing limits it that it really penalizes students who are seeking aid (especially those who really need merit aid to matriculate) or anyone with an atypical household financial situation which will be viewed differently by different aid officers.
Limits on applications also penalizes students who are applying to special programs where acceptance can be very difficult to predict such as combined BA/MD programs and audition- or portfolio-based BFA programs. These students must often have a long college list in order to have ANY options at all.
Of course, if colleges were more transparent about some of their acceptance and financial aid practices, then this would mean that most students could shorten their lists considerably because the process wouldn’t be the big guessing game that it is for some applicants right now.