Why Do Colleges Ask Where Else You Are Applying?

[warblersrule]

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@tokenadult

Note that by NACAC rules a college can’t ask you for your preference-ordered list of other colleges unless you are applying somewhere ED (in which case your ED college should be taken to be your first-choice college).

@warblersrule86

I asked a Davidson admissions officer the same question several years ago. Her response:</p>

<p>1) Colleges keep track of their competition. According to Boston College, for example, their competitors are Georgetown, Harvard, Tufts, Boston U, Penn, Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell, Notre Dame, Columbia, NYU, and Yale. </p>

<p>2) Colleges like to see a common trend in applications. A student applying to Sarah Lawrence, Ohio State, Caltech, and Washington & Lee would raise eyebrows, whereas a student applying to Denison, Kenyon, and Carleton would be viewed in a more favorable light. A bit unfortunate for those who aren’t sure what they want, but it’s used to weed out prestige seekers.

@friedokra

I have two views on this issue. One view is that it is an excellent question. It forces the applicant to THINK long and hard about where they are applying BEFORE they apply and then to disclose those schools ahead of time. It helps cut down on the willy nilly applications.</p>

<p>It gives the school a chance to see how this applicant is thinking…if there is a pattern and some logic to what they are doing. And perhaps what the competition is for this student. They can gauge if the student will attend or not. In this view of the world, I would also ask a student to rank the colleges by preference…and be consistent, such as on the common app, where it cant be changed to fit each school.</p>

<p>On the OTHER hand, it can be used by the college in an unjust manner and penalize a student for applying to too many colleges or to colleges that are big competitors or whatever. A student can also lie on the form and either put down elite schools and then not follow through, or they can put down lower ranked schools to make that college think they are number one on the list when they are not.</p>

<p>In one sense its none of their business. But in another sense its very much their business. Too many kids apply to colleges with NO intention of attending that college even if they are accepted. That hurts kids who TRULY want to attend that college above all others. 30 40 years ago this was unheard of. You applied to 3 colleges at most and MOST of the time, you got in if you were anywhere NEAR the usual scores they accepted, with the singular exception of HYP and maybe Stanford. But now…the acceptance rates are ridiculous. 20 years ago, WUSTL had acceptance rates of around 40%, now its like 19%. They are a HOT school…with good reason I might add…but too many kids apply to that school with no real knowledge who they are, what they do best, and if they are a good fit or not…its all about the ‘prestige’ of being accepted there…and then turn it down for Cornell or somewhere else…ditto for many other schools.</p>

<p>What we need to see is kids applying ONLY to schools where they have a serious interest. 2 reach, 2 match, 2 safety…or 3 safety schools, for example. The colleges can then see, from the kids scores, the situation. They can deduce, “well, we are clearly one of their reach schools…and if we accept them, they will very likely come here…” Or, “we are a safety school for this kid…but maybe with some scholarship money, the honors program, we can recruit them…perhaps a phone call and some warm and fuzzy recruiting efforts, we can show them why we are an excellent fit for them and how we can change their lives…”</p>

<p>Or a college can see, “this kid is all over the map and just applying willy nilly and not really examining the schools very carefully and thus are not likely to attend if we accept them…so lets wait list them or reject them.”

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