<p>Why do colleges ask which schools you're applying to?
-Is it to find out if there's some sort of parallel between all the schools (i.e. see if the student is applying to only LACs, etc)?
-Does it affect the student's application?
-Is it based on fit?
-Is it to see if the college is worried that they are going to be a reach school or a safety school, etc?</p>
<p>I was curious.....</p>
<p>Not all colleges ask</p>
<p>I noticed that, too...so why do some colleges ask?</p>
<p>They want to know how likely it is that you will enroll if they accept you.(To keep their yield statistics high.) They want to deduce if they are just a safety school on your list. So, keep this personal info to yourself (Would they tell you who else they are admitting?) There is no need to provide this info, and it is probably changing through the course of your application period anyway. Its rather nervy of them to ask in the first place.</p>
<p>If I were applying, I'd be afraid of being marked down for leaving the question blank. I remember being asked the same question a million years ago and to which I replied "x, y and z, but you are my first choice." (Luckily only my first choice asked.) My son was asked at his interview why he hadn't applied to Harvard single choice early action and he replied it was because he'd rather go to MIT which also had EA. He got rejected at MIT and accepted at Harvard, but then Harvard tends to assume you are the first choice. I can't remember and am too lazy to look - is it a question on the Common Ap - or only on the supplements?</p>
<p>School often report to researchers overlap schools. If you've looked at some of the books the school will list other schools kids commonly apply to other than theirs, the schools some kids prefer more than theirs and then some of the schools kid prefer less than theirs. At the end of the day, it doesn't really mattter..just answer the question and let them all know they are your first choice.</p>
<p>I would list a handful of comparable "peer" institutions out of courtesy. I wouldn't lie. Don't suggest in writing to any school that it is your first choice if it's not.</p>
<p>You could quote chapter and verse from the Statement of Principles of Good Practice of the National Association for College Admission Counseling: </p>
<p>
<p>Postsecondary members agree that they will: </p>
<ol> <li><p>accept full responsibility for admission and financial aid decisions and for proper notification of those decisions to candidates; </p></li> <li><p>not require candidates or the secondary schools to indicate the order of the candidates’ college or university preferences, except under Early Decision plans;
</p></li>
</ol>
<p>and once you have done that, you could say, based on whatever is the truth, "Not wanting this to be construed as a statement of my order of preference, I am applying to" </p>
<p>a) "other colleges that appear to offer some of the same features as your college" </p>
<p>or </p>
<p>b) "a varied list of colleges to ensure that I carefully consider what is the best fit between me and each college" </p>
<p>or </p>
<p>c) "major research universities in large cities" (or whatever summary characteristic applies to all colleges on your list) </p>
<p>or </p>
<p>d) "a list of colleges developed according to policies of my high school counseling office" </p>
<p>or </p>
<p>e) "[actual list] but this list should not be taken to be in preference order" </p>
<p>or </p>
<p>f) "a list of colleges that I would rather not mention here, so that we take extra care to follow NACAC principles of good practice." </p>
<p>Your own creativity can probably come up with some more choices. I do NOT see this question on many of the college application forms I have downloaded from the Web this year.</p>
<p>My D had to answer this on several supplementary applications. Even worse, she was almost always asked this question during interviews. I remember numerous family discussions trying to determine the best way to answer this question. There was a concern that this information would be used to determine the likelihood of acceptance and there might not be an admission offer if it seemed the student might not attend. In retrospect, I think the adcoms and interviewers were just trying to access fit. If so, it is probably a good idea for the applicant to mention applications to similar colleges.</p>
<p>Only one of my D's schools asked this, and it was her little-known, non-selective safety. However, after she decided on a school and sent her regrets to the others, all of the top schools sent extensive questionnaires about her choice and their application process, including questions about where else she applied.</p>
<p>Obviously, it's legit for colleges to want to understand the competitive environment they face, which other schools attract candidates attracted to them, why, and how admitted students make their decisions. I don't see anything wrong with sending out the questionnaire after the fact, or doing what mollieb said MIT does -- checking facebook to find out where all the admitted students who rejected MIT decided to go.</p>
<p>Asking the question on an application, or in an interview, seems likely to cause a lot of anxiety, because the information could be mis-used to increase or reduce a candidate's chances of admission. Precisely for that reason, it also seems likely to elicit bad or incomplete information. Candidates who are suspicious of a college's strategic question will be tempted to give a strategic answer.</p>
<p>It's going to depend on your situation. In our case, we told. Several schools sweetened the pot, so to speak. Cards on the table. In our cases both were nmf and some schools were up against full rides and they "could" not offer..yet they found ways to bump things up to be competitive. In the 24th hour, after we thought we made our decision, something came through and we had to re-evaluate it again. </p>
<p>So I guess depending on your situation, the answer could vary.</p>
<p>Isn't it true that if you turn in the FAFSA, colleges can see which other colleges received one too? (Somebody mentioned this, but I wasn't sure if it was true or not.)</p>
<p>So far (since I don't have all of my supplements yet), only 1 school has asked for other schools...so I'm not sure if any of the others are. I don't really care about BS-ing the school, since it's probably the HARDEST school for me to get into (not necessarily top choice, though I do really like it).</p>
<p>I would like to invite the many admissions officers on College Confidential to answer this question.</p>
<p>Another reason interviewers might ask the question is simply to get a sense of what attracts the applicant about their college as a conversation starter. For example anyone looking at my list would have said, "I see you want to attend college in a big city."</p>
<p>the fsafa has a question- Do you want to send results to other schools? If so, student lists where else to send results.
Naturally, just like Act and Sat, a student is in a better bargaining position if he says no. That way no others automatically know where else he is considering.</p>
<p>Isn't it possible that there are some advantages for the student if each college knows the student is applying to other colleges?</p>
<p>If this question poses a problem to the applicant, think of staggering the applications. Apply last to safeties where a response about others would/should not affect admission. Apply first to those schools you want to attend but think may look upon this question as a "yeild issue." If you apply early fall, you can truthfully say at the time of applicaiton that you applied only to one or two other schools -- or even none if you file tht application at this early point in time. In short, the question can be answered very differently this month than in December.</p>
<p>What are the colleges that actually ask this question on an application form or on a supplement to the Common Application?</p>