Application questions about other schools on your list Forum

[NoDayButToday]

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[inlovewithpiper]

When a school's application asks you what other schools you're applying to / considering, 1 do you typically answer this question?
(On every application I've submitted that has this question, a response has been optional and I have refrained from responding)

I can't figure out the precise motivation behind this question and 2 what good it does an applicant to answer....

Is it a YP mechanism, for example? (eg. Oh, this student has applied to schools X, Y, and Z, which are higher ranked than our school, and s/he is likely to get into those, so we're going to WL)

Other thoughts?

1. No
2. KB answered this question in the Ask an Adcom thread, but I am not sifting through hundreds of pages to find it. Basically, she said this is for statistical analysis purposes only and is not used in any way for or against an applicant. Taking this together with my answer for 1, though, I still wouldn't answer it unless it's mandatory.

[A. Nony Mouse]

Yeah, it's purely for schools to determine their peers/competitors, which helps them figure out marketing strategies and the like. It has nothing to do with your appication, so answering is entirely up to you.

[NoDayButToday]

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