Application asks for list of other colleges

My daughter was checking out an application and it asks for a list of other colleges she is applying to.  It didn’t appear to be marked as optional.  How does she fill that out if she doesn’t have a full list established yet?  Do all schools require this?  It would be her top choice school if she received enough money to attend.  I don’t know if they ask this question if applying through common app.  Thoughts?

Edited June 16, 2020 by Mom2mthj

[JanetC]

It's a sleazy question to ask... and was for a time considered unethical, but the Department of Justice somehow labeled NACAC's Code of Ethics as anti-competitive so 'the rules are off' now.

https://www.chronicle.com/article/Where-Else-Are-You-Applying-/233626

 

[Lanny]

I would not like that...   It would be very easy for a school to determine from that, for example, "we are only a safety school, she really wants to go to a higher ranked school".  

Question: If that's her #1 choice, can she apply "EA" to them? (Do they have "EA"?)

[Sebastian (a lady)]

7 hours ago, Mom2mthj said:

My daughter was checking out an application and it asks for a list of other colleges she is applying to.  It didn’t appear to be marked as optional.  How does she fill that out if she doesn’t have a full list established yet?  Do all schools require this?  It would be her top choice school if she received enough money to attend.  I don’t know if they ask this question if applying through common app.  Thoughts?

It is a stinky question that in my opinion asks the student to self-report info that may disadvantage them and that doesn't relate to gow good of a student they would be.

Can she enter "undecided" in that box? 

If this is a school that considers demonstrated interest, she should be sure she has in fact demonstrated some in measurable ways (doing virtual tours, good answer to a Why Us? supplemental writing prompt, responding to emails from the school).

2 hours ago, Lanny said:

I would not like that...   It would be very easy for a school to determine from that, for example, "we are only a safety school, she really wants to go to a higher ranked school".  

Question: If that's her #1 choice, can she apply "EA" to them? (Do they have "EA"?)

They have binding early decision.  We have one local state school with automatic scholarships where she could live at home and attend nearly free (<1200/yr).  I doubt we will qualify for much financial aid, but without some amount of scholarship money it would be tough to justify.  That is why I am nervous about ED.

1 hour ago, Sebastian (a lady) said:

It is a stinky question that in my opinion asks the student to self-report info that may disadvantage them and that doesn't relate to gow good of a student they would be.

Can she enter "undecided" in that box? 

If this is a school that considers demonstrated interest, she should be sure she has in fact demonstrated some in measurable ways (doing virtual tours, good answer to a Why Us? supplemental writing prompt, responding to emails from the school).

I don’t know how to figure out if they consider demonstrated interest.  She has visited them at college fairs (at local high school and at a colleges that change lives fair and a at a local admissions event that she received an invitation to) and she attended their summer science camp last year so she is probably ok there.

I don’t know if there is an advantage to filling out the college‘s own application vs common app, but my thought was if she filled out their application early she could just list one or two other schools.  We had a longer list of schools with competitive scholarships she was going to apply to, but we are a bit less enthusiastic about out of state schools right now.

[Lanny]

26 minutes ago, Mom2mthj said:

They have binding early decision.  We have one local state school with automatic scholarships where she could live at home and attend nearly free (<1200/yr).  I doubt we will qualify for much financial aid, but without some amount of scholarship money it would be tough to justify.  That is why I am nervous about ED.

 

ED is binding. There are only TWO circumstances when it might be OK. The first is if your family is fully prepared and fully able to pay  100% of the costs if your DD is accepted ED. The  2nd is for students from low income families, who would qualify for maximum financial aid, if the school provides a lot of financial aid.. You are correct to be nervous about ED!   

If she can go to school for $1200 USD per school year that's a bargain and she should IMO contemplate that.

 

1 hour ago, Lanny said:

 

ED is binding. There are only TWO circumstances when it might be OK. The first is if your family is fully prepared and fully able to pay  100% of the costs if your DD is accepted ED. The  2nd is for students from low income families, who would qualify for maximum financial aid, if the school provides a lot of financial aid.. You are correct to be nervous about ED!   

If she can go to school for $1200 USD per school year that's a bargain and she should IMO contemplate that.

 

Oh, she certainly is considering it.  She knows that is where she will likely attend since she doesn’t want to borrow any money if she doesn’t have to.  I think she honestly likes it on the surface.  My husband went there for undergrad and my company paid for my MSME there.  It was not on my list coming out of high school (I live now in the house I grew up in ) because I needed to get some space from my parents.  I was the youngest and my mother would have been perfectly happy to cook and do my laundry for the rest of her life, but I needed to get out of dodge for awhile.  My daughter is in a different place and the school has grown so it will be okay.  I do think she would be happier long term at a more academically minded school that aligns more closely with our values, but it is hard to justify too great a cost difference.  It may end up being more than $1200 because they haven’t published their scholarship info for next year, but it has been tracking steadily at that approximate level for a long time so I doubt they will drop it entirely.  My guess is they are trying to figure out how to package it since it was an act or sat vs gpa table...find your box and that is your scholarship type of school and so many kids haven’t been able to take the test yet.  Even full pay isn’t bad since she can live at home (15 minute drive and 2 miles from my husband’s work location when they go back).

[GoodGrief]

When my daughter got questions like that, I advised her to name a couple of colleges similar to the one asking. She is not under any obligation to give her whole list. 🙂

[catz]

We’d just put 1-2 closest peer schools.  They weren’t getting all that info.  

[8filltheheart]

They used to get the info from FAFSA bc they could see the schools listed. They cant anymore. 

Thanks everyone!  I think I will have her just list a couple of comparable schools.  She really hasn’t picked out too many schools yet since we haven’t had opportunities to visit anywhere.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

If you search fir the school's Common Data Set, section C is about Freshman admissions.  There is a table that lists factors considered. You can see what they list about Demonstrated Interest. 

However I have to also say that the CDS is all self-reported.  Some schools don't release all their data.

[Lanny]

On 6/16/2020 at 10:12 AM, Mom2mthj said:

I don’t know how to figure out if they consider demonstrated interest.  She has visited them at college fairs (at local high school and at a colleges that change lives fair and a at a local admissions event that she received an invitation to) and she attended their summer science camp last year so she is probably ok there.

I don’t know if there is an advantage to filling out the college‘s own application vs common app, but my thought was if she filled out their application early she could just list one or two other schools.  We had a longer list of schools with competitive scholarships she was going to apply to, but we are a bit less enthusiastic about out of state schools right now.

 

Probably filling out their own application will just take a lot of extra time on the part of your DD.  If the school in question takes the Common App I would go with that.

 

[easypeasy]

Oh, how I hate that question. I'd go with the above suggestions to list a couple/few peer schools and add that I'd list them in alphabetical order.

On 6/21/2020 at 2:24 AM, easypeasy said:

Oh, how I hate that question. I'd go with the above suggestions to list a couple/few peer schools and add that I'd list them in alphabetical order.

I like the alphabetical order idea.  Thanks!

[katilac]

Yes, they are fishing for whether they are a safety school.