How to answer the question "What other universities are you considering/interviewing at?"

[Biostudent]

I have applied to PhD programs in biomedical science, and so far I have attended two interview weekends. One question that continues to be brought up in these visits by professors is "What other universities are you considering/interviewing at?" 

I was wondering if someone familiar with the PhD interview process could tell me two things:

1. Why do professors/interviewers ask this question (do they want to know what schools are they competing against for students, or are they evaluating me in some way?)

2. What is the best way to answer this question? (I have just been answering by telling them the schools I am interviewing with, but honestly is it really their business to ask or know where else I am interviewing at?)

Thanks for any advice.

[fuzzylogician]

1. They want to know who their competition is. 

2. Tell them who else you're considering. Or you could say you're not comfortable saying, but I'm always confused by why that should be a secret. You can pick 2-3 of your favorites. Unless you're somehow doing something completely out of the ordinary, you're not going to surprise them. 

[deshypothequiez]

@fuzzylogician I'm interviewing in March, which is pretty late in the admissions cycle and I expect to have heard back from everywhere else by then. At this point, it's not looking good, other than the place I'm interviewing at. How would you handle this question if it comes up? Aside from disappointment/embarrassment, I'm worried it'll make me look less competitive to admit that I've been rejected from everywhere else (assuming that ends up being the case).

[strugglebus2k17]

I've been through two interviews now with two more to go. So that's 8 people that I've had a one on one interview with me (4 at each program). This question has come up several times from faculty interviews and interactions with graduate students. I usually just let them know the other schools that I'm interviewing at - you should be proud about whose trying to recruit you! It'll also give them an idea of how in demand you are. I'd also think they want to see who they're competing against. If you're at a 'low' tier school and you have a bunch of interviews at a really top school, say Harvard, they'll think that you are using them as a safety school and not seriously considering them. But then at each school I'll reinforce that XYZ school (the school that's currently interviewing me) is my top choice because of one reason or another. I usually say it's because of a specific set of faculty members, similar research interests, facilities they have, or anything that the school is proud about and makes them unique. You want to reinforce that they are the star of the show and demonstrate that you really want to go their and you WILL go there if given an admission.

Edited February 12, 2018 by strugglebus2k17

[fuzzylogician]

1 hour ago, deshypothequiez said:

@fuzzylogician I'm interviewing in March, which is pretty late in the admissions cycle and I expect to have heard back from everywhere else by then. At this point, it's not looking good, other than the place I'm interviewing at. How would you handle this question if it comes up? Aside from disappointment/embarrassment, I'm worried it'll make me look less competitive to admit that I've been rejected from everywhere else (assuming that ends up being the case).

Hm, I'm sorry to hear that. If you want to maintain some privacy (and you should definitely avoid lying!), this might be one case where you want to say that you don't feel comfortable discussing the question. People will have heard that answer before, and they shouldn't be upset or surprised by it. 

[XVIIA]

From back when I was applying for fairly prestigious schools for undergrad, I was always encouraged to avoid disclosing the other schools I was applying to. I was told that some elite programs might waitlist you if they think that you will have other offers from competitive programs because they want to buff up their statistics on matriculation and that less "competitive" programs might assume you will treat them as a safety school. Not sure how true that actually is, but I had been wondering if there are similar concerns with graduate programs? If asked this in an interview, though, I'm planning on answering honestly. Hopefully by the time I've been able to talk face-to-face with those in the department it should be evident how serious my interest in the program is.

[StemCellFan]

I've been pretty honest about it when I've been asked.  I've always seen it as a way for faculty and students to gauge how likely you are to join them and open up more conversation as to why their program is the best.  I personally don't see the harm in it.  I don't think it'd be looked at negatively you decline to answer though.

It was also pretty common for the fellow applicants to ask each other where else they are interviewing.  I liked it because I surprisingly learned that a couple fellow applicants were also interviewing on other weekends with me, so I had another person I kind of knew there and could chat with.

Edited February 14, 2018 by StemCellFan

[TakeruK]

On 2/13/2018 at 9:47 AM, XVIIA said:

From back when I was applying for fairly prestigious schools for undergrad, I was always encouraged to avoid disclosing the other schools I was applying to. I was told that some elite programs might waitlist you if they think that you will have other offers from competitive programs because they want to buff up their statistics on matriculation and that less "competitive" programs might assume you will treat them as a safety school. Not sure how true that actually is, but I had been wondering if there are similar concerns with graduate programs? If asked this in an interview, though, I'm planning on answering honestly. Hopefully by the time I've been able to talk face-to-face with those in the department it should be evident how serious my interest in the program is.

I have never heard of this being a concern at the graduate level. Undergrad and grad admissions are very different processes and there's no need for a department to boast about high matriculation rates or anything like that. Departments make the admission decisions and they don't care about university-wide matriculation rates and department-wide rates are used for planning purposes, rather than aiming to get the highest number possible. Or, put another way, there are always way more students that the department wants to accept than there are spots. This isn't just a nice thing they say on a rejection letter to make you feel better, it's actually true! 

Schools do want to know how they compare to other schools you're considering because it helps them plan. If they have 10 spots, they might normally make 15 offers, based on their past matriculation rates. However, if their top 10 candidates all say they are considering their main rival school(s) and they know that typically they get a lower rate when people consider these other schools, the school might plan to make a few extra offers. So they might make 18 offers instead, because if they have a ranked list of candidates and they wait until only 7 out of the original 15 accept to make the 3 extra offers, candidates ranked 16-18 might have already accepted offers elsewhere. Just example numbers here of course.

Also, sometimes they might want to nominate some candidates for university-wide fellowships that might have to go in before April 15. The department might have a limit on the number of nominations and they might not get to nominate someone else if their candidate(s) decline the admission offer. So they might want to gauge your level of interest before they commit to you. This question may be part of the process they use.

Finally, sure, there is a non-zero chance that a school will consider the fact that you are even thinking about other places as a reason to reject you. I think this is highly abnormal behaviour and it doesn't make sense for school to do. But no one can guarantee you it won't happen. My philosophy is to not plan for these extreme scenarios and not let unlikely extreme scenarios dictate your behaviour!

One exception though: It might make sense for a school to consider where else their applicants are accepted to if the school is typically a "safety school". If that safety school doesn't have a ton of funding so that they can't afford to go over (i.e. if they have 5 spots, they only have 5 offers and only make more once people decline). In this case, I can see why a safety school who is considering a candidate that got into their top schools already might decide to not make the offer right away because if the candidate sits on that offer, they can't offer it to someone else who is much more likely to accept. However, this is usually self-correcting, as lower tier schools tend to make decisions after the top tier schools so that candidates who are applying to them as safety schools already have offers and can withdraw or decline. Still, many schools may choose to contact the applicant and ask them about their level of interest in attending before simply rejecting them (after all, there may be other reasons why the candidate prefers that particular school over a top tier school they already have an offer from).