Why do schools...

[colorless]

Ask what other places you are applying?

[LittleDarlings]

I read somewhere that it is for funding and how to gage the competition maybe..?

[Loric]

To gauge the competition, and student interest. Also, if you're obviously using them for a backup school they retain the right to not admit you, but to admit someone who isn't using them as a backup. Yes, "level of interest/commitment" to the school is a factor in admissions. 

[TakeMyCoffeeBlack]

Yes, "level of interest/commitment" to the school is a factor in admissions. 

 

This is true, but if you're the best candidate with the best fit but applying to schools 20 ranks ahead, that doesn't mean they won't admit you. After all, not even they know whether you'll be admitted to Ivy University X.

 

The two most obvious reasons (which you can find on graduate school websites are):

 

1.) For the graduate school to determine with whom they cluster

2.) So that they can gather statistical evidence determining how many "also applying to Ivy U XYZ" applicants they need to admit in order to get their target class (this second one is Notre Dame's justification)

[juilletmercredi]

It doesn't mean they won't admit you, but controlling their yield is a factor.  I am reading a book by a senior scholar (about academia) and he comments that it is not uncommon for mid- and lower-ranked program to strategically admit applicants based on how willing the program perceives the applicant to attend the program, wrt what other schools to which the applicant has applied.  The example the scholar provides is because the university offers a finite number of fellowships to the entire university, and if a student turns them down and they are unable to replace them with another, they can lose one of their fellowship slots to another department.

 

Just as they are strategic about the information gathering I would be strategic about how I released information to them.

[fuzzylogician]

Schools are interested in knowing who their competitors are. It helps them know where else their candidates are applying, and down the line they may also want to know where the people they admitted chose to go so they can learn how to improve at attracting the students that they wish to have - e.g. if there is a difference in funding or course offerings, those are things they can play with to improve the admissions offers for next year. Or if they are lacking in a certain subfield that their competitor school is strong at, they could try and think about hiring in that field for future years.

 

The smart way to answer this question is to not seem all over the place - if you're applying to seemingly very different schools (opposing theories, strong disagreements about the important questions in the field, etc) I wouldn't mention that. A good selection would be schools with similar strengths and similar rankings, though you could indicate also trying for very good schools or slightly less well-ranked schools. As long as it seems clear why you would want to apply to these schools, there is nothing to worry about. They are just curious. I don't think this question is normally used to evaluate students, again - unless there is something obviously odd about how you replied.

 

One caveat - if you seem "too good" schools may not want to "waste" an acceptance on you. They may assume you'll have better offers and won't accept theirs, so they will reject you based on that. This shouldn't happen if you're a good fit with a school, but if you apply to a top 100 school and indicate that all your other choices are top-10, that may cause some concern. But again, that's what I meant when I said above to have "similar" schools to the one whose application you are filling out.