"What Other Universities are You Applying To...": To Answer or Not to Answer

[oafloafer]

Hi all,

I'm new to the forums, though have been a reader for some time. Call me a vicarious siphon(er) of Art History-related information. I figure it's time I contribute to the cauldron, so here goes: I recently started looking over applications for some of the schools I intend to apply to, and noticed this pesky little question asking "What other universities are you applying to?"

Now, when I applied to undergrad I applied to one school and one school only so it was a no-brainer; now I'm curious what the deal with this cunning question is. Will it be held against me if I list 4 or 5 other schools? Is this a way schools console themselves (you know, as if they need to need to be consoled) after they've effectively crushed your soul with a rejection letter? Or maybe they use the information to confer with colleagues & faculty from other institutions to swap applicants like they're making a Fantasy Football team? Or perhaps this is just a way to single out moronically honest people (like me), since the moronically honest will inevitably be crushed by the academic apparatus, or something, and they may as well weed 'em out early? Or maybe (e), all of the above? As you can see I have a tendency toward conspiracy theories, so any and all explanations are welcome.

Anyone have any ideas?

(p.s. I'm, totally, like, 35% joking, folks! )

[obscurefemale]

Hi all,

I'm new to the forums, though have been a reader for some time. Call me a vicarious siphon(er) of Art History-related information. I figure it's time I contribute to the cauldron, so here goes: I recently started looking over applications for some of the schools I intend to apply to, and noticed this pesky little question asking "What other universities are you applying to?"

Now, when I applied to undergrad I applied to one school and one school only so it was a no-brainer; now I'm curious what the deal with this cunning question is. Will it be held against me if I list 4 or 5 other schools? Is this a way schools console themselves (you know, as if they need to need to be consoled) after they've effectively crushed your soul with a rejection letter? Or maybe they use the information to confer with colleagues & faculty from other institutions to swap applicants like they're making a Fantasy Football team? Or perhaps this is just a way to single out moronically honest people (like me), since the moronically honest will inevitably be crushed by the academic apparatus, or something, and they may as well weed 'em out early? Or maybe (e), all of the above? As you can see I have a tendency toward conspiracy theories, so any and all explanations are welcome.

Anyone have any ideas?

(p.s. I'm, totally, like, 35% joking, folks! )

Yea...I definitely thought it was some weird tricky thing they were trying to do by asking you that question. However, after asking my professor it seems as if its merely for statistical purposes. So that College X can see whether College Y and Z are being considered along with them. She wasn't 100% positive but I think the fact it's always an optional question seems to make it a pretty good theory.

[socialcomm]

I think someone on the forums also mentioned something about this question indicating how 'serious' you are about grad school -- making sure you're applying to other places.