Physics GRE Discussion Forums

Hi....

I have begun the arduous experience of applying to graduate school in physics Many of the schools tell me to "... list all the graduate and professional schools and programs to which you are applying...". Some even ask for order of preference. Simple question, why are they asking this?

I had this same question...

As an international student, I'm applying to lots of places. Not because I'm undecided, but because I need safeties. So I'm afraid of what the commitees will think when they see my long list of schools... I shouldn't lie anyway (right?).

mulholtd wrote:Hi....

I have begun the arduous experience of applying to graduate school in physics Many of the schools tell me to "... list all the graduate and professional schools and programs to which you are applying...". Some even ask for order of preference. Simple question, why are they asking this?

If your list happens to be in the order A,B,C,D,E and you are asked this question when applying to C., maybe they'd want to know whether you have kept that particular school as a safety or as a reach school, or applying because you really are interested in their research! And maybe by doing so, they want to evaluate themselves!

I always thought it's optional, so I left it blank. Is that not OK?

Who?

mulholtd wrote:Simple question, why are they asking this?

So they can stalk you down and assassinate you when you reject their proposal.

-Riley

maybe one of the professors can shed some light on this!

I don't think it has anything to do with admissions. It is probably the grad school collecting data for their annual report. See the "Competitive Pressures" section towards the end of this Graduate Profile link from Berkeley: http://grad.berkeley.edu/news/berkeley_ ... file.shtml

I'm surprised that any place would actually ask your order of preference (how can you know that until you've visited), and am even surprised that they ask where you've applied. It isn't really their business. Leaving it blank probably can't hurt you. Or maybe you can list two or three reach places that you know you're unlikely to get into, so the admissions people will think "wow, they won't get in there, so we might get them". Or list two or three sucky places and they'll think "we're better than those place are...so we might get them".

That said, when students are accepted, it does help if I know where else they've been admitted, just to help judge the probability of acceptance so we can get a feel for how low to go on our waiting list. But that's after acceptance, not before.

So far all the schools that have asked me about other schools (all of them) had that question in a section that was labeled, for statistical purposes only or something to that affect. Some have even explicitly said that your choices won't be used in the admissions process. So I'm putting mine down in good faith.

We like to know what other schools you are applying to in part to
assess whether you are likely to accept our offer of admission.
Let me stress, however, that this does not affect WHETHER we
offer you admission - that is based on the overall impression from
your statement, letters of recommendation, transcript, and scores.
We would never admit/deny students based on the other schools
they have applied for. But we do grin with glee when we see that
one of our top choices has only applied to weaker schools, and thus
we anticipate that we will be able to recruit successfully (and we
are correspondingly morose when we see that we are the safety
school...but we nonetheless hope that we will be able to convince
the student that we have excellent research opportunities too...).

We also use these lists as an indication of which schools are our
competition. While we would never speak negatively of other
programs (every school has some aspect of strength), we can
more directly speak to our strengths and differences if we know
the other schools you may be considering.

So, please do fill out this question if it appears on the application.
You need not list all 15+ schools (there probably isn't space...), but
please list at least a few that are high on your list of preferred schools.

So...in the interest of maximizing offers of admission, there is a community incentive for everyone to list the top schools on that list, regardless of their actual plans. Stands to reason schools would admit more students that way, thinking their offer is more likely to be rejected.

I also have a feeling that it could result in better offers, if they really want you and want to "steal" you away from another (better) school.