Intrusive question on applications

[WaitingKills]

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Hi there,

I'm working through my first two applications and both of them have a question on them that I find quite intrusive.

"What other programs have you applied to or are planning on applying to?"

I'm sure other people on this board have come across this question. How did you answer it?

I honestly don't think it's any of their business the other schools that I'm applying to. I can only figure they are trying to gauge the rank of programs you are applying to or the number. But what should it matter to them?

For those that have come across this type of question, how honest were you with the schools you listed, if any?

 

[deleted176373]

Hi there,

I'm working through my first two applications and both of them have a question on them that I find quite intrusive.

"What other programs have you applied to or are planning on applying to?"

I'm sure other people on this board have come across this question. How did you answer it?

I honestly don't think it's any of their business the other schools that I'm applying to. I can only figure they are trying to gauge the rank of programs you are applying to or the number. But what should it matter to them?

For those that have come across this type of question, how honest were you with the schools you listed, if any?

I listed a few programs of slightly higher and slightly lower stature (yes putting them right in the middle, LOL.) and I was usually pretty honest, but there was no way in hell I was gonna list 27 programs. I usually gave 5 with 2 up and 2 down. After answering their question, I then decided to apply to the other programs.

Mark

PS - I agree, it's not any of their business.

 

[JockNerd]

I was asked this on one paper application and in two interviews with profs (not my POI) at another university.

I just answered. I'm not taken aback by the question, so I didn't really care. I think programs ask for two reasons: one, to see if you're applying to your UG, which some profs don't like; two, to approximate how you rank them and whether you're seriously applying there or using it as a back-up.

If I hadn't thought it was any of their business, I'd just have left the question blank on the application. I'm sure you wouldn't be the only one omitting it.

 

[KillerDiller]

I was asked this on one paper application and in two interviews with profs (not my POI) at another university.

I just answered. I'm not taken aback by the question, so I didn't really care. I think programs ask for two reasons: one, to see if you're applying to your UG, which some profs don't like; two, to approximate how you rank them and whether you're seriously applying there or using it as a back-up.

I think research oriented programs also ask this to gauge whether or not you know what you are doing in applying to their field of research. Your POI can see if you are applying to work with his or her colleagues or if you are just sort of applying randomly with no real research focus.

 

[Ollie123]

What KD said. I think most of my applications asked this. It isn't REALLY their business, but nor did I see any reason to hide it.

I think it could actually be mildly helpful as a "proxy" of how serious someone is about their professional goals. Researchers know their colleagues and if they see, say, that you applied to every california school and they know they are the only one in the state doing research in their area, probably a bad sign. Same goes if you were to apply to say, 10 PsyD programs and Wisconsin-Madison. Wisc-Mad would wonder if you were truly interested in an academic career, because if you aren't they probably aren't interested in you. I assume the reverse would go for PsyD programs if everyplace else you applied was research-heavy.

I just listed programs. It may have hurt me a little since I have "somewhat" diverse research interests (in the sense that I'm interested in comorbidity between two disorders so was applying to faculty who researched either disorder).

Be prepared for this during interviews too. They'll ask where else you've interviewed and who else you applied with.

 

[joetro]

Yes, you will be asked this. You should list a couple of places. It is to get a sense of the quality of other programs you are applying to, and also the kind of area you are into. If you say you are interested in area X, but then those programs you list don't have good matches in area X, people will think you are unfocused. Interviewers should be able to guess who you are working with at the schools you have listed.