MBA Admissions Consultant
Joined: 18 Apr 2013
Posts: 2226
Location: Chicago, IL
Re: Which other schools are you applying to" question
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31 Oct 2014, 05:21
Hi there,
That's a great question! First off, no, schools can't see where else you sent your score. When you add them they have access to your entire report but that's it. Not where it went.
They ask for a variety of reasons and it's difficult to say which schools do which to what extent. However, there are 3 main reasons:
1) Schools want to track how they're doing through the process - they want to be able to identify where they lose candidates or where else their top picks are looking (yes, it's a 2 way street) - this question allows them to get a little insight into that
2) See where they lie in your priority list. I had a mock interview with a client yesterday for a top 20 program but when I asked her this question, every school she listed was above that program in rank. That's not the message you want to send so you want to show them you're serious, but not that they're your all!
3) Why you're picking these programs. If you list HBS, Stanford, Booth, Wharton - well, you went a little rank happy, didn't you? But if small class sizes were super important to you and you applied to Haas, Tuck, McCombs, and Emory - then that makes more sense. So they want to see what is driving you.
Hope that helps!
Bhavik