Do schools know where else you are applying?

[Malina]

I am wondering if any school someone is applying to may have info at its fingertips or be able to find out to which other felllow schools that same person is also applying. Does anybody know how that works?

I think that may have a slight strategic/psychological factor to itself. What do you think or know?

[nukelaw]

My understanding is that schools are given a list of other schools for which you've sent profiles to for FAFSA. That's pretty late in the process though, so it's usually post-acceptance and comes down when you're deciding between aid packages.

[Mr. Burnz]

All the schools get is an "overlap report" which tells them where else their admitted students have put down deposit.  This gives only numbers for each competing school, not specific names and such.  Its purpose is to give them an idea of how many of their deposited kids are actually coming, and what other schools they're competing with...

[Malina]

So they should not have any information about where a candidate is submitting applications in the beginning of the process, right? Has anybody else heard different?

I would think that most people with less than perfect numbers (or with say: 163 and 3.85, or 171 and 3.65) may be applying to a broad range of schools, let's say Top 20, Top 30, Top 40. If the admissions offices on the extremes are aware of each other, they may somewhat question the intention of the applicant towards their own school or simply wonder why the applicant is applying to each extreme. Does that make sense or I am just overthinking it? 

[pikey]

So they should not have any information about where a candidate is submitting applications in the beginning of the process, right? Has anybody else heard different?

I would think that most people with less than perfect numbers (or with say: 163 and 3.85, or 171 and 3.65) may be applying to a broad range of schools, let's say Top 20, Top 30, Top 40. If the admissions offices on the extremes are aware of each other, they may somewhat question the intention of the applicant towards their own school or simply wonder why the applicant is applying to each extreme. Does that make sense or I am just overthinking it? 

Some apps ask what other schools you are applying to.