FAFSA and Demonstrated Interest

FAFSA and Demonstrated Interest November 16, 2013 Ivy Coach calls upon FAFSA to change or remove entirely the question in which it asks applicants which other schools they intend to apply to (photo credit: Jawed Karim). While we dont write often about financial aid on our college admissions blog, we wrote yesterday about how FAFSAs form in which it asks applicants to list the colleges to which they intend to apply to is absolutely unacceptable. College admissions is, at least in part, a game of social psychology. College admissions officers, when reviewing FAFSA forms, often cant help but notice the order in which students list colleges. It doesnt take much data mining to use prior applications and see if students who listed a school somewhere in the middle or towards the end actually matriculate if admitted. The intuition of these college admissions officers is likely correct. Students who list a college somewhere in the middle or at the bottom of this list might not be all that excited about the school. And why would a school want to admit someone who isnt into them? Would you want to go on a date with a guy who isnt into you? Likely not. For students filling out the FAFSA form, you should list schools in alphabetical order. Beat the college admissions officers at their own game on this particular point. But, more importantly, we hereby declare war on FAFSA with respect to the wording of this question. If the question needs to be asked in the opinion of FAFSA, fine. But mandate that schools be listed alphabetically or reorder them in the program to be listed alphabetically if a student doesnt follow the instructions. Its quite simple. This fall, Ivy Coach essentially declared war on the Common Application, questioning if the Common App. was restraining trade by financially penalizing universities that did not offer their application on an exclusive basis. We wrote extensively about the many problems students, parents, and school counselors have been having this fall with the Common App. and we encouraged universities to join the Universal College Application. Many universities since have. FAFSA, thats all to say that well be leading the charge going forward to get you to change your grossly unethical question. Who is with us?