One of the uni's I applied to requested details of what other schools I've applied to

It depends on why you're CCing tbh. If using BCC I'd recommend contacting the person BCCd separately and explaining that you wanted them to be aware of the situation but don't want any direct intervention that can be tied back to your application...so in the OPs situation where they're concerned that escalating could damage their chances it might be a route to get the situation resolved without being outed as the whistleblower.

I think I just mixed about a billion metaphors there....time for caffeine.

My current line of thought was that I'd reply telling them that they're the only programme I've applied to (my white lie, since they have no right to even ask and can't find out till after making me an offer/rejection it seems like fair play from me) explaining why and giving course-specific reasons for wanting to attend their university, while at the same time softly pointing out as a worried student that I was under the understanding that universities aren't allowed ask what other programmes a student has applied to and that this question from them is making me worried. The purpose of this would be to remind them if forgetful/ignorant of the fact that they're asking me an illegal unethical question but in a soft, non-challenging way where I show the worried student side of me which would hopefully let them feel the pressure of their ill-doings. Any thoughts?

Lastly, what do you figure is the most likely reason for them asking about my other applications?

-Is it that they're contemplating what priority I might give them by considering the competitiveness of my other choices since every university for several reasons prefer to make offers to students they know will accept?

-Or is it more likely that if they're on the fence and feel I might get an offer elsewhere that they might abstain from making me an offer hoping I'd get one elsewhere?

-Or am I missing another alternative?

@PQ, @Origami Bullets, @SlowlorisIncognito, @apronedsamurai

Med schools know that almost every offer they make will be accepted.

The concern here is that med schools could be talking about applicants between themselves to ensure that applicants only receive a single offer (something that used to happen before invisibility was brought in) but also that as many applicants as possible receive an offer (ie not end up with a situation where some applicants get 2/3 offers and others get no offers).

I would suggest that you reply to the person who has emailed you with the information they requested but excluding the details about exactly which universities. Confirm that you have applied to 3 other UK medical schools (like you say that's pretty much a certainty anyway) but ask why they are asking what your other choices are. Play dumb and just say you thought that information was withheld from universities. CC or BCC in the head of admissions for the university concerned.

This. Seeing as it would prove exceedingly difficult if not impossible to prove that my rejection was due to the "illegal" request, or my lack of acquiescing to it, I feel it wouldn't be in my best interest to "challenge" or confront the university about it, nor "threatening" / informing them of my reporting this to UCAS. Reporting this to UCAS would have to occur in the aftermath of my rejection, or that's what I'm wondering at this moment.

They gave me until Thursday February 18th to reply to the latest correspondence today. I will send in the copies of my grades, however I am still undecided on what to answer their second query about my other applications.

Do I tell them, do I not?
Or do I simply ask why whilst reminding them of the UCAS invisibility rule which runs the risk of me appearing as "uncooperative"?

Perhaps for the benefit of the OP I should explain why seeking information about other applications is the UCAS equivalent of Original Sin and why all the experts on TSR have reacted in this way.

Before invisibility was introduced, the UCAS (then called UCCA) system was beset by petty jealousies between universities which they took out on applicants. Applicants once had to place their applications in numerical order (however you enter them now they are placed in alphabetical order) and universities would simply discard applications because applicants would place them too low. Moreover applicants would be rejected because they ranked a particular university below other universities individual admissions tutors considered inferior. There were books published giving advice on how to rank universities in such as way as not to put admission tutors noses' out of joint.

Indeed. Much time and energy was spent on working out the best order for your choices - the only ranking acceptable to everyone was to have Oxford or Cambridge at the top of the list.

York would have a hissy fit if they weren't at the top, as well.

They were quite happy with me putting them joint second with King's, behind Oxford.

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Well, aren't you the lucky one?

I sent my response today to the last email asking me for a second time after stating outright that I hadn't answered the question (well in the manner they liked). I'll reveal what I wrote after I get their response.

@PQ, @Origami Bullets: Should I concurrently also send a letter attaching the entirety of my correspondence to the Head of Admissions, with a cover letter and expressing my worry and the other points you advised me about? Or should I await the reply and re-evaluate afterwards?


You have both stated an advantage of the Head of admissions probably not knowing about what's occurring in their offices and might appreciate the chance from me to handle this internally and quietly. This might work in favour of my application. What say ye?

Oh, and by the by, you two are awesome.

York would have a hissy fit if they weren't at the top, as well.

They were quite happy with me putting them joint second with King's, behind Oxford.

Posted from TSR Mobile

I sent my response today to the last email asking me for a second time after stating outright that I hadn't answered the question (well in the manner they liked). I'll reveal what I wrote after I get their response.

@PQ, @Origami Bullets: Should I concurrently also send a letter attaching the entirety of my correspondence to the Head of Admissions, with a cover letter and expressing my worry and the other points you advised me about? Or should I await the reply and re-evaluate afterwards?


You have both stated an advantage of the Head of admissions probably not knowing about what's occurring in their offices and might appreciate the chance from me to handle this internally and quietly. This might work in favour of my application. What say ye?

Oh, and by the by, you two are awesome.

...........

But since this - which is now many admissions evolutions ago, admissions teams have no inclination or capacity to do this. I worked very closely with the admissions processes for one of the most popular RG universities, with a very popular medical school, and we just wouldn't and couldn't of bothered with this. The data is all available after the date - and the only reason we would want to know is to see who our competitors are and then look into why etc. There isn't time to do this in the admissions cycle, so just buy the data from UCAS afterwards and do the analysis then.

This all sounds much more like the central admissions team in the Uni getting a bit ahead of themselves - perhaps having been asked to do a special project on mature admissions, and asking for the data on a case by case basis, rather than waiting for the big UCAS bundle and filtering the data out for mature students.

Where else you are applying to would never be a factor in whether you got an offer or not from a university.

This happened to me today, at my interview one of them asked me what other unis applied to. Completley froze because I had no idea what to say and he kept asking and asking for the unis but obviously I know they're not allowed to know. This lasted for like 5 minutes as well

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