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[chicanothoreau]

That is the question that seems to be asked in most applications for graduate school. Why would schools want to know about other possible applications at other institutions?

I kind of want to say, "none of your business" but I am sure someone might be put off by that.

[icurhere2]

Most schools (undergraduate and graduate) measure who their real competitors are by these self-reported statements (generally called "cross applications").

[chicanothoreau]

I suppose my follow up question would be: Would it hurt me to leave it blank?

[urbanus]

I don't think you'd really suffer by leaving it blank, but what do you gain?  Faculty members talk about graduate students before they are even *their* graduate students.  In my small field, it is common for faculty members to swap names (usually in just a gossipy, social way) of the finalists for their grad student slots.   So, even if you don't fill it out, they might find out anyway.

[katherineparr]

In some cases, as well, schools may want to know whose recruitment package they may be competing against. For example, there was a sort of bidding war recently among a group of top history programs. First, they all funded the entire incoming cohort. Then, one started raising the stipend. Then everyone started to raise the stipends to lure the best students.

So it's possible that one use of this information is to indicate how high they would need to go to offer a competitive funding package.

Also, they may wish to know if they're a "safety" application for you, or if you are applying all over the place, or various other things. Just fill it out, who cares?

[seniorscholar]

From time to time the GRE form sent to departments lists all the schools the applicant is sending scores to -- no, they're not supposed to do that, but screw-ups do happen, both on paper and electronically. So even if you're trying to keep it secret, we may know anyway.

[scheherazade]

I left mine blank - I figured it should have no bearing on my application, and it felt weird to me to fill it in.  It isn't exactly a state secret, though, and if they found out or point blank asked me again, I wouldn't have thought it a big deal.  It had no effect on my apps whatsoever, as I got into almost every program I applied to, including the nicely funded offer at a very good school that I accepted (funded MAs are hard to come by).  So fill it in if you want, leave it blank if you want - however, it's sketchy (IMHO) to only write a few down but keep the rest a secret.

[joeyt28]

This is an important question for my field in psychology because it lets people know how serious you are about the application process. If your interest is in X, and there are several people working in X, you should be applying to work with them. If you aren't, it might mean you aren't as committed to X and therefore not as attractive a candidate. I've heard stories at interviews of faculty asking students where they've applied and then rattling off lists of people that would assume to match there.