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So now people who answered the questions on the application are stupid? The question is “where are you applying?”, not “List some of the other colleges you are applying to.” </p>
<p>What about if you took classes in college during the summer and didn’t do so well? Does that mean you can just not send a transcript from there and pretend you didn’t go? </p>
<p>You aren’t obligated to answer a given question, but it is not ethical to mislead them with an incomplete answer. When I applied, all the deadlines were within a couple of days of each other (~Jan. 1), and I think it’s rare for people to hand in applications months in advance. You’ve got to get recs as well, which need to be requested at least a month in advance of the deadline, so the scenario that you wouldn’t know where you are applying seems moot.</p>