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<p>That’s quite common. And IMO totally fair. “Why did we lose out on you?” is a totally different question from, “Where else are you applying? We’d like to know now so we can try to predict whether we’re going to lose out on you eventually, and act unilaterally in our own interest.”</p>
<p>The latter may well be how colleges and universities operate IRL, but I don’t see why applicants need to facilitate that.</p>