How do you handle the moral ambiguity of having to tell several grad programs they're your top choice?

Question

This year has been a learning process for me, but schools will only accept you if you communicate with your prof-of-interest post-interview and let him/her know this is *the* (only) program for you and why. Although I ended up finding one program to be a best fit, how to deal with the moral ambiguity of leading 2+ grad programs on (in order to get accepted). What do you do if you're not a deceitful person/believe in honesty & integrity?

Answer 1

I never told them that they were my first choice -- except for the one that was.

Instead, I told them that I thought that they had an amazing program that I would be happy to attend, and that if accepted, I would give back more to the program than I received.