How do you show demonstrated interest through social media? Do you follow schools? Don’t the other schools see who you are following? Besides visiting and interviewing what else do you suggest?
Visiting and interviewing, along with writing a good specific supplemental essay that shows you really know and match the school, are some of the best ways. (Early decision, of course, is the most convincing way!)
I would not follow a college if the other colleges can see. You really don’t want your safety schools to know that they are safeties. Or, worse, for a school to assume it is your last choice when it is not; e.g., if Muhlenberg actually is one of your favorites, if their admissions staffers see Swarthmore and Haverford on your list, they might assume that you would pick one of those two if admitted, when you might actually pick Muhlenberg!
No, schools don’t see who you’re following on Facebook, and even if they did, they will not hold it against you. Here’s an article on demonstrated interest that might be helpful: (If the link will come through)
https://■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/pulse/how-demonstrate-interest-answer-show-little-love-stuart-orlowski/
They don’t care that much. Literally the amount of time they spend on one application does not justify scouring over social media to find all this information about one applicants. Seriously people totally overthink this.
This is true, but I’m still going to throw in the obligatory Stay Smart On Social Media warning. Adcoms may not go digging for this stuff, but it’s still very possible to damage yourself online through stupid posts, pictures and the like, and sometimes what looked pretty innocuous can blow up in very public ways. Just keep things simple and you can avoid a world of How Did This Happen situations.
Very much agree with @StPaulDad–stay smart and be kind on social media.