<p>Plus, if they have time to read through your essays, recommendations, scores, etc. they have time to type your name into Facebook.</p>
<p>Your brother’s situation is unusual. But something in the LORs piqued the interest of the readers and they wanted confirmation/clarification. I’m not saying this never happens. But only for the apps that are on the line, no? The shoo-ins and the zero chancers – never get any deeper follow up. Your brother obviously intrigued the readers and they wanted more meat before deciding. Good for him.</p>
<p>I still don’t think we’re at the stage where college admissions uses social media spiders to find dirt on potential knuckleheads on FB.</p>
<p>^^
But students shouldn’t assume that their social networking sites are invisible to college adcoms. Colleges are checking in at least some cases. Any student who leaves incriminating, racist, or generally idiotic content available for the public to see has only themselves to blame if it results in a rejection.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>[College</a> Applicants, Beware: Your Facebook Page Is Showing - WSJ.com](<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122170459104151023.html]College”>http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122170459104151023.html)</p>
<p>@T26E4 – (Sorry for replying so far apart. I hardly get on here.) I agree with you. Schools like Harvard and Yale won’t make calls about all 30,000+ apps. There’s no point to that when most don’t have a chance at all. But I could imagine making calls to the counselors or teachers (or coaches) of most of the students they’re strongly thinking of admitting. The top schools probably take who they could be getting more seriously than most.</p>
<p>I hope they do - my first choice school will see an article on Google on which I said that I love their school! :)</p>
<p>I agree with the comment about recruited athletes and scholarships cases. Anytime you have a hook, they’re going to be paying extra close attention</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That won’t go over well with any place else.</p>
<p>I thought that they would only resort to an internet search if your chances were high</p>
<p>I beleive schools are checking, though there is no way to say how much, etc. I am pretty sure that I heard it at one of my daughters preview days, so from an adcom from a small LAC. </p>
<p>If they are checking, you can be sure it is a clerk in the admissions office just doing the first, labor intensive check.</p>
<p>Check your FB profile to make sure all they can see is your picture and little else (and need I say what qualities that picture should not have?) Also create a dedicated email address for college, since email addresses are a much better way to search than actual names.</p>
<p>Do a vanity search, and see what they find. I have done one for my kids. All is good ;-)</p>