Do Admissions Officers Check A Student's Facebook/MySpace profile?

These days, we receive many questions from students regarding their online social profiles. Since anything published online is public information, technically we reserve the right to use any public internet information regarding your candidacy to make admissions decisions.
Truthfully, however, the Dartmouth Admissions Office does not actively "research" candidates online, unless there are circumstances which would validate or confirm a student's candidacy. (For example, we might confirm awards granted in a particular science fair, in order to get a sense of a student's accomplishments at the local, regional, state, or national level.) Sometimes the web can be a helpful tool in understanding the context or community of a particular applicant.

The bottom line is that it is smart to represent yourself professionally on the web. We're not trying to use the web as a "spy" tool. However, social media sites ARE a representation of yourself, and hopefully you would want to put your best foot forward.