Do colleges really check the social networking sites such as twitter and Facebook?

[Dorothy K.]

This question has been asked many times before and the answers always vary, because it's been in the news that colleges and employers admit to doing this, but honestly, I've never known anybody to be rejected based on what was published on Facebook or Twitter. I suppose it is possible, but probably only done in rare circumstances, like when two applicants to a Graduate Program are pretty equal and only one spot remains. For Undergraduates, I kind of doubt that situation would arise, unless it was and Ivy League, but even they get a bunch of applications too; you'd think it would be too time consuming to look people up on those sites.