Settle husband/wife disagreement: Do admissions committees routinely Google applicants?

[ucbalumnus]

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@college_query

Sometimes we’ll have two records for what appear to be the same person, with a slight difference in how the name is spelled. I frequently look up the prospective student on Google and Facebook to help determine which spelling is more likely the correct one. However, I have nothing to do with admissions.</p>

<p>And I REALLY dislike trying to decide if slight variations in first name, for someone with the same date of birth, address, and high school/graduation year, is the same person OR if they are a twin. We had a set of twins with the same first & last name, and middle names different by one letter. WHY would any parent do that?

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<p>At least you at the college figured it out correctly. Credit reporting companies seem to merge by default if the name is superficially similar, even if other information (like address, social security number, date of birth, etc.) differ.</p>