Are References Contacted?

[robhunter]

Hi All,

Simple question, not planning anything nefarious here - one of my references may be in Africa for most of the fall and may not be able to reply to e-mails or phone calls in a timely fashion. Can I use this person as a reference or find someone else? I would imagine contacting 3,000+ references per school would be pretty daunting?

[MBAApply]

Highly, highly unlikely. In the 8 years I've done this (and as an applicant 12-13 years ago) I've never ever heard of an adcom contacting a recommender. I'm sure it may have happened, but it's rarer than a 65 yard field goal.

[PrepMBA.AlexLeventhal]

I also think this is not likely. But it might not be a bad idea to have the reference indicate a preferred method of being in touch. I assume he/she can get to email in Africa, even if not timely. So this would not be a good reason to exclude him/her.