<p>Unfortunately, while I was recently reading through my "why Penn" essay, I found a pretty embarrassing and significant error... One relatively insignificant sentence had "Northwestern" instead of "Penn" due to my inability to catch the mistake even with several proofreads (I only took like 3 sentences total from my "why Northwestern" essay,but I guess I forgot to change one of the sentences to "Penn"). </p>
<p>I'm just wondering if anyone has gotten in to a school where he/she sent an essay with the same mistake. Please give me hope!!!</p>
<p>Had it been a state school or something like that, you’d be fine. In this case, though, I’d be incredibly surprised if Penn let you in after that. The point of the “why Penn” question is to see whether you’ve actually done your research and are genuinely interested in Penn; your error shows that you didn’t and that your don’t have any real reason to attend Penn over Northwestern, for example.</p>
<p>I don’t mean to be harsh, but that’s the truth.</p>
<p>I’m with clarkandfire… I mean, maybe on another part of the application a similar error wouldn’t be an issue, but the “why xyz” question is perhaps the worst question one could make this error with.</p>
<p>Ugh…that sucks. My essay was fairly specific for Penn too; it’s just that I liked the phrasing on a couple of generic statements that applies to all top schools.</p>
<p>Note to people applying next year: DON’T MAKE THIS MISTAKE!</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s anything that will get you automatically rejected. The rest of your essay was specific to Penn, so they’ll probably assume you got confused between your Why Northwestern and Why Penn essays. Plus, demonstrated interest isn’t that important to top universities - pretty much most people applying there really, really want to go, too - and the function of the essay is more to see what you can bring to the university. Your chances aren’t completely ruined.</p>
<p>^ Schools do not like to see other school’s names in their essays, whether applicant interest is a consideration or not. You are missing the point. The essay was obviously cut and pasted and not thoroughly proof read. Also not saying he/she will automatically be rejected. Although, some schools will automatically reject for this, i.e. Miami of Ohio. They also do not like to see you wearing other school’s jerseys when you visit. Same principle.</p>
<p>^ I’m not missing the point, read post #4. “Looked down upon” or not, according to the common data set, it’s not a factor in admissions decisions. </p>
<p>Not sure what point you’re trying to make here anyways, it’s already been made and there’s nothing the OP can do about it.</p>
Exactamundo!!! Totally different things. In fact, I might even go so far as to say that it shows anti-interest, as this was part of a “Why Penn?” essay. Meaning whatever that thing he liked about Penn was, he was obviously able to find it at Northwestern just as easily. So I think it means that his essay may not have been the best/strongest “Why Penn?” essay in the first place. Colleges always say they shouldn’t be able to replace another school’s name with theirs in your “Why X” essay.</p>
<p>However, OP, no one here can tell you for certain what will happen. You will just need to hope for the best. In less than 2 weeks you will have your answer.</p>
<p>What’s done is done…no sense worrying about it. I’d like to think that if your grades are good and all of your other qualifications stack up, a mistake like this wouldn’t tilt the balance against you. And if a school would cut a qualified student based on one pretty obvious oversight, than I’m not sure I’d want to go there anyway.</p>
<p>It’s a paraphrase of “schools do not like to see other school’s names in their essays.” Anyways, now I see what your point is/was. But in the end, it doesn’t matter… it’s done and the OP shouldn’t worry either way.</p>
<p>I could argue that it was used in an ironic way since it’s merely a claim that using another school’s name is looked down upon. It’s a situation when one is essentially repeating what someone else said when they don’t feel that it is completely accurate or concrete. </p>
<p>Example: My friend tells me he’s too tired to come over. Mom asks why he didn’t come over like we originally planned and I tell her, “He said he’s ‘too tired’ to come over.” </p>
<p>Notice the use of quotations around “too tired.” If this was a verbal exchange with my mom, I’d most likely even go so far as to use air quotes (if you’re not familiar, see [Dunkin'</a>; Donuts “Air Quotes” - YouTube](<a href=“Dunkin' Donuts "Air Quotes" - YouTube’”>Dunkin' Donuts "Air Quotes" - YouTube)) when conveying the message that my friend is “too tired” to come over.</p>
<p>So yes, in this instance, the use of quotations around the paraphrase was appropriate. Now we’re just beating a dead horse and I really don’t see the point.</p>
<p>I’m not saying this to OP, but to the people who think OP still has decent shot…</p>
<p>When I went to a Penn info session they explicitly said, “we DO NOT want to see another college’s name in our essay.” The representative then told a story about an essay that ended in “and that’s why I want to go to… Georgetown.” The representative said that his/her essay was then shifted just about as close to the reject pile as possible.</p>