<p>Hey, I was just wondering - do colleges rescind your application or just deny you if you have even ONE spelling or grammar mistake. Ugh, I just realized for BU I put "i" instead of "I" once. And left a comma out in my common app essay.</p>
<p>No, they won’t rescind your application. My son didn’t proof his first Common App essay and had a few typos to correct. He got into his first college in spite of the typos.</p>
<p>You might want to review the rules of apostrophes, specifically when used to show possession :)</p>
<p>Thanks. I mean it was for a supplement I just put “i” accidently. I hope they realize I don’t write like that.</p>
<p>they probably won’t care.
but, the best way to prevent errors like that is to practice your grammar in online forums like college confidential.
for example, the title of this topic should be “Colleges’ reaction to grammatical errors in essays”, instead of what you typed.</p>
<p>lol what do you mean they wont care</p>
<p>an impeccable essay is obviously preferable</p>
<p>anyways what do u think of tehse:</p>
<p>n one of my essays, because i had to rush to meet the 11 59 deadline</p>
<p>i wrote “couldve had wouldve allow it”</p>
<p>instead of “couldve had wouldve allowed it”</p>
<p>in my defense, thats probably one of the hardest phrases to use… but yea thats a mistake</p>
<p>also in that essay, i forgot to decapitalize one of the words</p>
<p>like so: “However, When…”</p>
<p>in a seperate supplement, i accidentally inserted a comma to where there shouldnt be a comma because i deleted the descriptive clause in between</p>
<p>in yet another supplement, i only included one c in “success”</p>
<p>do u think any of these will kill my chances, or otherwise detract from a great essay experience(for the reader)</p>
<p>do you think its possible to call the college and say hey I made a grammar mistake can you delete this for me
sounds like a bit of a stretch but who knows</p>
<p>as long as it’s not hugely distracting i feel like one or two errors in an essay is completely fine. I know for sure I had a few errors in my supplement essay and one kind of big error in my common app essay, but I still got into my first choice school (CMU). As long as it’s not something that impairs understanding you should be fine.</p>
<p>If it’s just one or two typographical or grammatical errors, I doubt it should be much of a problem. If your essay was full of errors then it would be a problem, but if it’s a good, well written essay, one or two small errors that you clearly just missed in proofreading are probably not going to be that big a deal.</p>
<p>dude antonioray, there’s so much OCD in you that it’s ridiculous.
you think people will seriously care if they catch one or two small little mistakes?
people are human, of course we’ll make mistakes. it’s not like you accidentally put a huge “**** You” in the middle of your essay.
seriously, don’t get so butthurt and just chill</p>
<p>LOL Bumpbump</p>
<p>Did any of you get that email from UChicago with Rohan’s essay? Some kid named Rohan basically wrote a love letter to UChicago and it was really sloppy both in terms of grammar and vocabulary. But he got admitted anyway. It’s the theme of the essay that counts, not the minute errors. Don’t worry too much.</p>
<p>Yo man that kid is amazing
this is the reason that i got deffered, im not creative enough.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t discount the importance of grammar especially in college essays where they expect that you have written more than a draft or two, but obviously a grammatical error won’t destroy your chances. I mean, the vast majority of college applicants received a writing score below 700, so most essays probably contain subtle grammatical errors that even the most scrutinizing applicants could miss.</p>
<p>In general typos and grammatical / spelling errors can give off the impression that the application was rushed (which in my experience is true) which can not be a positive in any way. That being said unless the mistake is obvious enough that an admissions officer can see it in the however miniscule time they spend reading essays it is probably a fairly substantial error that the applicant should have spotted if they were more careful.</p>
<p>Correct grammar, usage, diction (very important!) and spelling are important in many contexts – but certainly in writing essays for admission to college, where one hopes to impress the admission officer that he has achieved the fluency required in the language that is suitable for university study. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, or for whatever reason, there is an abominable amount of linguistic sloth evinced by those purporting to be qualified for collge-level work. </p>
<p>As another poster pointed out, good usage should be practised always. It will really help to weed out those common mistakes that appear all too often.</p>
<p>I’m going to assume that you’ve already submitted your common app essay so the best advice would be to stop worrying about it completely. You should have been concerned about grammar before it was submitted; but now, no amount of worrying will make your essay any better.</p>
<p>Good point, flight!</p>
<p>Speaking of mistakes, I must confess to one in my previous post. Can anyone spot it?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The word “he” is incorrect, should be “one” to refer back to the subject pronoun. The entire sentence is a bit awkward, but that’s a quibble :)</p>
<p>Also the spelling of “practise”: in many parts of the English speaking world (UK, Ireland, Australia, Canada, and South Africa) “practice” is the noun, “practise” the verb. However, in the US “practice” is more often used for both the noun and the verb.</p>
<p>It’s not hard to tell the difference between a typographical error and a spelling/usage/grammatical error.</p>
<p>If I am reviewing application materials from a job applicant, I am more put off by errors in spelling and usage than by the occasional typo.</p>
<p>vballmom - Correct! And, yes on rereading it, the sentence is awkward. Perhaps this would lend it some grace:</p>
<p>…where one hopes to impress the admission officer that one has the fluency required for university study.</p>
<p>antonioray - I believe a contraction of ‘could have’ and ‘would have’ to could’ve and would’ve is incorrect grammar.</p>
<p>For me, certain mistakes have a larger meaning than others, and lead me to believe that there are serious gaps in a person’s knowledge: confusion with it’s vs its, they’re vs their vs there, and especially your vs you’re. If you make a spelling mistake or a typo (I constantly type “that” when I mean “then”), I’d tend to let it slide.</p>
<p>Even if you say “ain’t” in an essay, I’ll assume you are using for emphasis. And if you say “I don’t know nothing,” I’d assume you were saying that intentionally for emphasis. But say “Your going to love this!” and I’ll just assume you don’t know nothin’.</p>