Correcting application errors after submission … or not

Applying to College
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<p>This week my “Ask the Dean” mailbag is full of panicked missives from seniors who are freaking out over application errors … mistakes that they caught only AFTER they hit the “Submit” button. All are wondering how much these snafus will torpedo their admission odds and if contacting the colleges to correct the screw-ups will only shine a spotlight on them. </p>

<p>In most cases, my response is “Relax.” Although, of course, it’s smart to proofread your apps BEFORE you send them (and a second pair of eyes can really help here, too), small, unintentional application errors are rarely deal-breakers. However, there ARE times when a follow-up is appropriate. So when?</p>

<p>Ignore the garden-variety typos. Everyone on the planet has at some point written “it’s” instead of “its” or “here” instead of “hear” or has forgotten to close a quotation or parentheses.</p>

<p>While it won’t look great that you wrote “recieve” instead of “receive” or that you proclaimed your interest in a “psycology” major, you really don’t want to call more attention to your goof or annoy the admission folks by adding an extra email to their workload. (However, if you misspelled a CRITICAL word, such as “business,” REPEATEDLY throughout your essay or application, then a brief but humorous correction note would be apt … something along the lines of, “I know that you have other BUSINESS to attend to, and I should probably mind my own BUSINESS, but I noticed an egregious spelling snafu in my personal statement and felt that despite my current BUSY-NESS and yours, I should add a correction and an apology …”).</p>

<p>For other sorts of errors, there can be gray area when deciding whether or not to make a change. For instance, if you said that you volunteered at the soup kitchen for two hours each week, but it’s really two hours each MONTH, then you ought to send a correction. Some colleges do spot check EC reports. But if you really put in two hours a week up until October when your commitment fell off, then you don’t need to amend your initial application. </p>

<p>If you decide that any of your application errors DO require follow-up, you should absolutely do this NO MORE THAN ONCE. Go over your apps with a fine-toothed comb and send corrections via email for only the major mistakes. Never send more than one follow-up message, should you catch even more mistakes later on. There is a difference between showing that you are honest and conscientious versus annoying and obsessive!</p>

<p>I don’t have time to respond personally to all the “Ask the Dean” questions I’m getting about application errors. But if you post your concerns here, you may find that other CC members (including actual college officials) may weigh in and let you know if you should be sending a correction to your colleges or simply sitting on your hands and trying not to freak out.</p>

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<p>I have an ask the Dean question, since you may be in the answering mood. For a variety of reasons, it made sense to apply to some colleges using their paper/Common App during the last week in December. These were colleges not previously discussed with the GC (GCs were out, of course, the last week and no one responded to email). Thus, it is necessary to get these on the list and get the paperwork (transcripts, recs, etc.) sorted out for mailing to the colleges this week and next. I am assuming and hoping that the massive to-the-ceilings stack of mail at colleges at this point will make the colleges generally indifferent that the follow-up school stuff is arriving 2 - 4 weeks after their application deadlines (all of which were met). Am I wrong about that indifference?</p>

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<p>placido240–Please stick to the topic at hand. You can copy and paste your “Ask the Dean” question here: [Ask</a> The Dean at College Confidential.com - College Confidential](<a href=“http://www.collegeconfidential.com/askform.htm]Ask”>http://www.collegeconfidential.com/askform.htm) and I will be on the lookout for it. </p>

<p>Meanwhile, proofread your applications, even if they’ve already been sent, and use THIS thread to ask questions about any errors you may have unearthed.</p>

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<p>These are not so much errors as they are…omissions. For example…</p>

<p>1) I received the Bryn Mawr President’s Book Award, as well as the Swarthmore College Book Award. I was also a Junior Marshal at my school. However, I didn’t include any of these things in the Academic Honors/Achievement sections because I didn’t know how to classify them (or, at least the book awards). I simply forgot about Junior Marshal. </p>

<p>2) My freshman and sophomore year, my magnet program required me to have at least 20 hours of community service each year. However, I’m at a new school now and though I’ve continued doing my community service VOLUNTARILY, I’ve only included my recent volunteer work. All in all, I had about 30-35 hours of community service that I didn’t include from freshman and sophomore year on my common app. And since I can’t remember, the specific agencies I volunteered at back then, I might have to find my magnet director and ask him/her if they’ve saved my records. </p>

<p>So, basically, is it work sending in an Additional Information page to include all these things? I feel like all these hours and accolades are important and could sway my admissions decision if it came down to it.</p>

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<p>I mistakenly put for one of my minor EC’s that I participated for 20 hr/wk for 3 wks instead of 3 hrs/wk for 20 wks… Does anyone think I should contact the schools?</p>

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<p>kgoodwin18–Rather than submitting these awards and events as application errors or omissions, simply send your colleges a resume that includes them. I’m a big fan of what I call the “annotated activities list.” This is sort of like a resume on steroids … i.e., it includes brief explanations (a sentence or so) of your various endeavors. You don’t need to provide this sort of explanation for EVERY item on the list … only for those that aren’t self-explanatory or where you have put in atypical effort that might not be obvious from the listing alone. (This can also be a handy place to toss in a touch of humor here and there.) </p>

<p>The two book awards are impressive and colleges should see them. The “Junior Marshal” is a good example of an entry that requires a brief explanation because many admission folks won’t know what you mean.</p>

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<p>That’s a good idea! Thanks Sally_Rubenstone. Just one more question: I actually think I have the organizations where I volunteered in the 9th and 10th grade. I just don’t have the hours. Do you think this would be okay with colleges?</p>

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<p>kgoodwin18–A ballpark estimate of the hours is all that colleges want. You should be able to remember if you volunteered a couple hours a week or a couple hours a month, etc. If your hours were variable, just average them out. </p>

<p>HatesScreenNames–If your “20-hour per week” activity took place during the school year, admission officials will probably figure out that you made a mistake. Unless this was a very recent activity or unless you find OTHER mistakes on your applications that should be corrected, too, you can let this one go.</p>

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<p>Thank you, Sally! The activity was during the school year, and it was a peer tutoring group that I formed, so I thought they’d figure it out… But thanks, I was getting a little paranoid ;)</p>

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<p>Would it be a good idea to send in this annotated resume along with my mid-year report to save postage money? Also (sorry for all the questions, but I promise this is the last one), in my middle school years, I was named a Duke TIP Scholar. However, upon entering high school, I’ve received no other information or news from this program. Could I still include it in my resume. </p>

<p>OH, just remembered something! I attended Notre Dame’s Seminar for African-American Scholars and Windows on Williams, a program for Williams College. I’m applying to both of these schools, they probably have record of these programs. But to other schools, would these things matter? Both programs required an application, essays, test scores, etc. and were selective.</p>

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<p>Would it be a good idea to send in this annotated resume along with my mid-year report to save postage money? Also (sorry for all the questions, but I promise this is the last one), in my middle school years, I was named a Duke TIP Scholar. However, upon entering high school, I’ve received no other information or news from this program. Could I still include it in my resume. </p>

<p>OH, just remembered something! I attended Notre Dame’s Seminar for African-American Scholars and Windows on Williams, a program for Williams College. I’m applying to both of these schools, they probably have record of these programs. But to other schools, would these things matter? Both programs required an application, essays, test scores, etc. and were selective.</p>

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<p>I talked about a school’s international RELATIONS major when they only have an international STUDIES major. How big of a deal is that? Should I try to fix it?</p>

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<p>^
I’d argue that that’s basically the same thing and can be chalked up to a somewhat minor typo. I wouldn’t bother correcting that. They’ll know what you mean.</p>

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<p>One of my Common App essay’s sentences lacks a phrase. It reads something like: “No longer worried about mistakes, . I found that music, etc. etc.”
It really disrupts the flow of the essay, and kind of leaves a bit of information out. Should I email the admissions with the corrected sentence?</p>

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<p>For my common essay, I misspelled the word “available”. I have no idea how. I’ve only sent applications out to a fraction of my colleges, so is it possible to fix this mistake for ones I haven’t sent it to yet?</p>

<p>For my Yale supplement, I wrote “it’s” instead of “its” twice. I can’t get over it. I was doing all of my essays on Google Docs, and only after I saw them on Microsoft Word yesterday did I realize. My jaw dropped, I have no idea how I allowed such stupid mistakes to slip…</p>

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<p>@kgoodwin18</p>

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<p>Yep</p>

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<p>Ordinarily I discourage using middle school endeavors in college resumes, but TIP is a well-respected program and your participation as a middle-schooler does show that you were qualified for–and interested in–this level of academic challenge at a early age. So go ahead and include it under a “Summer Activities” heading but don’t devote a lot of space to it (i.e., no annotations … admission folks will recognize it).</p>

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<p>These programs are basically recruitment events for the sponsoring colleges. Even though OTHER colleges realize that you’re applying elsewhere, there’s no need to rub it in their faces. So I suggest that you customize your resume for Williams and ND. Include their programs on their respective resumes but don’t share the info with other schools. (However, if you do end up sharing it, no biggie.)</p>

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<p>xenophilia-I agree with RedSeven. In a perfect world you would have caught that small error before you sent the app, but it’s no big deal, and to correct it at this point would probably just make you look a bit obsessive. Keep in mind also that, at most colleges, half the admission staff won’t know the official name of the program either. ;)</p>

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<p>valoriane–Here are instructions on making changes to the Common App after you’ve already submitted it.</p>

<p>From the Common App instructions:</p>

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<p>Depending on exactly where in your app you misspelled “available,” a new version may not be worth the hassle.</p>

<p>Re your Yale snafu … not ideal but not a deal-breaker either. Don’t worry about it.</p>

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<p>smashedpumpkin65–</p>

<p>I don’t see enough of the essay here to evaluate the extent of your error. Maybe you can add more, or perhaps another CC member gets what you’re saying and can advise.</p>

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<p>Hi! I’ve filled 2 fields wrong in my application.

  1. In the ‘Earnings towards’ blank, I filled in ‘towards coll fees, coll fund, and so on’.
  2. In the Awards section, I meant to write that I was the editor of my school and college English paper, but the description just reads ‘Editor - sasad’.</p>

<p>These were the last 2 changes to my application and I’m guessing they weren’t saved, I don’t know why.
Is it worth sending a message to the Admissions Counsellor asking him to please change these fields? Or will he just be peeved?</p>