Correcting application errors after submission … or not

I don’t think that the Common App does a very good job of telling students to list activities in order of importance. Yes, the instruction IS there, but it’s not clearly stated and can get lost in the shuffle of the gazillion other application instructions that are foisted on Common App newbies.

So although I believe in minimizing post-application follow-up, I also believe that it’s fine to send a separate resume to all colleges that accept one (which is most). Thus, a student who has made errors on the activities section of the Common App can correct them to some extent by submitting a snail-mail resume to admission offices. The resume can include a brief cover note explaining that the application activities were not in the correct order of most-to-least importance. Then the activities can be listed in that order OR the student can use another method (e.g., asterisks) to indicate the most meaningful activities.

The resume would, of course, also correct other errors (dates, time commitment, etc.). The cover note can state that, if admission officials find inconsistencies between the information on the Common App and the information on the resume, they should consider the resume information to be accurate.

In general, admission folks are far more flexible and compassionate than many high school students might suspect. But what you DO want to avoid is sending multiple follow-up messages with corrections or ANY corrections that seem hair-splitting.

Hello,
I made some very silly errors in my application. I called my mom(single parent) a Mr. instead of Ms. I repeated “is to” in a part of my additional information section. And I forgot a period at the very last sentence for my additional information essay. I used preformed instead of “performed” in an activity. For a favorite book, I made an error in the title. It’s supposed to be “Sunday You…” instead of “Sunday You’ll”
I focused on reviewing my supplemental essays and my common app essays, and im 99% percent sure I caught all all obvious errors in them. Can’t say the same for the other parts. Will the above mentioned errors and similar impede my chance at highly selective( top 10) schools? How closely do Admission counselors read the application outside main essays, the activities section, and test scores? Do any of my mistake requite an email? I feel like I didn’t make any error that would affect the meaning of what I was trying to say, and I avoided fatal grammatical errors, but can’t be sure when it comes to selective schools.

@Sally_Rubenstone
Thank you so much for the advice! Do you think emailing the colleges a separate resume and explaining my mistakes in the email will be fine also? That’s faster than snail-mail.

Are my mistakes fatal though? I just don’t want them to think I was lying about my participation years (if they ever do call and verify, but isn’t that unlikely? My activity was only volunteer work).

I listed one of the quiz bowl awards I received from the wrong tournament(IE USF Open instead of Riverdale Invite), should I email them the correction?

@drblack–Definitely let this stuff go. If you aren’t admitted to your favorite colleges, it won’t be because of these small errors, I assure you.

@singgus–Different colleges accept unsolicited materials in different ways. You can start with an email if you wish but check your inbox for a reply that may include instructions to send your resume via snail mail or to a new email address. Your mistakes are not fatal and the admission folks are not going to think that you were lying, so relax.

@AnnieBot–Sorry, I don’t know anything about quiz bowl. If the Riverdale Invite is some huge deal to win (like the World Series or Nobel Prize of quiz bowls) and the one you wrote down is small potatoes, then I guess an emailed correction is appropriate. But if both of the competitions are even roughly comparable, you should most definitely do nothing.

I also have a schedule change to report. Can I do it on the same page?

Perfect. A schedule change is a more legit reason to contact colleges. So you can make the schedule change the main topic of your email and then add the quiz bowl snafu.

@Sally_Rubenstone‌ Thank you so much for always replying. I really appreciate the advice.

Hello,

I asked you few days ago about having too many activity hours on the Common Application, and I just found out why I did. I didn’t know that you weren’t supposed to put the class hours on the activities, which is why I put 9 hours per week for Choir and 20 hours per week for robotics, because I included 9 hours in class rehearsal for Choir and 5 hours in class for robotics. So, outside of school, I only spend 2 hours per week for Choir and 15 hours per week for Robotics, which brings down my hours by 13 hours and bring me into 39 hours per week for my ECs, which is fairly understandable. Do you think I should email this to the colleges now that I know why? Thank you

How big of a deal is it that I forgot to mention marching band which involves four years commitment, leadership, and a varsity letter? I did not have it down for two of my top choices which I already submitted, but added it for my 3rd and 4th choice colleges.

I have other leadership, and I don’t know why I didn’t fill out a box for it, but I’m worried that it won’t be another point in my favor for my top choice schools.

@wowhopling‌ -I suppose that a very BRIEF email explaining your miex-up is appropriate. Your mistake is an easy one to make. This process is very confusing. So admission folks won’t hold it against you but it may be helpful for them to get a quick clarification.

@NotSteveBuscemi‌ – It’s hard to respond to this without knowing where you applied and knowing which OTHER activities are on your application. At the most sought-after colleges, being in band is very routine and probably won’t turn any heads. So if the band slot on your Common App was instead given to a more atypical activity, you’re probably in better shape than if you’d included band. But if band has played an important role in your life, or if your application didn’t include any significant entries in its place, then it’s unfortunate that you forgot it. In such cases, you might want to try something “cute” in order to update colleges. For instance, take a photo of your instrument, whatever it is, and add a sad face and some tears to it, with a caption that says something like, “He forgot me.” Then write a very short note explaining your omission, and then email it to those two top colleges.

I actually emailed some schools about another issues few days ago… Should I not email those schools since you stated in the earlier part of this thread that I should do a follow up ONLY ONCE?
Thank you so much.

The Common App. didn’t allow me to list all of my classes that I would be taking second semester, and I thought against putting the rest of them in the Additional Information section because I thought it wasn’t really important because I’m sending them my transcript anyways.

However, I have just recently realized that I didn’t include two one semester classes I will be taking next year, AP US Gov’t and DE Comp 2, and that obviously colleges would have no way to tell that I am taking these classes. What is especially problematic then is that it looks like I’ve only taken a single semester of English this year, when basically all colleges require 4 years.

Should I just send all of my colleges an email saying I wasn’t able to include all of my classes and that I’m taking those two additional ones? Would they accept that? Thanks

@wowhopling‌ --You’ve got my head spinning. I can’t keep track of what you’ve sent and haven’t. So make your own decision based on the theory that you really need to leave the admission folks alone unless you have some significant news to report or have made an application error that is fairly egregious.

@finddining-Will all of your classes be on your transcript? If so, let it go. If not (i.e., if you’re worried that the Dual Enrollment class won’t be on the transcript) you can send the message you suggested saying that you couldn’t fit all your classes on the Common App.

@Sally_Rubenstone‌

I applied to UC Berkeley and UCLA and they only let me list 5 activities and 5 awards, but people usually tend to sneak in some awards in their activities descriptions. I have some science awards and community projects I didn’t list. Should I send them a resume?

In one essay, I repeatedly said “musical interest” when it’s supposed to be “musical interests”

should I send a correction?

@drblack‌ --No!! It would hurt more than help at this point. Don’t worry.

@Sally_Rubenstone‌ thank you. but just an honest opinion, is that an error that will really stand out?

Nope. It won’t stand out at all.

I made a mistake by checking “no” to “Is English your primary language?” Does this affect my application negatively? Should I send a follow-up e-mail to the admissions officer clarifying that I made a mistake?