Hi Sally
Let me start by saying Thank you for answering our questions. I think I made a mistake on my common app activity part,I am still confused about it. I participated in a volunteering at 12th grade, so in the how many weeks per year section, I putted what is going to be instead of what I already did. Is that fine? Or should I send an email? Thank you so much
I’m on the road today and checked my mail to see that I’ve gotten a ton of these application-error questions. I’ll try to get to them when I get back to my desk but that won’t be until tomorrow at some point. Some of the errors mentioned in the posts above could probably stand a correction. But none of them are truly egregious so just relax for a day or so and then I’ll reply to each one individually when I get a chance. Meanwhile, although a couple of these may warrant a correction, NONE of them are ultimately going to affect your college verdicts so don’t stress over them!
A bit long here, sorry…It’s about recent or current courses.
Under my education section for my commonapp profile, dumbass me accidentally left out an English class that I was going to take the next semester. So when my counselor sends my transcript, the transcript will have one more english course than I reported (which had none). I also just signed up for two extra classes at my community college next semester, which wasn’t allowed before today, and couldn’t report that on my commonapp either.
As a result, my transcript that the counselor sends will likely look different than the one i reported. Should I email my regional admissions officer about this, or would it be nosy?
Hi Sally,
Thank you so much for answering our questions. I made a typo when entering my senior year coursework on CommonApp. I’m part of the IB Diploma Programme, and I am taking 4 Higher Level courses and only 2 Standard Level courses. My 4th HL course is HL Film.
I accidentally put “SL Film” instead of “HL Film” on my Early Action application to Yale, so admissions officers will think I am only taking 3 SL courses instead of the 4 that I am actually taking. Do you think this is worth emailing the admissions office to explain? I don’t think they’d be able to tell through my transcript, because the transcript doesn’t say HL/SL.
I’m going to tackle a few of these questions right now but I have limited time. So if I don’t get to yours this afternoon, I haven’t forgotten you and I’ll be ba-a-a-a-ck!
@ravensfan8484 … (and everyone else in this situation, which is a common one …)
Do NOT send corrections when you’ve made grammatical errors, typos, and similar small mistakes. In doing so, it’s like you’re suggesting to admission officials, “I didn’t take the time to proof my application carefully, so now I’m asking YOU to take extra time to read this email and then amend my application.”
But don’t beat yourself up over these errors either. Although it would be better to catch them BEFORE submitting an application, they will not make-or-break your admissions outcomes. Keep in mind that the same auto-correct function that’s built into your brain and which allowed you to read over your writing without catching your mistakes is built into admission officials’ brains as well. So, as busy and rushed as they are, then may not even notice many of the mistakes that students are losing sleep over.
@totheplan-Although you can probably tell that I’m not a big fan of sending corrections unless they’re really imperative, 20 hours per week is a big chunk of time for a high school student to be working, and that could jump off the page when admission officials read it, especially when it conflicts with the information on your resume. So send a very short and possibly humorous correction that says something along the lines of, “I just noticed that I’d reported on my application that I work at my Dunkin Donuts job 20 hours per week, and that’s a mistake. It’s really closer to 12 hours per week but, by the time I’ve made my 37tth pumpkin latte, it can certainly FEEL like 20!”
Since you’re writing anyway, you can also stick in a p.s. about your high school entrance date, but otherwise that wouldn’t be worth correcting. The actual information will be on your transcript and that’s what admission officials pay attention to. I bet they won’t even notice the high school start date that you put on your application. Erroneous high school graduation dates, however, are much more confusing to admission folks than start-date snafus are.
@sleeplessmom1 -Get some sleep! 
Your son’s errors are inconsequential, and he can even have some fun correcting the missing-building mistake, if he’s up for it.
For instance, he could send his regional rep a photo of an empty building site like one of these: https://www.google.com/search?q=excavation+site&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjr-6abtI3QAhXnw1QKHTZJDXMQ_AUICCgB&biw=974&bih=527#imgrc=qw1LSL9FtpbolM%3A
Then he can make a little joke like, “In my application essay, I praised the ‘def’ building that I saw on my tour, only realizing afterwards that ‘def’ looks more like this [paste in above picture of bare site] and it was actually abc that I so admired.”
The award date is inconsequential. If it were off by YEARS, it would warrant a correction, but no one will notice a discrepancy of months. But, if he’s writing anyway, he can mention it if he chooses. But I would suggest letting it go.
@annieareyouok -Don’t sweat this one at all. Timing is everything, and admission folks fully realize that the GPA you thought was yours when you filled out your application may vary from the official one that came out a tad later and that your school provides. They will use the official one, and there is no way that they will think you were trying to be dishonest. Really, I promise you that you should not give this another thought.
@thaigirl1–You should probably correct this error because the difference between 6 and 16 hours/week is significant. But I suggest waiting about a week for two reasons. #1–You may unearth another error or two and you definitely don’t want to send more than one correction email #2–Perhaps between now and a week from now you’ll have some good news to report … e.g., you scored the winning goal in the soccer playoffs or you won the all-school spelling bee. Granted, no huge accomplishment is likely in six or seven days after submitting an application but MAYBE something unexpected and positive will come along that can make your email more about that than it is about a little error.
PLAN B: Are you going to have a Harvard interview in the near future? If so, you can mention the correction to your interviewer and then you won’t have to email the admissions office.
As I so often say, little mistakes like this one are better avoided but they ultimately won’t affect your future.
@andrerobertmd -At the exalted Stanford level, the Science Olympiad does not warrant a correction email (ditto the Astronomy award) but it actually might be useful to tell the Stanford folks about the SAT date change, in case they’re looking for new scores for you before they finalize their verdict. So … as long as you’re writiing anyway to notify them of the testing change, you can toss in the omissions as well. 
@jas1999-Are you applying to universities that rely only on students’ self-reported transcripts or has your school counselor sent your official transcript to your colleges … or will soon? If the latter, just let this go. It’s not a big deal at all because the colleges will use your school’s transcript and not whatever you put on your application.
But if you’re applying to a university that doesn’t require an official transcript until after your decision has been made, then just send a quick email to the admission office with the additional information. Trust me, this is NOT a big deal, or really ANY deal. If you don’t get good news from your top-choice college, I promise you that it won’t be because of this small oversight. So relax!
@ZZHA8608 -I advise seniors to list the number of weeks that they have ALREADY participated in an activity and not what they PLAN to do. BUT … since it’s just the start of your senior year, if you wrote down that you’re doing your volunteer work for, say, 25 weeks in 12th grade, the admission committees will totally understand what you mean. So definitely leave it alone. This is nothing to stress over.
@marccoreus11 - Admission officials will go with what your counselor reports but since your actual schedule is going to be very different than what you wrote on your application, I think it also makes sense to list all your 2nd semester classes in an email and then send it to any colleges you’ve already applied to. This will make it easier for the college staff when they see that your list and the counselor’s coincide. You can also mention in your note that you submitted the application before you were permitted to register for the college classes.
Yes, do correct the error in an email. College folks are understandably invested in knowing exactly which classes their applicants are taking. So, because the admission officials won’t have an accurate picture of your HL vs SL classes from your transcript, I think you’d be wise to provide a correction.
Phew! Taking a break. Did I miss anyone?
@Sally_Rubenstone - Thank you so much. DS was in a state of panic yesterday and spoke to his counselor. His counselor also agreed that he shouldn’t worry about it and to just let it go.
Ok thank for your response!
Hi Sally,
I sent in my application early decision to a college, but I realized I forgot to put in my social security number. It is on my financial aid application - though I am not expecting anything -but also on my FAFSA as well. Should I still send it in to the college? And if so, how? Thanks!
@Seirien -Social Security numbers can be very important to admission offices so a correction is needed here. Although you’ve already put your SS# on your FAFSA, colleges can use SS#'s to match up FAFSA’S with applications. So you should send your SS# to the admission office right away. If you are comfortable emailing it, then just put it in an email to the main admission email address today with a Cc to your regional rep if you know who that is or can find the name easily on the Web site. If you’re more comfortable doing this via telephone, make the call tomorrow (Monday).
Hi Sally,
The only thing that I found wrong on my application to college is that I listed my mom’s occupation as a “personal banker” instead of a “universal banker”. Both are different positions where she works, so should I send an email clarifying the name?