Hi Sally,
On my EA app to Harvard, I forgot to indicate that I had to drop Spanish NHS in senior year because we had to take a Spanish class to continue in the club. Thus, my CA just shows me in Spanish NHS from 10th to 11th and dropping in 12th grade. Should I make a correction and will this affect chances?
Thanks!!
@fedfan1998 --NOoooo!!! Don’t bother Harvard with this. It will have no impact on any admissions outcome.
Hi Sally,
I’ve heard back from a few schools already so this is more out of curiosity, but I’d still love to know your opinion.
So a few months ago when I was sending SAT scores the College Board’s system malfunctioned without me realizing so and would not let me do score choice. The next morning I called in a panic and I was told that they would consider cancelling my scores because I had called so quickly. A week later they phoned telling me they had canceled my scores and credited me the money to resend them. That night I went on, used score choice, double checked it, triple checked it, and then finally sent me scores to my colleges of choice.
A few weeks later when viewing an application portal I was able to see all the scores received by the particular school I was viewing, and they had received every single score, even the ones I had chosen not to send. Of course I then called the College Board once again and was told I was mistaken, that I had not had my scores cancelled and I had not chosen score choice ever. I was told there was nothing they could do. This is wrong though. I have the voicemail of them telling me they had cancelled my scores plus I have all the email correspondences showing I chose score choice the second time around.
I know originally I was lucky for them to even consider cancelling my scores, but I’m still annoyed as to what has happened. When this originally occurred I figured it was best to not say anything to my colleges and bring more light to the scores I had not wished to send. I was also told that the reps would probably not even see my worst scores as a secretary often sorts papers before they see anything. Is this true and was this the best decision?
Thank you in advance!
@CathJR -Sorry to hear about your hassles with the College Board. That’s certainly never been my favorite organization to work with either!
I do think that you made the right choice by letting the score-choice snafu go and not calling additional attention to your scores. The colleges will use only your best scores, and–in some cases–only the support staff (secretaries) will even SEE the lowest ones, although in other cases the admission counselors will see them all but will focus on only the top ones. (Different colleges have different application-reading protocol.)
Did this snafu involve just SAT I scores or did it involve Subject Test scores as well?
Dear Sally,
I recently submitted my application about a week ago and for the essay portion of the application it said to choose up to three essays (You can either choose one, two, or three essay prompts to respond to). I chose to do one, but now I am regretting that decision and have already made two other essays (not in a rush of course). Is it fine to give the colleges my two new essays?
It involved both my SAt and Subject Test scores. I was more upset about the Subject Test scores than the one SAT score, but all the same the College Board is frustrating. I’ve heard them referred to as the Evil Empire and I say it fits.
@Drayaud -It’s fine to submit the two additional essays, assuming that the college’s application deadline hasn’t passed. But, if you already submitted your application online, you will have to send in your new essays via email or snail mail. Make sure that you clearly identify yourself (your name, your high school’s name, your home city/state/country) and your applicant ID # if the college has provided one.
@CathJR-The main way that the Subject Test score MIGHT hurt you is if your application and recommendations talk about how great you are in a particular academic area but then you sent in a Subject Test score in that subject and it was lousy. This might undermine your credibility (or your teacher’s credibility) a bit, if you’ve been touted as a brilliant biologist, mathematician, French linguist, etc. but then you scored poorly on the related test.
Oh well it was a poor score on Math 1 and I’ve never claimed to be amazing at math so thank you now I feel better about that 
@CathJr-That’s a good one to screw up if you’re going to have a low score on any of the Subject Tests!
In the Resume for the Graduate School, CU Boulder, I had mentioned that I was taking a few online courses (edX), under the heading, ‘Courses and Certifications’, as (Start Date) - Present. However, I was unable to complete two of them by the deadline, due to a few other commitments.
Does this constitute a major factual “error” in my application?
(I had also mentioned in my SOP that I was ‘pursuing’ the courses at the time of application.)
Hey Sally… I applied to the University of California school system and made a type under my extracurriculars. I put that I participated in track and field for only 2 hours a week for 20 weeks instead of 12 hours a week for 20 weeks. Should I email the colleges to make this correction…?
I have one other question Sally: How long should I wait to resend an email regarding a change to my application? It has been a week and they still haven’t responded yet.
@Drayaud -At this time of year you could wait 3 or so weeks … maybe more with the holidays intervening. And, depending what change you made and how you presented it, you may not hear at ALL. When a student sends new information to a college, the college folks may not necessarily acknowledge it.
Would it be a problem if I called them?
@Suren09 -College officials tend to take it very seriously when a student claims on the application to be taking a course or courses but then withdraws without reporting the change. In many cases, it’s not the withdrawal that can cause problems but the fact that the applicant didn’t report the change. So definitely notify the admission office about the incomplete courses and explain why you were unable to finish. Depending on where these classes fit into your Big Picture, this may affect your admission outcome or not affect it in the least.
@ARey0414 -If you’re not a recruited athlete, this discrepancy will probably mean nothing to admission officials. But if you have time to send off a quick email correcting the error, you may be more comfortable setting the record straight although I doubt that making the change will affect your admission decisions.
@Drayaud–I’m confused …what is the question you have for the admission office? Is it to find out if they received your extra essays? Typically, phone calls to admission offices are not a problem as long as there are not multiple unnecessary ones. Sometimes a phone call is the ONLY way that applicants can determine if critical materials arrived safely.
My question is that if they received my extra essays, exactly like you phrased it.
@Drayaud-I’d suggest waiting until a week or so after the 1st of the year before calling. College admission offices are overwhelmed at this time of year. When was the application deadline for this school and when do you expect to be notified of your decision?