Hi Sally,
I made an error on my common app and am unsure if it warrants a letter to admissions. When changing the order of activities around, I accidentally put for two different clubs that I was in them for 4 years instead of 3. I’m not even sure one of the club has been at my school for 4 years. Luckily I caught this mistake and only sent it to one school, but I’m worried about being blacklisted over this careless error, so should I send a letter to admissions?
@knowlege557 -Let this go. Don’t bother the admission folks with such a minor change. But if you should have contact with an admissions staff member (or alum interviewer) for ANOTHER, more critical reason, you can mention it then.
@Sally_Rubenstone For one of my honors, I accidentally put that I was honored the award at a national level instead of putting “school.” Is that something I should correct? Thank you!
@tetrislife10 -You should probably let this go. Those honors designations can be confusing, and I’m sure that students screw them up all the time, and the college folks are pretty good at figuring out what their applicants really meant.
BUT … it would be helpful to know exactly the mistake you made. For instance, if your award was “Math Student of the Year,” then landing this award in your school is certainly very different than being the best math student in the entire country! And that would warrant a quick correction. On the other hand, if you said, “Dean’s List” was a national award, the admission committees will understand for sure that it was really just a school honor.
@Sally_Rubenstone It was an academic excellence award for math. Thanks for your help!
My parents are separated, but share my house for economics and me. I put grandmas address on the common app for my dad, to avoid confusion. Should I change that?
@tetrislife10 -I think that the college staff will realize that you got a standard school award and aren’t going to give it more than a nanasecond’s notice. You don’t have to send a separate correction for this, but if you should happen to be corresponding or talking with an admission official about a more consequential matter, you can mention it. Otherwise, let it go.
@adslmt -
If you applied for financial aid, you will want your Common App info to be consistent with your financial aid form info.
Here are a few questions. You can answer them in a private message, if you prefer:
-Are your parents legally separated? (Parents who are informally–not legally–separated are usually treated just like legally separated or divorced parents in the financial aid process, assuming that they don’t live under the same roof. BUT … if your parents are NOT legally separated and still living in the same house, then the financial aid process will treat them as if they are married.)
-Did you apply for financial aid (or do you plan to)?
-If so, do your colleges require only the FAFSA or do they require the CSS Profile (or any other form), too?
-If you applied for aid, which parent did you claim as your custodial parent with whom you spend at least 51% of your time? (When colleges use just the FAFSA, they will look only at the income of the parent with whom the child resides more than half the time. Ideally, the student can claim the “poorer” of their two parents on the FAFSA.)
-If you listed your dad on any of your financial aid forms, did you use Grandma’s address there too?
While I am a big fan of honesty in the admissions process, your situation is uncommon and–as you’ve noted yourself–potentially confusing to admission folks. So the more I know about it, the better I can advise you and help you get the financial aid that you qualify for, if you’re applying for it in the first place.
Thanks for your response. How do I private message? Anyway, yes most of my schools require CSS profile, which we have not yet submitted, only because of the address question. They are not “legally” separated, but have not filed taxes together for years. (Head of Household and single) Also, on the CSS, my dad collects social security for me until I’m 18. Soc Sec expects us to live in the same household… They are both employed and earn about the same amount of money.
Sally Mom didn’t put the soc sec on the FAFSA or any untaxed income. Does that need to be corrected if we put it on the CSS?
@adslmt -Your situation is complex and I don’t feel qualified to give you advice about it. But there are a few things that I CAN say that might help:
- Colleges that require the CSS Profile will consider the assets of BOTH parents when making financial aid determinations so there is no advantage to claiming that you live with one parent and not the other.
- If you were to report that your parents are separated but not "legally" separated, your parents will not be considered separated for aid purposes if they are under the same roof. But, as I said just above, with Profile colleges, that doesn't matter anyway.
- If you were to report that your dad does NOT live with you, and if there were to be some financial advantage to that (e.g., if some of your colleges are FAFSA only and would thus consider only your mother's income), the college may ask you for proof that your father lives separately ... such as utility bills in his name at a different address.
So, given all of this plus the fact that Social Security expects you to live with your dad, I think it makes sense to take the honesty-is-the-best policy approach and report that your dad’s address is the same as yours and your mom’s. If you want, you can send a letter to each college that explains your atypical living situation although it probably won’t have an impact on your financial aid award unless there is some reason why your parents have much higher expenses living as a separated couple in the same house than they would if they were married. But, again, I’m not a financial advisor so I’m not qualified to give you the best possible financial counsel.
What I CAN tell you, however, is how to send a Private Message. 
Just click on the user name of the recipient and when you get to the next screen, you’ll see a box that says, “Message,” and when you click on that, you’ll land on a screen where you can type and send your PM.
Sally,
I am an international student and have already sent my application though with the wrong address. Please advice.
Thank You
Bhavya
@Bhavya1705 -Do you mean that you put a wrong home address on your application or did you SEND a snail-mailed application to the wrong address? I assume that you meant that you put an incorrect address for yourself on your application. If that’s true, you should email the admission office right away. Direct your email to the staff member who oversees international applicants. (If there’s more than one, find out who oversees applicants from your country.) You should also Cc the college’s main email address.
Sally,
On the education section of the Commonapp, I entered 06/2017 as the date of entry for my current school, but it’s actually 06/2016. Is that a major problem? Should I write correction emails to the colleges I applied to?
@juliuscesar2000 -No, don’t bother. Your transcript should be accurate and the admission officials probably won’t even notice the discrepancy.
Hi Sally,
My D’s midyear report doesn’t match her list of senior year classes on the common app. An online AP class got reported late and listed on her midyear report as semester 2 due to a deadline miscommunication and a teacher change.
Also, she is taking PE online starting 2nd semester, but she listed it as semester 1 and 2 on the common app because it is a full year class (this was only for 2 schools).
Should she contact the schools and explain this, I think her GC already sent the midyear reports a week ago?
@SnowFern -It never hurts to make sure that the classes listed on an application match the transcript and/or mid-year report. So your daughter can send a brief explanatory email to any colleges that received incorrect or confusing information. If the discrepancy had only involve the PE class, I’d say to leave it alone. But since the admission committees may not be clear about when she took the online AP course, I think that a quick correction is in order. This isn’t a big deal in the least. Neither the error nor the correction will have any negative impact on your daughter’s admission verdicts. But, as minor as the changes are, I still think they’re worth sending.
Hi, @Sally_Rubenstone I was looking back on my northeastern application and in one of my activities I accidentally left a sentence open ended. I ended it with “as well as”. should I contact Admissions to correct this? thanks
@xEggo5x -Leave this alone UNLESS the sentence should have ended with something like, “as well as ***winning the Nobel Peace Prize.” *** 
In my common app, I accidentally left my time spent in the us as 16 years with 0 years outside the us, however I am currently 18 and I have spent all my years in the us. Do you think its worth it to point this out? thank you!