@BellRenjoji -Highly doubtful but it won’t matter if they do. They’ll just assume you used incorrect terminology and not that you were trying to be deceitful. This is not a big deal so let it go!
Ok. Thanks. 
Hi Sally. I just realized I listed the wrong month for when I received an award on my UC app (April instead of May). I know it won’t affect my chances of admission, but it’s just bothering me. Is it worth it to email the admissions office and get it corrected? Thanks!
@worldlymango- PLEASE let this rest. You should NOT bother admission officials with this very, very minor mistake and you will only annoy them if you do. Don’t give it another thought (in other words, it shouldn’t bother YOU either, although I do appreciate your interest in being 100 percent accurate and honest).
Hi Sally. On my common application to USC, I completely forgot to enter my middle school courses and grades. They require an official transcript, also. Do you think I should I email them or let it pass? Thank you in advance!
@Wayback439 -College officials aren’t interested in middle school grades unless “middle school” includes grade 9 (an old-fashioned model that still exists but rarely) or, more commonly, when a student has taken a class for high school credit while still in middle school (typically Algebra 1 or a foreign language).
Usually when a student has taken a middle school class for high school credit, this credit is on the high school transcript. Sometimes the grade is there too; sometimes it isn’t. The colleges don’t care about the grade if the class was done in middle school and it’s almost never factored into the high school GPA.
Even if these classes DON’T appear on the high school transcript, the college admission folks are likely to know that a student took them because they’ll see “Algebra 2” or “Spanish 2” on the high school transcript and thus assume that the first level was completed during middle school.
So … IF you took classes for high school credit while still in middle school and IF these classes aren’t somewhere on your high school transcript (perhaps hiding at the bottom) and IF it won’t be obvious from the transcript that you took the first level of a class in middle school, then you can email your regional admission rep at USC (the staff member who oversees applicants from your high school) and explain which class(es) you took in middle school for high school credit. You can also ask if you need to send a transcript from the middle school but the answer is most likely to be NO.
Those are a lot of “IF’s” so it’s probable that you will have to do nothing!
Thank you so much for the reply, Sally! Sorry for the confusion. I meant to say middle school classes for high school credit. Those classes and their grades are on my transcript. Do you think forgetting to enter these classes would jeopardize my chances of admission, if they see it as not following instructions?
@Wayback439 -Not a problem for you in the least. Forget about this at once!!! ?
Ok. Thank you! ?
Hi Sally,
While filling out the questions section for one of my schools, I put Chemical Science as my major but I wrote about the Chemistry major in the “Why X college?” supp. The Chemical Science major is more flexible with course selection and is meant for students who have interdisciplinary interests, but they both are relatively the same otherwise. Is this a big deal and should I do anything? Thank you in advance!
@waffle281 -Just to clarify …
Do you prefer to major in Chemical Science or in Chemistry?
I prefer to major in Chemistry.
@waffle281 - It might be a little confusing to admission officials when they see that the major you listed on your application is similar but not identical to the one you wrote about in your essay. So send a short email to your regional admission rep (with a Cc to the main admission address) explaining that you want to be a chemistry major but you selected the wrong choice on the application itself.
This is no big deal–certainly nothing to worry about–but it does make sense to provide a clarification.
Hi Sally!
I realized that I made a few errors on my UC app and I was wondering how important/significant they are? I’m intending to call the UC admissions office but since they’re closed on weekends, I’m a bit nervous right now.
First, I forgot to list my planned AP tests on my UC app. Is this a big deal, and do you think they would let me add them to my application if I called? I am planning on taking 5 tests (this matches with all the AP classes I’m taking, except I do not plan on taking the AP Lit exam since I already have AP Lang). Without my planned AP tests, I only have 3 AP tests listed (2 5s and a 4)–is this a big difference?
Second, I didn’t realize that my eighth grade math class (Alegbra 1) counted for high school credit, it totally slipped my mind. I fulfilled the A-G requirements fine without it (4 years of HS math) but should I still ask to add in my application? I got an A all three semesters in it too. I also made the same mistake with omitting this class from my USC application where they ask you to manually input your transcript on the common app. (I submitted my app for USC on Dec 1 for the scholarship deadline) Should I also call the USC admissions office? Also, if I include my eighth grade math class, will I need to send them my middle school transcript as well?
Sorry for all the panicked questions, but thank you in advance!
@chiaseeds -Neither of these small oversights is anything that should keep you awake at night, so I’m sorry that I didn’t get back to you yesterday evening!
You don’t need to call UC or USC but you can email the admission offices with the updates. Colleges prefer to get information in an electronic form, so I only suggest phone calls in certain situations, such as when the issue is urgent or sufficiently sensitive or confusing that it requires direct human interaction. But, in these cases, an email will not only suffice but would be preferable.
Meanwhile, no need to panic!
@Sally_Rubenstone no worries! Thank you so much for the advice!
@Sally_Rubenstone Hi! I had a question about a mistake on my application to UPenn. I was re-reading my ED application to UPenn, and I noticed this question on the common app: “University of Pennsylvania allows submission of an external portfolio so that your special talent in one or more of the arts will be considered as part of the admission process. Do you plan to submit one to University of Pennsylvania?” I’m actually applying to SEAS, and I have no idea why I said Yes to this question… I think I was thinking of submitting my research portfolio, and misread the question. I know this was really stupid on my part, but do you think it will have a big impact on my admission if I put yes and didn’t submit any art portfolio? I did submit my research abstract. Please let me know, and thank you!
@waterbear -Don’t worry. This will have no impact on your decision. You’d be fine if you left it alone, but you can also shoot a brief email to your regional rep that says something like this:
In reviewing my Penn application, I just realized I’d said YES to an arts portfolio submission. I was mistakenly referring to my research abstract, which I did send, so I don’t want you to be looking for artwork, too. (Trust me, you don’t want to see anything artistic that I’ve tried to create!) I apologize for the confusion.
Hi Sally Rubenstone! I had a question about a mistake that I made on my writing supplement that I had submitted to Duke University a few days ago.
One of the Duke short essays asks the following question:
If you are applying to the Trinity College of Arts and Sciences as a first year applicant, please discuss why you consider Duke a good match for you. Is there something particular about Duke that attracts you? (Please limit your response to no more than 150 words.)
In this short essay, I answered the prompt by writing the first paragraph on a particular program at Duke that really interests me. However, in the second paragraph I wrote about how I can contribute to Duke’s commity when that wasn’t asked in the prompt. So technically the second paragraph is off-topic, and I could have instead written the second paragraph about another program that I find interesting at Duke.
I don’t know what kind of an impact this will have on my chances to Duke and what the admissions committee will think about me. So, should I reach out to Duke’s admissions office to ask if I can submit a revised essay that corrects this mistake? Will the Duke admissions committee reject me because of this error?
By the way, I think the other essays I submitted to Duke (the common app essay and another Duke supplemental essay) are pretty good. I just don’t want the admissions committee to have negative thoughts about me because of a mistake I made in one of their short essays.
The application deadline for Duke is quite far (Jan 1) when today is December 11. So the application deadline has not passed yet.
Thank you in advance!