@Candy Man-Duke defers and denies strong applicants for countless reasons. However, the reason you’ve described will not be one of them. If you are not accepted at Duke, it won’t be cause of this. If you included in the very brief essay how you can contribute to Duke, this does–in fact–show a way (or ways) that Duke is a good match.
Best of luck!
Thank you so much Sally!
We need people like you to guide us.
I just have a couple of more queries.
Why have you chosen to apply to X University? Or Why X University? Is it ok to keep a paragraph on what I can contribute to the university in addition to the paragraphs about the specific programs that interest me at the university or would you advise against doing this?
For example, can I also do this for Northwestern’s supplemental essay prompt:
“Other parts of your application give us a sense for how you might contribute to Northwestern. But we also want to consider how Northwestern will contribute to your interests and goals.
In 300 words or less, help us understand what aspects of Northwestern appeal most to you, and how you’ll make use of specific resources and opportunities here.”
However, just to let you know, Northwestern had mentioned the following regarding this essay prompt:
“This question is intentionally open-ended. You may choose one or several aspects of Northwestern to focus your writing, though the majority of the essay’s content should relate to your own interests or experiences.”
Please let me know and thanks again in advance!
@Candy Man. Here are your answers:
For a “Why this college?” essay, it can be worthwhile to include what you can contribute there but ONLY iif it’s said in such a way that it becomes pertinent to the institution in question and not to pretty much ANY college. For example, if you were to say, “I have had a lot of experience working with abandoned animals, and I would like to start a campus group of students who help with rescue animals,” this doesn’t offer any particular reason why THIS school is the right place for you. But if, instead, you were to say, “I have had a lot of experience working with abandoned animals and I read that a campus organization was founded last year for this purpose and that the campus is walking distance from two animal shelters that draw student volunteers …” then it would be an appropriate and helpful response.
No. Leave it alone. This will will not look like a lie and it will not jeopardize your acceptance.If you don’t get in, this won’t be the reason.
Hi Sally. Thank you for your response.
I know I’m gonna sound pretty stupid right now, but for the “Why Northwestern” supplemental essay prompt, I had kept a paragraph on what I can contribute to Northwestern university in addition to the paragraphs about the specific programs that interest me at the university (I only did this kind of a mistake for the Duke and Northwestern supplements I submitted a few days ago, and I really feel bad about it. I will never ever repeat this kind of mistake again).
So should I call the admissions office and tell them that I want to submit a revised essay, since there is still time till the application deadline? Would my chances at Northwestern be jeapordized because of this?
Really sorry for asking this kind of a question.
Please let me know and thanks in advance!
Hi Sally, If you get deferred from a school could you send in update portions of your application with any errors fixed?
@Candy Man–Please try to relax. Without seeing your actual Duke and Northwestern essays, they sound okay to me and won’t have any negative impact on your decisions. Don’t contact Northwestern and don’t obsess over this “mistake” (which really isn’t a mistake) any further!
@Johnk24-When a student is deferred by an Early Action/Decision school, then an Update letter is appropriate. This is usually best sent in late January when you may have actually had a chance to do something new and different that wasn’t on your original application. But an Update letter is generally NOT used to resubmit any parts of your application or to correct errors. (Egregious errors … such as a mistyped Social Security number … should be corrected right away but the majority of errors should be left alone.)
Using your Update letter to fix errors from your initial application sounds like a bad idea, but I can’t say for sure without knowing what those errors are. The letter certainly shouldn’t be used to correct spelling or grammar mistakes nor for amending piddling mistakes elsewhere in the application (e.g., “I wrote down that I spent 8 hours a week on Debate but it’s really more like 10.”)
If, however, you feel you made a “mistake” by not thoroughly explaining an unusual activity, research project etc. or if there’s some extenuating circumstance in your life that you didn’t originally disclose but want to reveal now, then those sorts of “mistakes” can be explained in the Update Letter. But admission officials definitely do NOT want to know how many times you wrote “it’s” when you meant “its” in your essay or that your soccer season was really five months and not four!
Good luck!!
Hello Sally,
I see that you have been really helpful to others, so I wanted your input on a mistake I made on my common app.
On one of my writing supplements for USC, the conclusion sentence was left unfinished because for some reason it did not save. It ended with ", I hope to " . I am so mad that I did not catch this earlier. Do you think I should resend them the essay or contact the admissions office?? Or would it make me look worse? I appreciate the help.
Thank you
Liz
@lizzz16 -Can you post the entire final paragraph here (or send me the whole essay via Private Message)? I’d need to see your goof in context before weighing in. I might just tell you to do nothing. Admission officials speed-reading applications may not even notice the mistake. Or if the missing words are fairly inconsequential, it’s not a good idea to bother the admission folks with a correction. An example of “inconsequential” would be something like this:
*My goal in life is to study biochemistry at USC and then go to medical school, eventually joining a team of scientists researching childhood cancers. I hope to [reach this goal]. *
But if I see your omission in context and it looks critical, I will suggest that you send a correction.
here is the last chunk of my paragraph…
USC can help me broaden my problem-solving, communication, and clinical skills. My second- choice major is Health and Humanity also offers different volunteering experiences, study abroad programs, and internships. If I am given the chance, I hope to
that is where i didn’t finish. so you are saying to leave it like that?
What is the actual ending … what do you hope to do? What words were cut off?
"…pursue my goal of becoming a pediatric nurse practitioner through one of these majors at USC. "
this is what I had originally added.
@lizzz16–I really don’t think it will affect your admission decision one way or the other if you send a correction or not. But since it’s clearly bothering you, I think that the best route is to CAREFULLY PROOFREAD your entire essay and then send it via email to your regional admissions rep at USC, with a Cc to the main admissions address. BRIEFLY explain that, after the application was submitted, you saw that the final sentence of your essay had been cut off, so you are resending it in its entirety. Also apologize for the inconvenience.
ok thank you so much for the help!! really lifted a weight off my shoulders.
Hello!
Sorry to be a pain, but I also have a few errors that I’m fretting over as well. For all the schools that accepted resumes, I erroneously sent in a draft version that did not have my most recent years of participation. Though I don’t think this was a terribly significant mistake, I did send emails to 2 colleges explaining the situation and attached new versions.
HOWEVER, I was stupid and copy pasted my emails for both. For Northwestern, I said that “I uploaded my resume in the additional information section under the writing supplement, but I now realize…” The problem is that Northwestern has neither an additional information section nor a writing supplement. Ha! Now I’m worried that they’ll know I was careless and just copied an email from another school without catching this mistake. Is there anything I can do about this? I appreciate your time!
@troublemint–In a perfect world, you would’ve been more attentive to detail–both when you sent the resume draft by mistake and then when you cut and pasted the wrong email for Northwestern. BUT … ultimately, none of this will affect your admission chances. The college folks move quickly through applications and aren’t going to be focusing on what you said in your email. If you’re not accepted, it won’t be because of this. So just use this as a life lesson and try to be less sloppy the next time, but–with any luck–you may never face any process that’s as frustrating and unnecessarily demanding as the college admissions process.
Dear Sally,
My son noticed when reviewing his Common App Geography section that he entered “17” under both the “Number of Years you have lived in the US” AND the “Number of Years you have lived Outside the US.” While this seems like a minor error that AdComm people should be able to figure out, I am concerned they might think he is an international student. He did designate his US birthplace and that he is a “US citizen or US National.” Any need to contact AO’s for the apps he sent in before discovering this error?
Thank you for all your wisdom.
@CollegeOdyssey2001 -This one is too close to call. As you said yourself, the college folks are going to figure it out. But, on the other hand, they may be at least temporarily confused by your son’s responses. So it were MY son, I think I’d have him email a quick correction to every college that received the mistake. But, before he does, both of you should go through the application again with a fine-toothed comb to make sure that there aren’t any OTHER mistakes worth correcting, If there are, you want to be sure that your son takes care of all the goofs at once and isn’t in a position where he needs to send yet ANOTHER correction.
Alternatively, if his school counselor is going to send a Mid-Year report to these colleges next month, you can ask him/her to insert the correction there (e.g., “Herman told me that he erroneously answered ‘17’ both times when asked on his application how long he’d lived in and outside of the U.S. He’d meant to say '0” to the latter, though I suspect he does fantasize about living abroad one day!")
Dean Sally,
Thank you for you wisdom and responsiveness. S19 emailed the colleges sent the wrong geographic info the day you replied. We've already heard back from one LAC director of International Recruitment that they got the update. Based on the title of the director, it seems like at they coded him as an international student, so I am glad we corrected that mis-impression.
Hi Sally
Our S19 took an SAT in August of his junior year and scored high enough to be one and done He was also required by our state to take the SAT in April for graduation purposes. (The state doesn’t allow you to substitute another test date for this requirement.) He didn’t do the essay section on the Aug test because none of his schools require it We knew we would only use that Aug score and he didn’t bother to brush up before the April school testing day.
He did fine on the April test, just 30 points lower (1540 vs 1510) but, as planned, he just sent the first score to his schools via the Common App. There’s a question on the CA, though, that asks if you took the essay. He did indeed take the essay part on the April test but he marked “no” on the CA. I don’t think he thought it through all that much. He just meant that he didn’t take the essay on the only test we ever intended to send. All of his schools have score choice and none required the essay. Do you think it’s a big deal that he didn’t mark “yes” on that question? I guess he could have marked “yes” and just self reported the score but I don’t think he saw the point since his schools don’t use it. I just saw a thread on CC where one poster said that it’s kind of lying that he marked “no”.
I’m not particularly worried as he didn’t purposely leave it out. I think he just kind of read the question wrong and thought it meant “did he write the essay on the test he’s submitting”. Thoughts?