My question is only tangentially related to this thread, but I don’t know how to do a PM on this website, and you’re very active + helpful here. Hope this is okay!
I was wondering if I should send an update to my colleges regarding some recent academic developments: I was the top overall academic decathlon scorer in my state, winning the state championship with 7 gold medals and 3 silver medals, I was promoted to the rank of National Merit Finalist, and I began an internship (non-competitive/non-prestigious) in a field related to my major.
Considering that I may be an on-the-fence applicant at some of my reach schools, I was hoping you could let me know whether these accomplishments warrant update letters.
@applicant7715 -It’s very late to be sending updates to your colleges, so these updates would be best saved for a “Letter of Continued Interest” if you’re put on any waitlists.
However, IF your Academic Decathlon success was actually an INDIVIDUAL victory, then you can send that news now. but usually this competition is for teams. So, if that’s true for you, savor the victory but don’t share it just yet.
@Sally_Rubenstone For decathlon, the medals I won and my individual score (state high score) are all individual awards. With that in mind, should I send all of this information as an update now, save all of it for if I’m waitlisted, or send only the news about decathlon now?
@applicant7715 -Congrats! Sure, send the update about your decathlon success, explaining clearly that these were indeed INDIVIDUAL awards.
Save the other info for an update letter should be be waitlisted somewhere. It’s all good stuff but won’t really move the needle at highly selective colleges, especially at this late date.
But if you need to lobby for acceptance from a waitlist, you’ll want to have SOMETHING new to include, and your internship and National Merit status will be decent information to add.
@Sally_Rubenstone Hi Sally, I’m a transfer applicant so my apps were due a few days ago. But I accidentally uploaded a draft to all of the schools I applied to. I emailed all schools and uploaded the final drafts to where it was appropriate. But I’m still worried… the draft was really bad and some paragraphs made no sense, hence the reason I completely trashed it. How closely will they look at the draft essay and how much will it affect my decisions? Thank you so much!
@breezycola -The mistake you made (submitting a draft to colleges instead of the final essay) is actually a fairly common one. So admission folks are accustomed to receiving, “Never mind” messages with a request to sub in the REAL essay for the one sent earlier in error … and then they do.
Thus, as long as you clearly notified your colleges of your mistake and emailed the final draft, you should have nothing to worry about, and this screw-up shouldn’t affect your admission outcomes.
Admission officials probably will not read your draft at all, although this may depend on the protocol a college uses to evaluate applicants (i.e., when and how writing submissions are attached to the rest of the application). But even if your draft IS read, followed by the REAL version, you won’t be judged on the draft. The only way that this mistake MIGHT hurt you is if your draft suggests that you are a poor writer but then the final version appears to be VERY HEAVILY edited by a professional–to the point where the language and maybe even the ideas don’t seem to be your own.
Was your final draft heavily edited by someone else?
@Sally_Rubenstone it wasn’t. In my final draft, I completely redid the two middle paragraphs and fixed grammar issues. I kept the same writing style. Thank you so much for the reassurance!!
@breezycola–Ordinarily I’d say you have nothing to worry about. BUT … due to these crazy times, and with most admission officials now working from home, you want to make certain that your updated essay (the real version, not the draft) was received by the folks who will be reading it. If you sent it via email to the main admissions address and did not receive an acknowledgement from an actual person (as opposed to an auto-reply) you might want to try emailing it directly to the admissions staff member who oversees transfer applications. Often these names and contact info are right on the college’s website.
@Sally_Rubenstone ok. I’ve had a few replies back from real people but I’m waiting for responses back from three other schools. It’s already been a few days so I just went ahead and emailed my regional counselors just in case. Thank you so much for your help!!
@Sally_Rubenstone Hi Sally, I committed to a college a few days ago and was planning to send my official AP scores today. However, when I went back to check what AP scores I self-reported on my Common App, I saw that I made a mistake; instead of reporting a score for AP Physics C: Mechanics (which I took), I reported a score for AP Physics C: E&M (which I did not take). Should I be worried and send an email to the college about the mistake? Or should I just send my official AP scores anyway because they will not notice/care?
@alwaysinclass -You’re correct when you say that admission officials won’t care about–or even notice–this very minor error. So YOU don’t need to worry about it either.
Even in “normal” times, a small mistake like this one would surely slip under the radar. But especially now, when the admission folks have far greater worries, your “correction” email would just get in the way. So let this go and don’t give it another thought. Send in your official scores (assuming that your college will give you credit and/or advanced standing for them), and congrats on your acceptance and on making your final college choice.
@Sally_Rubenstone Hi Sally! I have committed to a UC, but I made a mistake on my application. I accidentally put that I took a class in 10th grade on my self reported grades. However, it was only a club at the time, and my school turned it into an actual, graded course the following year. I assumed there would be a retroactive change for this class to be counted as a course during my sophomore year as there was no change to the curriculum, since it counted as an A-G course in my 11th and 12th grade years. However, that did not happen.
I emailed the UC Application Center immediately after finding the error, but I’m still extremely worried that I will be rescinded as I’ve already committed.
Can I wait it out until July/August to hear back from the college?
@Sally_Rubenstone Hello Sally! So I had two college class credits (not core) that were non-transferable to UCs. Back in November when I was applying, I asked two of my HS counselors whether or not I include these credits on the application. Both of them told me that I don’t and that since they are only transferable to CSUs, I only need to put them into the CSU application. So that was exactly what I did. I was recently admitted to UCI and now feel that I should have reported those two credits and the college associated with them so I sent an update via the portal. I got an automated message saying, “determinations as to how it will affect my admission status will be made when all official documents are received by the July 1 deadline.” Is there anything else I should do, will I be rescinded for this minuscule error?
@thundercity0 -The only possible problem that I could imagine is if you got a D or F in either of the college classes you didn’t report or if your grade or grades in those classes would bring your 12th grade GPA below a B.
Moreover, given all the disruptions of the pandemic, most colleges are being extremely flexible this spring when it comes to rescinding acceptances and you should be fine, except perhaps if one of those situations mentioned above exists.
Even if the auto-reply that you received sounds intimidating, it really shouldn’t be something to worry about and you’ve done everything you need to do.
@thundercity0 -Good news! Now you definitely have nothing to worry about (at least concerning a possible rescinded admission offer) so don’t get stressed out by any automated responses that might imply otherwise.
@Sally_Rubenstone Hey Sally! I committed to a dream school a few weeks ago and I decided to take a peek at my CommonApp application. When glancing at it I noticed that my college information had a major mistake (I’m a transfer). I had my correct major, but for some reason I had a minor on there as well. I don’t remember putting a minor and I did not self report any grades that would indicate this minor (I did self report all grades). My guess is I accidentally put the minor I want to receive once I transfer. Is this something I should be concerned about? I’m terrified that they’ll take away my acceptance because of something unintentional. I know that they take away acceptances when lies are discovered, but I did not mean to put this minor!
I also had some changes in classes than what I self reported at the time. I submitted my application before the semester started so not everything is accurate on that end. Is this something I should be concerned about as well? Thanks!
@alwayshp394 -From what you’ve said here, I see nothing for you to worry about .
However, it does make sense for you to contact your college to set the record straight. Your main point should be that you wrote down a minor that you WANT to pursue but that you haven’t actually elected this minor yet. I’m sure that the admission folks already realize this after scrutinizing your transcript to see what you HAVE studied already. So don’t sweat it at all, but it can’t hurt to correct it anyway.
Congrats on the good news from your “dream school.”
