Correcting application errors after submission … or not

<p>Thanks so much for your help. We’re checking to see that our son’s counselor is sending mid-year upadtes to the colleges, as he is on semesters.</p>

<p>I’m applying as a transfer student to the University of Texas. On my Apply Texas application under previous schools I put I would be getting a degree in 05/2016 (if I had stayed at the university I was previously at). However, I didn’t read the fine print that stated only fill in the box if the degree would be received for enrolling in the University of Texas. Should I am email the admissions office and notify them? After looking at the number of credits I have received they will know I didn’t receive a degree, but will I look careless if I don’t mention it.</p>

<p>Texasgirl16–Don’t worry about it. The harried admission officials (or secretaries) who process your application will understand what you meant and won’t hold the tiny error against you.</p>

<p>Hi, </p>

<p>I accidentally put down Spanish with Listening instead of just Spanish as a test I “plan to take,” even though the with listening is only offered in nov and i wrote the planned date as dec. </p>

<p>Will the admissions committee spend enough time looking at the test and planned test date to notice that I plan to take a test when it’s not even offered? I know it was a thoughtless mistake but will correcting it make me seem slightly less ignorant?</p>

<p>Any advice would be helpful!</p>

<p>Honestly, I wouldn’t worry about it. You said Spanish, and you’ll be taking Spanish . . . it’s close enough!</p>

<p>Don’t worry about it-- they’ll be getting official score reports regardless.</p>

<p>Agreed. Admission officials don’t have the time and energy to deal with minor errors like this one. Chances are good that no one will notice. On the outside chance that you are asked about it (highly unlikely), just say, “I realized afterwards I’d made this small mistake and didn’t want to bother you with a correction during this crazy season.” But, either way, it’s definitely nothing to worry about.</p>

<p>My son just submitted Early Decision to UPenn, in the haste of trying to make the deadline and problems with getting the essay to show on the common App correctly , after pasting and repasting , and retyping we hit the submit button, and then we found a few errors -typing the word ‘with’ instead of ‘will’, an omission of the word ‘my’ , and a comma. Should he send a corrected essay to UPenn or let it be. His second essay was flawless, and there are no other errors on the APP. Any input would be appreciated.</p>

<p>So on my awards part of the application and resume, I wrote that I received a AP Scholar with Distinction Award when I really only had an AP Scholar with Honor Award. I just realized this and I am so depressed.</p>

<p>This, plus I forgot an “in” and a “the” in one essay and one supplement. Oops.</p>

<p>Ugh, this is killing me! Do you think that if I get deferred, I should reach out to the school and warn them of my mistake? I just discovered this and my EA results will be in in a few days…</p>

<p>I accidentally self reported my SAT writing score as 780 instead of a 770 and I didn’t realize this until I had already submitted the applications to several schools. I’ve already ordered the official Collegeboard score reports for these schools. Should I contact/call the schools about it? Will this impact me negatively in a big way?</p>

<p>maroonafternoon: Sally already commented on this earlier in the thread. </p>

<p>fromm post 25
“I accidentally self- reported on my application a higher SAT subject test score, by a 10 point margin to Yale. Should I just rely on the fact that I sent my (correct) scores via college board and not give a short e-mail to them, explaining the “typo”?”</p>

<p>"Leave this one alone. Presumably you reported your OTHER results accurately (and, for Yale, this means at least four scores). So the admission committee members will not think that you’re trying to pull a fast one on them. As you’ve noted yourself, they will use the official scores from the College Board, not the self-reported ones, when they decide your fate. Besides, a 10-point swing is not going to affect your outcome either way. </p>

<p>If this continues to nag at you (which it shouldn’t) and if you end up having a Yale alum interview in the next few weeks, you can mention the minor mistake to your interviewer. Just say that it’s been bugging you a little that you accidentally inflated one score by 10 points and that you don’t want anyone at Yale to think you were being dishonest. </p>

<p>If there doesn’t seem to be a good time to bring this up during your interview or if you don’t have an interview at all, then just let it go. It’s no big deal … and not even a small one."</p>

<p>Thanks, milkweed, for pasting in that earlier response of mine. I was about to answer the question myself when I saw it. I had no memory of making that post. Seems like, these days, I can remember things like my third-grade teacher’s first name better than I can remember some advice I doled out just a year and a half ago! :eek:</p>

<p>Would it be alright to email them about my mistake?</p>

<p>I submitted my CommonApp just yesterday and noticed something horrendous a couple minutes ago—for one of the summer schools I went to, I’ve mentioned an admit rate of 0.02% instead of the 2% it actually is (apparently, I was thinking of odds while writing it :/). So, what should I do? This is definitely a glaring enough error to email colleges, right?</p>

<p>maroonafternoon–As noted above, just let it go. College folks don’t need any extra emails to read at this very busy time of year. The minor error won’t hurt you.</p>

<p>uheaven–this is another thing to let go. Frantic admission officers reading a gazillion applications a week are not going to differentiate between .02% and 2%. If you were giving instructions to a doctor or nurse doling out potent medications, then precision is important. In THIS case, however, the message you’re trying to send is, “This is a highly selective summer program.” And you made your point, albeit somewhat erroneously. So don’t give it another thought and don’t email your colleges!</p>

<p>My transcripts were difficult to see. My counselor told me that when she viewed them with the " view button" on CommonApp it was totally fine but there was an Admission Officer emailed me that he couldn’t read the transcripts. I contacted my counselor and she told me that when she download them from the mail again they were truly difficult to see !!!. My counselor then had emailed my transcripts to every school that I have applied to. I also made the mistake to choose the option " International student apply without financial aid". I feel like dying :((((.</p>

<p>No reason to die over any of this, lila101.</p>

<p>If your counselor emailed your transcript to every college on your list, then that will solve the problem of an unreadable original transcript. But I do suggest that you telephone every admission office in about two weeks to make sure that a legible version of your transcript did indeed arrive. (And if you’re then told NO, don’t panic. You can simply ask your counselor to send it again. You won’t be penalized as long as it’s sent promptly.)</p>

<p>As for the OTHER mistake, it’s hard to comment without knowing your TRUE status. If you are NOT an international student applying without aid, then what is your actual situation? You may need to send a correction to admission offices for this one, but it’s not anything you have to worry about as long as colleges get the accurate information soon.</p>

<p>to Sally_Rubenstone: Thank you so much for your advice. I am an international student but I need financial aid. I’m nervous because I have applied to 2 colleges in November. While one of them notified me about the unreadable file, the other school just rejects me (my ED college). I don’t know if the unreadable transcript is one of the factors that they turned me down. And thank you once again, because I feel much better now :).</p>

<p>For ECs, I typed “participate” instead of “participant”. I caught the mistake in my unsubmitted GMU application, but I already sent the errored version to three colleges on the common app. I just changed it, but I’m wondering if it’s really going to affect my chances at all?</p>

<p>lila101-It is absolutely IMPERATIVE that you clarify for all your colleges that you ARE applying for financial aid. Send an email right away and, if you don’t get a response to it within two weeks confirming that the change on your application has been made, telephone the college and ask to speak the the admissions staff member who oversees international applicants.</p>

<p>At the same time, be sure to complete all financial aid forms for international students and submit them by the deadlines. </p>

<p>Finally, I hope you are aware that colleges set the admissions bar very high for international applicants seeking aid. It’s possible that the ED college that rejected you would have been a realistic option if you were an US citizen or if you weren’t applying for aid. It probably was NOT the unreadable transcript that kept you out. (If the college officials thought you were a contender, they would have asked your counselor for a clearer transcript.)</p>

<p>Many international applicants who need financial aid make the mistake of applying to colleges that seem like “Match” schools based on median GPA’s and test scores, but these schools often aren’t truly Matches because of the financial-aid factor.</p>

<p>In order to be admitted with financial aid, many international students find that they must apply to colleges that would be “Safe” for them if money wasn’t an issue.</p>

<p>So, before it’s too late, go over your college list and make sure that it includes several places that seem “Safe.” (Note, however, that NO college is truly safe for an international student who needs money.)</p>

<p>Although many deadlines have already passed, this is primarily true for the more selective colleges. Those that admit half or more of their applicants are typically still accepting applications. So make sure that your list includes some of these places. Good luck!</p>