<p>last week i sent all my RD colleges a letter with a bulleted list of updates on my extracurriculars. i reread a copy of that letter this morning and i noticed that EVERY SINGLE LETTER begins like this:</p>
<p>"I am a senior at ******* High School and I am applying regular decision to California Institute of Technology."</p>
<p>what should i do? should i resend them the letter with the correct college's name? or send an apology letter and restate my interest in going? or just do nothing and hope they're in too much of a hurry to notice my stupid mistake? be honest, am i headed for community college?</p>
<p>Wow. I'll be honest; that will hurt. Jesus man, how could you miss that when you proofread your paper. It's kind of hard to miss 4 words unless you are trying to miss them. Ouch. Resend the paper with the actual college's name. But all colleges now know that they are basically safeties for you.</p>
<p>I think this kind of thing happens more often than one might think. I'd suggest sending an immediate followup to the colleges, apologizing for making such an embarrassing mistake and, yes, reassuring them of your interest. It could have been a lot worse -- it's not like you wrote each of them saying Cal Tech is your top choice... you just were sending an updated list of ECs.</p>
<p>i don't think they'll automatically assume that they are safeties... i totally sympathize with your situation! i was gonna apply for the UCLA alumni scholarship (i ended up not applying, i didn't have time to do the application). Anyway, I had my teachers do reccomendations, etc, which were in sealed envelopes. After I decided not to apply, I opened the envelopes just for the heck of it- i was curious what my teachers wrote about me (i know, i'm a horrible person haha)... anyway to make a long story short, my teacher had written one saying that "Sarah will be a great asset to USC". yeeeahhhh you wanna talk about screwed? i would have been SCREWED.
anyway first go over the situation with your college counselor, but I would call the admit office, and then, as UltimateFrisbee said, send in the paper with the actual college's name. good luck! : )</p>
<p>Well, the good news is that I doubt Caltech will mind!...</p>
<p>Overall, I wouldn't worry too much. People make mistakes, and I'm sure colleges know that. Besides, I don't think a school can really be a "safety" for Caltech given how competitive it is (although you certainly can't play it off as if Caltech isn't your first choice or at least one of them, which might be a better situation). That being said, I think you should definitely send a letter reaffirming your interest and acknowledging your mistake.</p>
<p>It's very easy to do rectify this situation. Send them a letter saying that you made a mistake because you were REJECTED from caltech through ED and that it was a typo, seeing as the horrible and painful reject was still on your weak and fallible mind. </p>
<p>don't feel bad. I've loved swarthmore since middle school... but I sent them a letter which somehow in the middle included a sentence saying "I know that many Harvard applicants are very accomplished..." and man... do I ever regret that. Thank goodness it was only to swarthmore though :sigh: I guess I caught my losses there, but I'm sure it happens all the time! and besides, it's only an update letter, I'd hope that people would spend more time on their studies and extracurriculars than just crafting a letter to colleges.</p>
<p>zoogies: I was being sarcastic. The smiley face I guess wasn't clear enough I guess. Basically, the answer has already been given, just be truthful and do not worry too much about it. Mistakes happen all the time.</p>