<p>I proofread my essay (and had others proofread it) many times before I sent my Common app in, but after I sent it in, I discovered a major error. In the main point of my paper, I wrote the Quadratic Formula down incorrectly (-a +- blah/2b, switching the a and b around). And I want to study math! I don't know why I messed up like I did, but I did. How badly does this reflect on my application? Could any parents read my essay (I'll PM them)?</p>
<p>Go ahead and submit the corrected essay.</p>
<p>Just send in the corrected essay. The college/s will put in your file. They see this all the time. No big deal. Good luck!</p>
<p>My d made a typo on one of her essays (UNC-CH actually). She had to send in some other items via snail mail so she made a cover letter for these items, included a corrected essay, and jokingly mentioned she was glad she had the opportunity to also send in another copy of her essay '"without the embarrassing typo". She got in. Hey...maybe reading her essay twice did the trick. :-)</p>
<p>The adcoms scanning your essay probably won't even catch it. Really, they are scanning your essay - and most of them are many months away from when they last had contact with this formula. If your math SAT scores, and math grades are good - don't sweat it. At all. It's not worth sending in a correction... relax.... ;)</p>
<p>I have the same problem. We have found a grammatical error (tense) in my d’s common application. It is in a small optional essay, not the main one. All of her apps have been submitted because she is applying for nursing and most had to be done Early Action. Do we resubmit the corrected essay or just hope for the best? Her main essay is fine.</p>
<p>S also did this but I have to say his errors were pretty big–he copied and pasted his final draft and didn’t save. He submitted his rough draft. He had revised it many times but it was still rough (missing words and spelling errors that spell check hadn’t picked up on, actually used the wrong word). He is devastated as writing is his worst subject (not horrible, just not his strength) and he has now put it in neon letters. We are assuming this will not be a good thing as the mistakes are very obvious and the college is quite selective. He did write to admissions explaining the mistake. We’ll see what happens come mid-December.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t sweat the small mistakes, from my research on this topic this is quite common. I’ve read about many students getting admitted to selective universities with a few minor errors (just none from students who submitted their rough draft:( .</p>
<p>Best story-
My D’s USC application required listing extraccuricualr activities.
She said she had a black belt in “Marital” arts…not “Martial” arts.</p>
<p>She had great stats but she did not get in.
Apparently students who are experts in marriage need not apply.</p>
<p>One of the best way to catch mistakes is to take a ruler, place it under each line of the essay, and read it out loud as if you were auditioning for a role at Carnegie Hall - re: really really loud. Have others do this as well - you will be amazed at the typos you catch this way. </p>
<p>Then, before you hit the send button, print one more time, and with the ruler and reading out loud, read the essay last sentence up (not backwards). That is, start reading the last sentence, then read the next sentence up, all the way to the top. Because we’re so used to reading the essay over and over from beginning to end, reading from end to beginning keeps your eye looking for the unexpected, instead of glazing over something you’ve read 1000 times.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>