My D submitted the rough draft of her personal statement essay on the Common App instead of her final version. The files were moved around and she chose what she thought was her edited version. The rough draft has errors in in like a fragment, a misspelling, and a dash out of place. It looks very much the same, so when she skimmed it before sending, she missed the fixes. The wording was also improved but not by a tremendous amount. She has applied to the most selective schools b/c she has all the grades and test scores to get in, but we are freaking out over her essay making her look bad. She submitted all of the applications all on the same day, so all of her applications have the wrong essay. Should she contact schools about her mistake? Please help!
@Kochmom see my reply on the other thread you tagged me in.
@Kochmom When I read @Lindagaf’s comment above I went to read the other thread before replying. I came across your other post regarding your D missing the optional supplemental essay for a school. Did she ever contact that school about the late supplement she was submitting? I think for that school you want to be careful about contacting the school to swap out the essay. Also, you can check on common app to see the date the school downloaded the app to see if it was downloaded yet. For the schools where your D has not made any contact regarding app issues, she should contact her regional AO, attaching a PDF version of the final version of the essay and ask them to do what they think would be most appropriate. Good luck!
The university had a portal where she did upload the supplemental. Most of the schools are RD, so the applications aren’t officially due until January. Is is better to contact them or just leave it alone? Would contacting them be looked upon worse than a few errors on the essay? These are the most select schools, so we just don’t know what to do. This was an issue with essays in Google Docs getting moved out of order as she was working on things…ugh! The rest of her application is excellent (including all recommendations and all supplementals). Advice?
The essay is very important. She needs to submit the correct essay becasue top,scholls arenot going to be impressed with a rought draft. She just needs to explain the mistake. A substandard essay is worse. If she does it now, it’s better because the longer she leaves it the busier they will get, and the less impressed they will be.
Should she say:
“submitted an unedited version and please replace it with the intended version attached with this email”
or
“please replace the submitted essay with the intended version attached with this email”
Which wording casts this situation in the least negative light?
Should she mention the Google Docs issue or would that just look like she is making excuses, etc… I assume it would be best to be short and to the point. Thoughts on which of the ways to word the email? Thanks, all!
Just be honest. “I inadvertently submitted an unedited rough draft. Please use this version of the essay and disregard the other.” If she did indeed have an issue with the upload as my D did, she can say that.
The subject header should also be noticeable enough that it won’t be ignored. Don’t just say “typo on essay.” Maybe “incorrect essay submission” or similar.