<p>Friend's daughter wrote a lovely essay on why she wished to attend her ED school. She mis-spelled not once, but twice the "nickname" of the students there. </p>
<p>Child and mom are besides themselves. Should they address this error in a light-hearted way over the phone or email or just forget it?</p>
<p>All insights greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>I would forget it. </p>
<p>I have read studies that show that the brain reads the word it expects to see, so it may be that no one will even notice. Calling attention to the mistake would then ensure it would be noticed. Even if the mistake is noticed I don't believe it will affect the admission decision.</p>
<p>I agree with everything Over30 wrote. It won't have an effect on the outcome. Now, IF she had called them by a nickname from another college, different story! :D</p>
<p>I think it depends how clever you can be. I know of someone who mixed up the names in his "why college X" essay -- two schools that started with the same letter. He sent a very cute poem explaining his mistake -- which resulted in a personal, hand-written note from the admissions counselor who said it was the highlight of her day -- and, ultimately, acceptance at this school.</p>
<p>Okay, I would just forget about it. I recently applied to UVa ED and I forgot two periods in my essay. I had a 5 hour meltdown. I called the admission office and they said that errors in spelling, punctuation, etc happen ALL THE TIME and they were really understanding. They are looking for content and personality. I bet most of the time officers just skim over the errors. I'm pretty positive they skimmed over my two missed periods and I bet they would do the same for the nickname of the school. Either way, remind your friend that there is no chance that this will make or break the decision, especially since she is showing such sincere interest by applying ED. Also, despite my punctuation errors and incomplete application (I also forgot to include my summer programs) I was still accepted. Good luck to your friend. I honestly know how intense this moment is. Perhaps if she was unsure about applying ED, this confirms that she made the right choice because she is traumatized by the mistake and knows that this is truly her top choice. Be sure to remind your friend that on average, applications only receive about 2 mins for reviewal. EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON!!</p>
<p>Depends on the word and how it was (mis)spelled. Was it Tigger? Quacker? How do you misspell "Blue" ?</p>
<p>NJres....now that could get pretty funny. Tigger, Quacker. </p>
<p>Blew for Blue. </p>
<p>Bares for Bears. </p>
<p>Crimeseen for Crimson</p>
<p>NJres, Quackers is hilarious. And spellcheck can compound the felony. Gave me pews and peas for Ephs!</p>
<p>I'd love to hear from Adcom members on the funniest typos and bloopers they've seen.</p>
<p>Many, many thanks to all. My friend and her daughter are much less frantic today thanks to your kind and humorous responses.</p>
<p>Wishingandhoping, while this is not quite the same.....tell your friend and her D....that my older D had one of her academic recs written by a History teacher who opted to individualize each of his rec letters by inserting the college name in the narrative whenever he mentioned the college name. Long after all her apps and recs were in, we noticed (we were allowed to read the recs) that while he so nicely changed the college name four of the times he mentioned it in the letter, the last time he left in "Yale" in every rec! So every school got a rec that let them know that Yale was on her list! It was the teacher's error not hers and not a misspelling so I realize this was different than if she had done it (which actually would look bad as if she wrote the same Why X College or something for every school). But ironically Yale was the one school where my D was entirely rejected. Luckily all her other school accepted her (Princeton was a waitlist, though) and this error was not a problem! </p>
<p>I also recall one word in an essay of hers that she used for several schools, and which was proofed many times by me and a couple other sets of eyes to find any errors like this, was actually a real word that spell check would not have caught and all of our eyes read it as it was meant to be, but it actually was a mistake. So, the adcoms either read it as we did or it was so minor, it did not matter. Don't fret this VERY small stuff! </p>
<p>Susan</p>
<p>Thanks Susan!</p>
<p>Friend's daughter substituted a "A" for an "E." Child is a professional writer, so she was all the more appalled at her mistake. When she told the guidance counselor he just smiled and said "Don't worry." Apparently the college admissions rep had already called him for the low-down on this exceptional student and the counselor raved about her.</p>
<p>Hope that does the trick. Thanks again.</p>
<p>if it's not calling princeton penn, or yale harvard, or any big rivalry, i wouldn't be too worried</p>
<p>During my admit weekend tour at CMU, the tour guide mentioned how so many people spell the name as Carnegie Melon, and by now, they spot the mistake quite quickly!</p>
<p>i think my gf pulled the ultimate...</p>
<p>She applied to Cornell, Syracuse, CMU, Pratt, and Buffalo for architecture. Cornell's essays were different from the rest, Syracuse had alot of unique short answer type essays, Buffalo didnt require any, and Pratt and CMU had very similar essays. She just used one essay for the last two schools and switched out the name.</p>
<p>Wellllll, upon further review, she realized that in the essays she submitted for CMU, she forgot to spot two spots where the word "Pratt" was. I believe one of the sentences read something like "At Pratt, I will be able to focus my studies on ... " blah blah. Not exactly a minor error!!</p>
<p>Needless to say, she was accepted to every single school. Even CMU.</p>
<p>When I worked for a med schhol otolaryngology dept., a student was applying for both otolaryngology and ophthalmology residencies. He sent an essay starting "The reason I want to go into ophthalmology..." with his application to an otolaryngology residency. That chair called our chair, who'd recommended the applicant, and said that although the student had good credentials, they were throwing out his application for his obvious lack of commitment and inexcusable carelessness. Ouch.</p>
<p>BTW, I found a spelling error (complement for compliment) on my kid's essay--after he'd submitted it on-line to a couple schools. I think errors are easier to spot on paper. I also told him that his conclusion made him sound somewhat "shallow and immature," to which he calmly replied, "But mom, I AM shallow and immature." He had me there. . .
you're only 17 once!</p>
<p>Hey - my son's teacher misspelled his name on her recommendation. I couldn't see that it was an issue - it happens all the time. (At least it was obviously a misspelling and not a misidentification!) It could be worse - the DMV had his sex listed as "F".</p>
<p>It's not a plus, but I actually heard in a Harvard info session of a student who sent the entire Harvard app to Stanford and vice versa, and he got into (at least) Harvard. Not to say that I recommend this, but this alone is probably not going to kill the application.</p>
<p>I heard at a Penn info session that a student submitted an application to the WHARTON SCHOOL OF BUNNIES... hehe</p>
<p>My daughter's "aargh" moment came this week when she saw a copy of her teacher's recommendation for Boston U... and the teacher had written about how well d. would do at "Boston College". </p>
<p>Oh well, at least on her own app, the answer to the "Why do you want Boston U." question was written with enough specificity in describing the physical campus that it is very clear that d. has the right place in mind, even if the teacher was confused. D is worried that BU will now think (erroneously) that she is applying to BC and that somehow it will hurt her application. (Very stressful week as d. rushes to finalize all apps).</p>
<p>That is a fantastic mistake, User! Thanks for sharing!</p>
<p>-student</p>