<p>After seeing so many threads about essays and essay mistakes, how damaging is it towards admissions if you have 1-2 grammer/vocab mistakes? If the overall essay is strong, does it matter, or will they even really notice amidst the rest of the essay and the enormous application pool?</p>
<p>I think it’s hard to predict, but an error does show a lack of editing and almost ‘caring’ about your piece of writing.</p>
<p>I know when my father reads through hundreds of applications for one position he doesn’t even consider an applicant that made a spelling error.</p>
<p>It’s another reason for adcoms to reject you, in my opinion.</p>
<p>spelling errors vs grammatical errors? </p>
<p>i could totally understand spelling errors as those are so blatant and hard to make considering all the proofreading software available, but grammar/word omissions which make the sentence sound a little awkward (not incomprehensible though as that would be a big deal)</p>
<p>There is no such thing as a grammatical error in stylistic writing.</p>
<p>i don’t think it will make or break you. hoptkins, don’t scare the OP. unless the error is glaring (e.g., their/they’re/there used consistently incorrectly), i think you are making it into a bigger deal than it is.</p>
<p>I agree with Tres Elefantes. It’s not a big deal really. I highly doubt that an admissions officer is going to throw your app out the essay just because of such a trivial error.</p>
<p>The purpose of the essay is to convey who you are to the adcom. Grammar and spelling errors only detract from that purpose. In other words, grammar/spelling errors distract the adcom and get them to see the error instead of you.</p>
<p>It won’t make or break you, but it sure as heck won’t help.</p>
<p>^well, obviously not, but hoptkins was saying it shows a lack of caring about your writing. adcoms aren’t reading your essays very closely, and if the errors are very small it won’t make a significant difference.</p>
<p>Especially, as I just said in another thread, they have like 25,000 applications to go through in just a few months. They’re not super nit picky.</p>