Hey guys! On my common app, which I have already submitted, I accidentally put the wrong date for one of my AP exams. I took it last year, but a slight fudge of the finger resulted in my setting the year as 2015. Should I send them an email to clarify my mistake? Would they even care? I feel like they would be more annoyed than anything.
On a similar note, I used an em dash in my main common app essay. As I wrote the essay on word, the em dash was a proper em dash; however, when I copied and pasted the essay into the common app, the em dash was not transferred over correctly–it was registered as one hyphen. While it doesn’t ruin my essay, it looks like (and technically is) a glaring grammatical mistake. Should I send a correction email to admissions?
Update:
After vigorously trying to edit my essay, I have found that is absolutely impossible to indicate any em dashes. Two hyphens side-by-side will be automatically converted to one singular hyphen. I even put in 60 hyphens for the hell of it; unfortunately, nothing worked.
This is from common app itself.
"Essay formatting
Currently, paragraph breaks for your Common App personal essay will appear in the text box or the print preview of your application.
Bold, underline, and italics will always carry over to Print Preview. Extra spaces will be removed automatically when you click continue. This means that you will not be able to indent your paragraphs. Colleges are aware of this formatting and take it into consideration when viewing your essay."
Does this include em dashes?
Regarding the AP test date mishap, I wouldn’t worry too much about it. If your high school transcript clearly shows that you took the corresponding AP course in the correct academic year, then I am sure the colleges will understand that you erroneously chose the wrong year. Even if your transcript does not show this (because the AP exam was self-studied, etc.), I wouldn’t email the admissions offices unless it would really put your nerves at ease.
As for the em dash issue, I had the same problem. At first, I worried about it, but it all turned out ok as I was accepted to my first-choice college ED. From my own personal research, I concluded that it’s a very minor issue, and the admissions officers will almost certainly not hold something so trivial against you.
Good luck with your applications!
That’s a relief