Aggghhh. I just realised the university I have constantly been referring to as John Hopkins is spelled Johns Hopkins not John Hopkins, after submitting my application. I guess my brain has constantly auto-corrected the first name.
Having done some research I can see that this is a common typo. Is there anyone who knows about the history of such mistakes? Is my application likely to be thrown in the bin due me to calling it John Hopkins in the written supplement?
It is a common error, although one might understandably believe that an applicant who ardently wanted to attend JHU would not be guilty of this mistake. If you were a Hopkins admissions officer and your standards were based on an approximate 15 percent aggregate admissions rate, might you feel, “we have LOTS of highly qualified applicants, why matriculate someone who doesn’t even know this university’s name?”? I do not suggest your application is absolutely headed for the “bin,” but I hope you have some truly compelling “positives” to offset what some evaluators might perceive as a “negative.”
Exactly. Most any JHU alumnus I have ever known actually holds on to this item as a point of irritation, so I would kiss that one good-bye.
Ah well. Hopefully my academics and demonstrated knowledge of the university itself will compensate for that error.
This is a very common mistake, since the name “Johns” is not one that is encountered outside the name of JHU.They do make lots of jokes about it in the promotional materials, tour, and so forth that I would have hoped had made an impression earlier in your pre-application research.
Perhaps you were misled by this story from April 1, 2010. 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/01/AR2010040102179.html
I hope they will not hold it against you.
Haha, well funnily enough I read up quite a bit about JHU before the application but kept overlooking its spelling. It’s just one of those things that the human mind, or rather my mind didn’t pay much attention to. Most of my research was into a particular faculty, the opportunities available and the history behind the uni so it’s remarkable I never came across that joke.
If only that article were more than an April fools! I read it earlier today, after making the unfortunate realisation.
I have a hard time believing that with the holistic evaluation process they supposedly use they would ding somebody for leaving off an s. I read a lot about college essays for instance and they say a few typos on those won’t hurt you that much. Maybe they will just smile a little and give you the benefit of the doubt. I bet they will.
If you reply to someone as ‘Dan’ when his name is really ‘Dave’, that’s not a typo.
That’s not quite the same as ‘John’ and ‘Johns’ though, is it? Dan and Dave are a lot more distinct. Anyway, we’ll see what happens. Despite the fact that I would love to go there, it’s only one of my three choices in the US, and one of my many choices worldwide so it’s not the end of the world if I don’t get accepted.
According to my sources, you will be accepted. However, your first semester, you will be assigned to a remedial spelling class. This will consist of writing over and over again for hours at a time “Johns Hopkins, not John Hopkins”.
Bravo, @sattut! Humor is life’s most-essential survival tool.
If it were me, I’d send a follow-up letter pointing out my previous mistake, apologise profusely, and include a corrected version of the application.
I’d probably also add that I’d completely understand if the previous application had been dismissed out-of-hand due to the omitted ‘s’, but that I felt it important to let JHU know (a) I’d made a mistake, (b) sought advice, and © would very much welcome the opportunity to correct the mistake.
It’s probably a little bit late now but would that not draw attention to it?
^Trust me when I say the already know you misspelled that one. I visited and their admissions officers said that this is an irritation they don’t look well upon. Just wait and see what happens
@KingAnon - like Pentakis says, they already know. So you’re not drawing attention to the mistake, you’re drawing attention to your ability to realise your mistakes - and /that/ is a great attribute.
Go find Feynman’s description of how his team fixed the calculations for the Manhattan Project, and you’ll see why it’s never too late to realise you made a mistake, and it’s always worth trying to fix it.
Oh, and when you write to JHU, quote the appropriate part of Feynman’s story, and tell them that you’re borrowing his solution to the problem 
^Okay, now that’s good.
^ Thanks, @JustOneDad
And, appropriately enough, I made a mistake in my previous post - it’s Feynman’s team’s solution you’d be borrowing, @KingAnon.
For anyone who doesn’t know the story, here’s Feynman telling it himself:
P.s. @KingAnon - once you get how the solution works, you’ll know exactly what you need to send to JHU 
Did the OP end up getting in?