I am stressing out of my mind right now. This truly is not my fault, I looked at the review section of the common app and this mistake wasnt there.
So about two or three times on my supplements, i used a hyphen. Apparently the common app computer program cant read hyphens and it replaced it with a “?”. If an admissions counselor were to read this then im sure theyd be able to spot out what the situation was. I am extremely stressing out about this and i was wondering if this poses as a major red flag on my application.
Don’t worry about it AT ALL. Unless the ? actually changes the meaning significantly in some inappropriate way which I am sure it doesn’t it is not going to matter. The common app does all sorts of crazy things. But the adcoms aren’t going to hold it against you. Just check future apps for glitches like this (if could be from copying and pasting) and have a parent read over them too - sometimes you read something so many times that you skip over minor things.
If it happens, it happens to everyone and they are used to it. Relax and move on to your other apps. If you don’t get in, it will have nothing to do with this issue.
kath00, I looked through the resultant pdf that you get on the common app after you submit it.
Intparent, I doubt that is the case. I used an unorthodox typing processor to write my supps and essay; im sure that the hyphen from Microsoft Word or Google Docs would be interpreted easily.
@ASAPJAZZY It says “submit” on common app but you can actually review it before you have to “submit” again and finalize it. Also, as others mentioned, do not worry about it at all.
I remember people reporting similar problems last year. Anyway nothing you can do at this point so just move on. I don’t think it will change faith of your application.
I have found that copy pasting from Word does do some weird things, but if you copy pasted from Word to Notepad, verify it on Notepad and then from Notepad to Common App - there should be no weirdness. This is just my opinion for future applications.