Major Mistake on Common App. . . Please help!

Applying to College
1

<p>After my 12th midterms my class teachers told me that I had come 2nd in my class ( out of 428 students).....So, while reporting class rank on Common App, I reported 2 . However I found out from my counsellor(school principal) that my school report rank in decile and my rank would be top 10% percentile.....But I submitted my app yesterday to some of the colleges ( Cornell,Purdue,Brown,Dartmouth).....</p>

<p>So, when I spoke to my counsellor he said that in the recommendation he would make it clear that I came second in my class, but because of school's policy of not reporting exact rank on transcript, a discrepancy had arisen, and would urge the colleges to ignore it...</p>

<p>So, where does that leave me?...I mean my counsellor will make it clear why it happened, but will it still ruin my chances?....It was an innocent mistake....Any idea?....And anything that I can do?.....(INTERNATIONAL APPLICANT)</p>

2

<p>Wouldn’t worry at all if your counselor is going to address it. </p>

3

<p>Isn’t #2 in the top 10%?</p>

<p>Then what is the problem?</p>

4

<p>@rhandco‌ It is…but my I said that my school gives exact rank on Common App…while my school gives rank in Decile ( they are different options on the App)…So, while I wrote my rank as 2nd , my counsellor would write it as top 10% …so would the colleges feel that I was trying to take an unfair advantage?</p>

<p>@intparent‌ I really hope so</p>

5

<p>I don’t think they will think that. One question, though, is whether you are going to correct it on any apps you haven’t put in yet, and whether your GC will change his letter for those schools to remove the comment. You need to clarify that with your GC, I think.</p>

<p>This is not a “major” mistake. A major mistake would be leaving out your biggest EC, submitting your “why college x” essay to “college y”, etc. Don’t sweat it, but clarify with your GC for going forward.</p>

6

<p>@intparent‌ If the counsellor can send different recommendations to different colleges, then he would certainly change his recommendation…is that possible?..and I can edit the Common App for different colleges?..I have applied to 4 and am yet to apply to the other 5.</p>

<p>And thanks a lot for the help</p>

7

<p>Well, our GCs could do that when they uploaded to the Common App. Ask your GC about it.</p>

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<p>@intparent‌ I’ll speak to him about it tomorrow then</p>

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<h1>4 is spot on:</h1>

<p>" This is not a “major” mistake. A major mistake would be leaving out your biggest EC, submitting your “why college x” essay to “college y”, etc. Don’t sweat it, but clarify with your GC for going forward. "</p>

<p>I don’t think that adcoms have the time or energy to think about applicant’s “motivations” for any errors. It is not a major error, and it is one that many students make because GCs aren’t clear about it.</p>

<p>Now if your applications had ten minor errors, that would be different. Like if you self-reported wrong SAT scores in your favor or being a legacy and you aren’t.</p>