<p>I recently found a mistake on my submitted Harvard application... </p>
<p>I put that my dad was born in the USA, when both of my parents were actually immigrants and never attended high school or college in America. My dad has a high school diploma from a foreign country but since I indicated that he was born in America, I assume the admissions committee believes that his high school diploma is from USA. </p>
<p>I am actually waitlisted to Harvard. My essays only mentioned that I am a first-generation Asian American, but I did not talk about the challenges that I had to overcome. I am planning to email them updating them of my dad's country of birth. </p>
<p>How much impact do you think this change in information will have?</p>
<p>Are you sure Harvard would take you seriously if you make mistakes like that in your application?</p>
<p>OTOH, it is immaterial where a parent did high school. If Harvard provides an edge for first gen, a high school diploma from US or any other country would be considered the same. In the end, it is your socioeconomic status that is under consideration.</p>
<p>^^ I disagree. I think an Admissions Director would seriously question how a 17-year old did not know where his or her parents were born. Bringing that mistake up now might call into question the truthfulness of the rest of the application and result in the complete removal from the waitlist. It’s probably best to just let it go.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for the answers/advice. It wasn’t that I didn’t know where my parents were born, but it was a mistake and I’m not sure how it slipped by until recently. I think the admissions committee would see it more as a mistake, but it does diminish my credibility… Let’s say a miracle happens and I am admitted from the waitlist. Could my admissions be revoked if I didn’t notify them?</p>
<p>I don’t think it will diminish your credibility so I think you should notify them now about the mistake you made. After all, it’s easy to check a box that was next to the right one by mistake. I am no admission officer or any expert though.</p>
<p>gibby - that’s where I was going with my question. It would be detrimental even to bring it up. </p>
<p>However, if he had it correct in the first, it would not changed the outcome all that much since his app strength is tied to first gen and parental income and those would not change irrespective of where his father was born. </p>
<p>OP - what is your legal status on the application? It might be important enough to get the app fixed without looking to see if it gives you an edge. If you get off the waitlist and they notice the facts are incorrect, anything could happen. Since Adam Wheeler incident, Harvard takes mistakes seriously.</p>