I sent an email to Columbia asking them to update my application, but started it with “Hi Northwestern.” The email was a general email talking about some CC classes I decided to take second semester.
How much will this hurt my application?
Thanks.
That’s awkward :/. As long as it was a general email you’ll probably be fine. To be perfectly honest, I’m sure it happens a lot.
I’m hoping that because it was just a general email and not something submitted through Common App that that should help… I hope so.
A classic blunder. Too bad. No way of telling.
I’m sure it happens all the time. Nothing to be done about it. At least you didn’t tell them that Northwestern was your top choice.
This is why “Dear Sir or Madam” exists.
I did this too. I sent an email to Harvard and put “Do I need to tell Stanford this?” In it. Hopefully it doesn’t affect my application. I didn’t put my common app ID so they couldn’t put two and two together, right?
@caitlynn09 Relax. It happens. I’m super paranoid about stuff like this, but I still managed to do it once (with Occidental). In any case, no one in Harvard admissions is going to be surprised that you are also applying to Stanford, nor are they going to take special note of the fact that you made an inconsequential error in what sounds like a generic email. In short, they are not going to be surprised that you are a human being. If it were a writing supplement that you accidentally addressed to the wrong school, you might have something to worry about, but you should be fine.
Just to be safe, though, I would send a follow-up email apologizing for the mistake.
Okay I’ll send the email. Thank you so much @Evan111 - I was kind of fresking out that they would reject me on the spot because of it.
@caitlynn09 They won’t. 
Good luck at Harvard AND Stanford.