I am looking to apply to an Ivy League school (not HYP) early decision. I had written an email (about my major)l for another school first and then without thinking copied and pasted it to an admissions officer at this certain Ivy League school. I made sure to change the name of the admissions officer but forgot to change the school name within the email. It’s making me so nervous. I am most definitely going to apply here early and want to know how badly this hurts my chances. I did send an apology letter explaining that it was an honest mistake while asking another question about the school, but from my point of view, this would make me look really bad. The admissions officer emailed me back the first time and seemed to professionally answer my question without mentioning how the college name was wrong. She emailed me back after the second email saying “thank you for your email” without mentioning how I had put the wrong name in the email. I have a 35 ACT with a 4.5 (weighted gpa) with a bunch of extracurriculars/volunteering/leadership etc.
Nothing you can do about it now. Just move forward.
And don’t call schools ‘lower level Ivy’.
RIP
No one will remember at committee. If they even paid attention to your one of ten thousand emails . If you have what they want you will be fine.
If you’re just copying and pasting emails from one college to another, that implies your discussion and questions are generic and not school specific. Don’t waste the time of AOs with generic, nonspecific emails. They don’t want/need an “introduction” and it’s not a good look to ask or talk about generic things or things you can easily research on your own.
If you have a question that can’t be answered with a little research, that’s when you should contact an AO. But wasting their time with a “hi, I’m Johnny and really love your school. Just wanted to introduce myself and ask a question that I could easily research myself” will not endear you to the AOs even if you use the correct school name.
Totally agree with ^. It’s a miss to send something that generic that you can substitute the name of the school. Same with an essay.
Well, you’ve learned a lesson the hard way. Nothing you can do about it. Don’t use the wrong college name in your essays, or write supplemental essays that are so generic that they can be easily reused for every college.
Lol. You’d better buckle down to some serious research now, so your app can be on target. Know how to make your best presentation, what they look for (what they say, not blogs or forums or other hs kids,) and how to show the right qualities. This is not as simple as “write a killer essay” if you don’t learn what that is. And the rest of it. Not s simple as “I’m tops in my hs” and “I really, really want to go to your school.”
Yes, they notice when another school is named. It’s up to you to make up for that, so they feel it was a momentary brain blip. Life lesson. Be savvy.
Not trying to be mean but honest.
The good news is you aren’t the first. The bad news is I know this because at one of our Ivy visits the admissions rep told a cautionary tail remarkably similar to what you describe. Everyone laughed and had that same horrible feeling in the pit of their stomach.
I would suggest taking extra care in your essays and don’t loose hope. It simply wil boil down to the AO capacity to feel empathy and the quality of your application. You can only influence half that equation.
Good luck and don’t let it bother you.
It could go either way. I wouldn’t count on this being your best chance at an Ivy but you can only hope the admissions rep moves on. Lots of people cut and paste but in doing so you run the risk of just what happened. The schools want to feel you are only interested in them.
Our child got an email from a college with the wrong name after the Dear… yet the right name on the email address. Needless to say we felt they were just copy and pasting and not interested. We understood though and still went for that school. People usually overlook little mistakes as long as nothing else comes out wrong.
In any case this is not how you wanted to present yourself. Focus in and make sure the rest of the applications and correspondence are on point
Honestly, I think an ED app for that college will be a waste of applying ED.
Folks it wasn’t the wrong name of the college in the application or essay. It was a random email from one of thousands of kids. Maybe they note it and track her down for retribution. Or they go back to work. How may of these even get noted. It’s not a plus. But not applying is not the right answer.
We don’t want OP to freak. But with tens of thousands of apps, they dont want to learn who else you’re courting. None of us know the impact, but since the AO responded, she saw it. Rather than freak, the app pkg needs to shine. Have the right responses, right teachers sending LoRs, an informed and pleasant interview. Know what a good presentation is. Don’t assume.
Then you know you goofed, but did a good job of coming back from the error.
Wouldn’t be surprised if the email was printed out and posted on a bulletin board in the Adcom’s office area with the wrong school name circled for a little humorous relief 
Anyone who’s ever worked in a customer contact area can talk about seeing letters like this posted. And yeah, after seeing the OP’s name every day they’ll remember it
It speaks pretty poorly of the profession when dealing with Students futures so cavalierly . And also knowing the pressure they are all under right now.
And we don’t dont know her side or back story. They could be very compelling. Maybe a Native American. Still so funny for the bulletin board?
But make room for the directors picks athletes legacies and development cases. It’s 60 percent of the spots op so the pool is very small.
I wouldn’t sweat this and I for one don’t think it’s funny or a life lesson. We all make mistakes and you’ll be fine in the long run. Actually the ivy focus is a bit unhealthy on here and in life in general.
Privatebanker I agree with your tone and response to the OPs situation.
I am however curious as to your comment about “Ivy focus”. Why would it be surprising or unhealthy for kids on a college application website to express continued interest and ambition towards what are arguably the most prestigious schools. In fact the second half of your statement suggest that people “in life in general” are keenly aware of ivies and their cache. Doesn’t that validate that kids should care as their eventual employers are drawn from the real world life in general.
While there are other great schools out there, why the animus towards 8 schools that are considered by most to be some of the best of the best? Those who don’t get in are no less accomplished but why diminish those that do get in or aspire to.
Because the world is full of wonderful and spectacular opportunities.
For the 2mm kids each year looking to go to college there’s all too much time spent on the 13600 seats available in the Ivy League.
Half per gender.
Statistically speaking it’s a rough process for even the top 100k students out of the total. in reality the stats are worse than that - Harvard admits 60 percent of its class from unique sub categories. Athletes, legacies. Directors and deans picks. Development cases, z listers from the year before, urm candidates, faculty children and staff children. So for that school it leaves about 300 seats per gender for the mass population and the high achieving student. It’s daunting.
So when I say that. I don’t mean it’s not worth trying and certainly for those who get in congratulations. I just think the vast majority of good kids pin their hopes to a dream school. And we as parents can feed into that as well. And the sadness and loss of perspective can make the process in a word - awful.
There are so many wonderful schools that a broader less ivy focused approach is not only more healthy but simply practical.
Well said and thanks for the context.
We regularly see posts here from kids that have heard emailing adcoms will give them an edge in admission. They don’t actually have any questions so they look for advice on what to ask, how often to email, etc. If the OP was hoping by emailing admissions to be remembered come application review time they may very well have succeeded.