Hi everyone. I made a serious error in the activities section of the common app. For one activity, I wrote in the description that I had organized something over my 2015 summer. However, I put my grade levels as 10 and 11! I’m so worried. Should I submit a correction?
Please help!
That isn’t serious, please don’t worry. I don’t even think it is worth correcting.
If you are really concerned, send a quick email to the rep for your area, but surely that was the summer between grades 10 and 11 anyway. I don’t think it’s an issue.
@Lindagaf You really think so? Will they think it’s a misrepresentation of any form?
It’s hard to know the context of the actual wording. What exactly did you write?
Here is an example of a serious error: my d submitted the common app essay, not realizing that when she transferred it from Google docs, for some reason the Commkn app was unable to accept it as it was and it was full of random, different puncutation all over the place. But she only dsicovered it a month later when submitting another app, and the same thing happened. She then had to resubmit her whole common app essay, correct version, to,the college. If it is a petty trivial thing, you run the risk of irritating an AO at a very busy time.
@Lindagaf Well, I had written: organized … over 2015 summer, to help …
And then I put my grades levels as 10 and 11 (break). Do you think I should email them?
If this is something you did between grades ten and eleven, and you specified summer of 2015, I don’t see what is wrong. You need to do what will ease your mind. Just bear in mind, and I am not an AO, that this seems super trivial to me. If I am not quite understanding what the issue is, an AO might not either. They are super super busy right now, I doubt that is something they would bother to correct and you might annoy them. Serious errors are things like misreported grades, or saying you played varsity football in ninth grade,when in fact it wasn’t until you were in twelfth. Then again, if it’s going to torment you, by all means send an email to the AO at the college you sent the app to.
@Lindagaf Thank you! I’ll discuss this with my parents, and will see what they say. And if I decide to email the college, should I do so now - or wait until they’ve actually started reading applications?
They will be even busier later as more apps roll in.
bump, anyone?
Stop obsessing please. You aren’t supposed to bump posts and you only created this a few hours ago. If this was a serious problem, I think someone would have said so by now.
uh ya, that is a nothing. Sending in a correction to something as trivial as this would be more annoying than the error.
Seriously, Lindagaf…is…right. C’mon, they aren’t going to sit there annoyed that you inflated. They will assume you did a little work in 10th, some slurped over to 11th, and the bulk was summer. This is not a show-stopper. We know you’re nervous, but you have to find some perspective. (Which, btw, is an important attribute in admissions.)
@lookingforward That’s completely true (about doing some work in 10th and 11th)! I didn’t know that they would assume it, though. But thanks, you’ve made me feel much better.
@Lindagaf did the collges allow her to submit a new copy? How did she explain her reason for wanting to send a new essay version to them? My D submitted her rough draft instead of her final version. The files were moved around and she chose what she thought was her edited version. The rough draft has errors in in like a fragment, a misspelling, and a dash out of place. The wording was also improved. She she contact schools about her mistake?
@Kochmom , She only submitted the essay with errors to one school. She didn’t realize until submitting the second app (a month later!) that it was full of errors once it was uploaded to the Common App. She emailed the first college’s regional rep and attached the correct version. She just explained that she didn’t realize the upolead was randomly “invaded” by weird punctuation marks throughout the essay. The rep was fine about it, as apparently a lot of people had the same thing happen. She was accepted. Moral of the story is of course to check all portions of the common app.