I applied early decision to my dream school on Sunday. I spent hours and hours on my essays and put a lot of effort into them. The other day I was rereading my application submission and found a typo at the end of my common app essay. I freaked out and went to my google docs where a copy of my final draft was, and there was no typo in it. I accidentally submitted the unedited version of my final draft. Luckily, that is the only typo in it, I misspelled reminisce as reminsce. It’s awful because I do know how to spell reminisce, I had just typed it wrong in the heat of getting thoughts down. It also sucks because of how much time and care I put into my essays, only for this to happen. I really love this school and don’t want this to hurt my chances. Should I email my regional representative and let them know that I caught a typo at the end, and explain how I submitted the wrong draft? Do I let it be? Do you think this will hurt my chances? The school has an 11% acceptance rate RD and around 23% acceptance rate ED. Sorry for the long post. Thanks for reading.
I’m interested to read the guidance. I personally would not. It could very well be that the essay isn’t looked at closely one way or another, depending on how your overall application is.
This is a life lesson to ensure each time you copy and paste to go back and re-read. That said, it’s a lesson we all face daily - on the CC (granted I don’t often proof) I make lots of mistakes. At work, I see lots of mistakes. We all run too fast and it happens. It will again - and you’ll be fine - but it’s good to get at least four eyes (two people) to look at everything to be sure.
I personally think if the quality of your essay is strong, it will outweigh one typo. And I’m sure, given these AOs read essay after essay, they’ll probably gloss right over it without even knowing. So I would not bring attention. I find it hard to believe that a typo will be the difference between getting in and not.
If this will console you, this is from GA Tech (see the link below) and the paragraph that lets you know you can sleep well…agreeing with my assessment. I wrote this b4 finding the link - so I’m guessing most will feel similarly.
I hope you get in - but if you don’t, I assure you it won’t be due to this.
r College Application
This week we welcome Senior Admission Counselor Samantha Rose-Sinclair to the blog. Welcome, Sammy!
Our twelfth president was formally installed in a ceremony called an Investiture last October. It was a powerful celebration that happens only a few times in the life cycle of an institution. As the person behind our admission Twitter account, I was thrilled to attend in order to share the festivities with our online community.
The result: 351 cumulative words and 13 carefully curated tweets and retweets over four hours to capture the significance of the morning. And in the very last tweet–the grand finale–the first word was a typo. And I didn’t see until until hours later. The. First. Word. Face, meet palm. Much like college essays, tweets can’t be edited after pressing send (but uh, @twitter, if you’re listening, I wouldn’t mind sacrificing this comparison if you’d consider changing that) so this one lives on to quietly haunt me forever.
That Moment You Find an Error….
Months ago you drafted your essays, polished your application, and submitted it into finality. Now you anxiously start peeking back at your docuuments while you wait for the decision on the other end. That’s when you see it: the word “biomedical” repeated twice, perhaps the incorrect use of “there.” My advice could be to close your laptop, walk away from your application, and we could end the blog there. But I’m a realist–so we’ll keep going.
Here are some more numbers for you: We’ve been reviewing files for about 117 days now. That’s around 35,000 essays, another 35,000 supplemental essays, 58,000 rec letters, and one “Nicholas Cage Appreciation Club” extracurricular. But whose counting, right?
Let’s be honest, I’m not 100% confident in all those numbers, but I am without a doubt confident about this: in thousands of decisions rendered, no one has been denied for a typo. Or the inverse: I’ve read a comment from a student on a college admission forum that hid typos in an essay to see if a school really read them. When he was admitted, he concluded that they didn’t. That’s just not how it works. (The truth: they read his essay and likely looked past the errors.)
We don’t practice gotcha! admission review. By that I mean, Admission Officers aren’t cynics looking for that one mistake, a missed point on a final grade, or that one letter that’s out of place in order to cross you off the list and move on
Is the typo the only difference from you final, edited version?
I doubt the typo will be noticed, honestly. I would not worry unless this version is different from the edited one in some substantial way.
I don’t think anyone reading quickly would even notice that typo. It’s not glaring. Just for reference, I got into an Ivy League law school many many years ago with a (much worse) typo in my essay (most of a sentence was left out). My advice after that is never ever read your essay or anything else after it’s been submitted. Even if you don’t find a typo you’re bound to find a word or sentence that could have been better. Just breathe and walk away from the laptop and let it go.
NO.
And although I almost always agree with @tsbna44, I am going to say that mistakes will happen no matter what. As an example, my PhD thesis was read by numerous colleagues, then I paid a proofing service to proof it. I did a final read through (from back to front, a useful proofing tip). Guess what? there are typos. My reviewers found some, which were corrected for the version that went to the publisher. And not too long ago when I went to find a source in it I found another.
Typos happen. 100% it will not be a factor in deciding whether to admit you or not.
What you do need to do is work on anxiety reduction!
that’s what i said - no 
I work for a car company. Well I’ve worked for two. Imagine the Monroney label (the label you see with all the equipment). At my last company we had the 8 eye rule - four people must review. And months later, you still find mistakes.
I think the OP will be fine and his admission (yes or no) won’t be impacted at all by one Typo.
That’s also what the note from Georgia Tech I included said - no.
So you still agree with me This is important - because you are the only person who typically agrees with me!! Confidence boost for me!!!
but you say so many sensible things!
and you are right, we do agree- I was just quibbling over what I read as a ‘just be more careful next time’!
Also, I love the GaTech article
Well - you have to be more careful - it’s a good lesson in life.
But to your point - you will continue to make mistakes.
It is good to read, re-read, and have others read in general in life - but the reality is, especially with everyone working so fast or typing on their phones - mistakes are common.
My daughter interviewed last year at W&M. It was a student interview.
I told her to send a thank you - and she sent it from her phone. Two typos.
That’s another rule for young people - if it’s important, don’t do it on your phone
Thanks for agreeing - I think I’m sensible but on other forums, others think I’m rude, degrading, and other things - and never the intent
I read lots of books. I find lots of typos. Even professionally edited material is not immune to typos. If the typo does not in any way affect the content of your work you should not worry about it.
You are good. I can almost promise you no one will even catch it. It looks like the right word. Exhale. Move on. People naturally read what they except to see 
I see what you did there…
That’s not how you spell it? I would NEVER have noticed, and I really doubt anyone else will either.
Best of luck! Your attention to detail is probably a great sign of how diligent you are. But, as someone else said, don’t look back. I am a grammar fanatic, but we are all so rushed these days, that typos are everywhere.
No, don’t email over a single typo.
You’re more likely to be remembered as “that applicant who emailed us over a single typo” than one of the many students with typos.