Worried about a rejection because of this

College Essays
1

<p>In one of my supplemental essays, I made a bad error. Instead of using a colon, I used a semi-colon. Here is the phrase in question:</p>

<p>"Sleek Sei whales blasted past the observation ship we were on; the fastest whales in the world, they can swim 22 km/h."</p>

<p>I feel TERRIBLE for not noticing this little error (I don't have very good eyesight).</p>

<p>Will I get rejected because of this? I am really worried...</p>

2

<p>Semicolon errors do NOT get you rejected from a college–honestly, admissions officers won’t hold it against you! It’s a simple typo, relax.</p>

<p>If this helps, I made a grammar error in my app to Tufts University this year and I STILL got accepted Early Decision. Loads of people do these kinds of things–and still get accepted. </p>

<p>Bottom line: You will not get rejected because of a semicolon error. I promise.</p>

3

<p>I agree with @DesiCollegeGal… You will never get rejected for such a petty issue…</p>

4

<p>Ok! Thanks! :slight_smile: Btw, congrats on your acceptance!</p>

5

<p>You might want to worry over the comma splice more, unless the rest of your essay doesn’t have any. I think the semicolon makes more grammatical sense anyway.</p>

6

<p>I agree. I don’t think a colon would have been correct, grammatically. So don’t worry about it. NO ONE will stumble over that sentence.</p>

<p>IN GENERAL (It’s a little more complicated, but this is the simple rule for colons vs semi-colons - from About.com):</p>

<p>

</p>

7

<p>An example of using a colon for a summary (vs a list): </p>

<p>They say that there’s only one difference between a hockey mom and a pit-bull: lipstick!</p>

8

<p>In one of my essays, I wrote “the” instead of “he.” I’m human, you’re human. It’s all good.</p>

9

<p>I don’t think a colon would have been correct there, anyway.</p>

10

<p>…wow</p>

11

<p>My son ended up having a small grammatical error in one of his top choices and was still admitted non-binding EA, so don’t let it worry you. If it’s a crap essay to begin with, then yes, a major problem, but even this former English teacher gives modest errors a pass. That said, overall, get another pair of eyes to edit before you post and press, “send.” (How many errors did I make in this post? ;)</p>

12

<p>The semi-colon works fine there.</p>