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personal statement error

Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2008 3:23 am
by rockwhj
I'm an international student having college in the states. I think maybe i'm somehow paranoid. Upon reviewing the personal statement i submitted to UM and Berkeley, in addition to the statement of objective, there is a spelling mistake. Just couldn't get this off my mind. Should I ask to resubmit the essay? Or I should just let it be. My other aspects of application are decent.

Re: personal statement error

Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2008 5:30 am
by tmc
I doubt they'll reject your application on the basis of a single spelling mistake

Re: personal statement error

Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2008 10:49 am
by admissionprof
I've read thousands of personal statements. It is rare to find one WITHOUT a spelling error. Don't worry about it (unless you spelled "physics" as "fizzix" everywhere...).

Re: personal statement error

Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2008 10:57 am
by rockwhj
thank you for replying. I think I'm just a little over-paranoid from the whole application business.

Re: personal statement error

Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2008 5:11 pm
by nonick
I spelled Josephson junctions as Jospehson in half of my applications... I hope they won't notice.

Re: personal statement error

Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2008 7:44 pm
by cato88
admissionprof wrote:I've read thousands of personal statements. It is rare to find one WITHOUT a spelling error. Don't worry about it (unless you spelled "physics" as "fizzix" everywhere...).
That might make your application stand out though. It sure would ingrain that persons name in my brain

Re: personal statement error

Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2008 7:54 pm
by naseermk
Ultimate Mistake: In my application to Stony Brook, I mentioned MSU instead of SUNY.

I sent a new one. I just applied yesterday, so, hopefully they haven't read it yet.

Re: personal statement error

Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 2:11 am
by dsperka
I mentioned Colorado in my Boston University application, was debating whether or not I should even send my test scores and transcripts. I did, but am pretty much sure my chances are zero now. Didn't know you can resubmit with online applications. How did you do it?

Re: personal statement error

Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 11:07 am
by rockwhj
if you believe that you have made major errors in your application, I think you can call the admission office or department office for correction, and arrange for submission via other ways, e.g. attachment in email.

Re: personal statement error

Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 11:54 pm
by naseermk
dsperka wrote:I mentioned Colorado in my Boston University application, was debating whether or not I should even send my test scores and transcripts. I did, but am pretty much sure my chances are zero now. Didn't know you can resubmit with online applications. How did you do it?
I just mailed in a new statement and wrote an email to the Dept. Asst. that there is a mistake in my PS.

I do not think that such a mistake could entirely ruin one's chances of getting in. After all, 4 years of work cannot be judged based on a single statement [and the error within it].

Re: personal statement error

Posted: Fri Dec 26, 2008 2:03 am
by twistor
OMG! You're fucked :(

Re: personal statement error

Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2009 10:12 pm
by mhazelm
I accidentally wrote Lie bracket instead of Poisson bracket for UC SB. Hehehe

Re: personal statement error

Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2009 11:55 pm
by YF17A
Ditto, I wrote "annihilation" instead of "decay" for my first 4 apps until I caught it. Although in some sense pi0-> e+ e- is an annihilation because the pion is a q/qbar state...but if I didn't notice it after reading over my statement literally 50 times, I'm sure no one on the committee will either.

Re: personal statement error

Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 11:19 pm
by Quantum Triviality
Well how about the biggest possible mistake? I know someone who submitted the SOP for school X to school Y... and he had mentioned many professors by name, so it wasn't just a little title change at the top.

Re: personal statement error

Posted: Thu May 20, 2010 10:51 am
by grae313
Just contact the school and explain the simple error and email a pdf file of the correct SOP. If you catch it early enough it's no big deal.

Re: personal statement error

Posted: Thu May 20, 2010 3:19 pm
by Quantum Triviality
grae313, I definitely agree with your advice.

However, my friend noticed immediately but was too ashamed so they didn't say anything. In my opinion that was just like lighting a $100 bill on fire for the hell of it.

Re: personal statement error

Posted: Thu May 20, 2010 7:09 pm
by grae313
Quantum Triviality wrote:grae313, I definitely agree with your advice.

However, my friend noticed immediately but was too ashamed so they didn't say anything. In my opinion that was just like lighting a $100 bill on fire for the hell of it.
Agreed.

Humans make mistakes (even the super awesome smart ones) and humans receiving applications know this.

Re: personal statement error

Posted: Fri May 21, 2010 2:43 am
by kroner
And it's not like it's a secret that we apply to multiple schools. They will not feel betrayed.

Re: personal statement error

Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2011 7:34 am
by Richwest
come down)) 90% that they won't even notice it.. except of fizzix, of course)))))))))))))))))))))))