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MISTAKE on personal statement!


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So upon review on my personal statement after submission I found a random question mark in the middle of a sentence that doesn't belong! This is despite proofreading several times before submission. Also the word document I wrote it on that I copied onto CASPA does not have the question mark. It almost looks like a formatting issue.. But it's so obvious! And it's in the beginning of the 2nd paragraph.

 

I'm assuming I have lost all my chances in getting in this year because of this, which is extremely upsetting.

 

I am going to mail revised versions to all the schools I applied to.. But is all hope really lost? I hate myself right now.

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As someone who works in academics and in clinical practice, and who reviews a LOT of application essays, I would first tell you to relax. You'd be surprised how many errors show up on people's essays. If you have a compelling essay, you're probably not going to get axed from any admissions decisions. (And, if you do get rejected because of a random question mark, and for no other reason, it's probably a sign of a pretty miserable place to go to school. :) )

 

Call CASPA and report the issue; then forget about it. You are being viewed as a total applicant - healthcare experience, grades, personal statement, references, etc.

 

And no, this is not something you should bring up in your interview. We're used to seeing errors from CASPA on the reviewing side, too.

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Call CASPA and report the issue; then forget about it. You are being viewed as a total applicant - healthcare experience, grades, personal statement, references, etc.

While I agree in general with everything in this post... I wouldn't even call CASPA to report it.  You can't do anything about it now, so relax and don't sweat it.

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Thank you for your responses! You all really helped me take a step back and calm down. I prepared and revised my personal statement several times and I felt really good about submitting it, and then I saw it! I don't plan on talking with CASPA since they can't change it anyway. I really have no idea where the question mark came from or what it could have replaced other than maybe an extra space or maybe a coma, but my other document doesn't have any of those issues. Well now we wait. Haha

 

University of Utah emailed me back regarding this and told me:

 

"Minor typographical errors will not affect review of your personal statement. We evaluate for content."

 

Which coincides with what Statko and Rev Ronin stated.

 

Thank you again!

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I agree with what everyone stated, but to comment on where it might have come from - did you copy/paste any of your PS into the site? In my experience I get question marks, boxes, or other wierd characters when copy/pasting text from one location to another sometimes, as not all systems you are pasting into recognize the system you copied from.

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  • 1 month later...

Thank you for your responses! You all really helped me take a step back and calm down. I prepared and revised my personal statement several times and I felt really good about submitting it, and then I saw it! I don't plan on talking with CASPA since they can't change it anyway. I really have no idea where the question mark came from or what it could have replaced other than maybe an extra space or maybe a coma, but my other document doesn't have any of those issues. Well now we wait. Haha

 

University of Utah emailed me back regarding this and told me:

 

"Minor typographical errors will not affect review of your personal statement. We evaluate for content."

 

Which coincides with what Statko and Rev Ronin stated.

 

Thank you again!

 

 

 

 

I also quadruple checked my personal statement and a random question mark is at the beginning of my third paragraph. =( I guess it may be a glitch. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

How big of a deal is the term "Physician's assistant" instead of "Physicians Assistant"?  I had so many people check and edit and one of them ended up in my personal statement.  I think this may have ruined my chances this cycle...

Well, its physician assistant. And its a pet peeve for some, but if you have a good application, they probably won't care. They might just confront you in the interview lol. 

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So I recently submitted a secondary application and included as part of my premed club experience that I went to my county's medical examiner's office and viewed 2 autopsies. Well, even after several proof readings I did not catch the fact that I accidently put BIOPSY instead of autopsy. I'm SOO upset I did not catch the error and really don't know how that slipped. Is it a HUGH deal?  Should I call the school and see if just maybe I could edit my secondary application? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

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