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screwed up big time on caspa application


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I just wanted to know how badly this is going to affect me if I listed the duties for my health care experiences and community services rather than writing them out in full sentences. I know now that listing is unprofessional and unfavorable as oppose to writing full sentences. I have already submitted my CASPA, and I am afraid this setback will significantly affect my chances of getting an interview? Any feedback, including comments just to make me feel better would be greatly appreciated. I am having a major panic attack over this. Thank you.:(

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I'm confused about listing vs. full sentences. What do you mean by listing? Like, for example, most resumes I have seen say something like, "Developed training materials and trained new employees." That isn't really listing or a full sentence. It it were a full sentence, it would have to say, "I developed training materials and trained new employees." "I" would then become redundant. I'm just a little confused. It might not be as bad as you think.

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You call that a screw up? Let me tell you what a screw up is...

 

As I was working on my CASPA application I started adding stuff as I thought of it. As I was doing this some of my hours got switched up and it stated that I shadowed a PA for 30+ hrs/wk for about 8 mo which was FAR from the actual number. Who would actually do THAT much shadowing? Long story short, I started a new CASPA form to put in the info how it should read, printed that page out and sent it to each program individually explaining what happened and telling them that the mistake made it look like I had WAY more shadowing experience than I actually did and I wanted to be honest about the mistake/hours.

 

I thought I had written myself a ticket to the next CASPA cycle. After all, everyone always told me how careful you need to be on your app because it shows attention to detail and such mistakes will kill your chances before you ever get a chance yada yada yada... I was shocked/amazed/RELIEVED when I started getting interview invites. I ended up getting invited to every program but one for an interview and got accepted to the first school that I interviewed at(I cancelled all my other interviews but one).

 

Moral to the story, relax. I'm sure it's not as bad as you think. The waiting period sucks as it is so don't add any more stress than necessary.

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Yea I am being melodramatic. This whole waiting period is already putting me on a edge so any imperfection or potential error (even the insignificant ones) just stressed me out today. But I am trying to relax as it could be a lot worse. Thanks for the reassurance.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I am having MAJOR CASPA panic errors feelings. I actually made a typo, which I did not catch when proofing. I listed the dates correctly, but instead of putting 180 weeks, it says 480 weeks. I can HARDLY believe it. Just so mad at myself. The job was over 10 years ago, and I must have changed my dates at some point- I have the original printed, and it has the correct weeks. ARGH!

 

Guess I'll be doing this again in a year....

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I am missing a lot right now, but assuming that you're pointing out that I am neurotic mess about this, well, you're right.:rolleyes: I have always hated waiting- esp when the stakes feel SO high. It feels like I don't stand a chance in hell given what I have seen on this forum- those super GRE scores, GPA s of 4.0...I thought I was okay, but now am seeing that I am so "just so-so" that it makes me...nuts.

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Thanks, Firemedic13, you are very sweet to this cowering puppy....

 

 

and I am going to do what he did. Just mad at myself. I now know how it happened- but still....grrrr.

 

How many times can I hum the jeprody theme song???

 

dadadadadadada dadadadadaaaaaa dadadadadadada da da dadadadada....

 

 

First off you are not just so-so. You are annikak, future PA extraordinaire!

 

Secondly, why don't you do what metallicat did up above. I'm sure it will be ok.

 

Third, I cannot imagine what the waiting is like. But cheer up, it should be over soon.

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  • 1 year later...

Haha.. This is a good thread. I too made a few of mistakes and didn't catch them til afterwards. One was actually pretty big, and I am planning on applying again next cycle. As someone stated above I was just kind of adding things as I went, here a little, there a little.. Well, somehow I totally spaced the shadowing duties. Months ago, just to put words in the empty box, I wrote something like "Assist the PA in any capacity as seen fit by him, and the organizations guidelines." And that's it.. literally that's it. A crappy single sentence.

 

Another mistake was spelling, not the end of the world, but I spelled 'clinic' as clinich.

 

And yet another was that I had stated that I had accrued over 80 hours of shadowing, yet elsewhere on the app I stated that I only had 40.

 

I looked over the app, my wife looked over the app, and we submitted it. Somehow neither of us catching those.

 

Oops. Life goes on.

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Well.. little did I know.. while I was writing the above message there was an email in my inbox from the admissions department of Saint Francis in Loretto. They want to interview me! Wahoo!

 

So, even with a seemingly large mistake and a couple other smaller ones on the application, I've still managed to impress them enough to want to interview me. Also let it be known that this year there are only 10 seats in the program. If they've chosen my mistake filled CASPA application and considered it good enough to have an interview, than I wouldn't really sweat it for you others.

 

Hope that helps calm your nerves a little.

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  • 8 years later...

It's about 50/50 apps who do bullets and those who do full sentences. Both are correct; it's not a mistake.

Nobody is a machine. Nobody is submitting a pristine application. There is a difference between a glaring, red flag mistake and an honest mistake. Everyone needs to take a deep breath.

Now if you  wrote Physician Assistant as "Physician's Assistant" everywhere on your app, I'd be more concerned. 😉

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