Spelling Errors in PhD Application

[Nychopeful7767]

How severely can 2 spelling errors affect one's PhD admission? I just realized that I made 2 non-repetitive misspellings in an optional supporting document sent to NYU Steinhardt. Is it worth going through damage control with Graduate Admissions, or leave the situation as is?

[Strangefox]

How severely can 2 spelling errors affect one's PhD admission? I just realized that I made 2 non-repetitive misspellings in an optional supporting document sent to NYU Steinhardt. Is it worth going through damage control with Graduate Admissions, or leave the situation as is?

Don't worry, it's unlikely that your mistakes can influence adcoms' decisions. I hope these typos are not in your potential advisors' names? I would contact the program and try to change a SOP only in that case, I guess. But I have heard about applicants who were accepted even when they had made such kind of mistakes, so I really don't think that your two typos will be a problem. Relax and good luck!

[Strangefox]

How severely can 2 spelling errors affect one's PhD admission? I just realized that I made 2 non-repetitive misspellings in an optional supporting document sent to NYU Steinhardt. Is it worth going through damage control with Graduate Admissions, or leave the situation as is?

Also, have a look at this thread:

EDIT: So now I have noticed that your mistakes are NOT in your SOP

That means that you really have nothing to worry about.

Edited December 20, 2010 by Strangefox

[Nychopeful7767]

Also, have a look at this thread:

EDIT: So now I have noticed that your mistakes are NOT in your SOP

That means that you really have nothing to worry about.

Thanks for the input.

Yes, it thankfully wasn't my SOP. But it was a pronounced subtitle in the optional supporting document. I can't imagine being denied admission for it, but I am concerned that the selection committee would deem the misspellings as signs of carelessness. These errors irk me since I read through everything AT LEAST 5 times and SpellCheck didn't catch them. >.< /sigh

[katerific]

Don't worry about it. They might notice and be like, "hmm, so-and-so made a spelling error," but I seriously doubt they'd make any sort of decision based on that. If the rest of the package looks good, you should be fine. Everyone makes typos every once and a while, and they can be easily missed, even after checking a million times (they probably get harder to catch after the hundredth time, too ).

[Strangefox]

(they probably get harder to catch after the hundredth time, too ).

Exactly! I have read my SOP for about 100 times and still managed to miss a tiny mistake! I decided not to worry too much about it

[Nychopeful7767]

StrangeFox: In all of my sleepiness, I accidentally clicked the Red button and apparently voted your post down. Haha. Sorry about that! There are no Undo features on here.

Katerific: Thanks for sharing! Just needed to hear others' thoughts. =)

Exactly! I have read my SOP for about 100 times and still managed to miss a tiny mistake! I decided not to worry too much about it

[Strangefox]

StrangeFox: In all of my sleepiness, I accidentally clicked the Red button and apparently voted your post down. Haha. Sorry about that! There are no Undo features on here.

No problem. As it was an accident, I have just undone that myself

Edited December 20, 2010 by Strangefox