Huge mistake on SOP

[Kcanuck]

Ok, after having spent weeks on my SOP for one school, dedicating all my time to writing a statement that demonstrated why that one school was such a good fit for me, I just realized that I spelled one of the professor's name wrong. His name ends with an S, but when I wrote about his influence on me, I put "Professor X's work" instead of "Professor Xs' work". Needless to say, I submitted the application online last night.

And I did it twice.

[slothy]

I'd say that's not huge.... it would have been huge if you had mentioned that professor in a statement for another school or something like that.

[t_ruth]

I'd relax about that one. People on here have posted that they put the wrong school name on their SOPs and still got in to that school, so I'd say this is pretty teeny tiny in the scheme of things.

[Kcanuck]

The reason I am panicking is that so much of the research I had done regarding writing a good SOP had indicated that spelling or grammar mistakes are a death sentence.

[frankdux]

The reason I am panicking is that so much of the research I had done regarding writing a good SOP had indicated that spelling or grammar mistakes are a death sentence.

for sociology? i dont know about that. for literature it would be a strike, but even for that, i don't think its a "death sentence."

imagine yourself on one of these committees. would you be that much of a conceited prick to toss away someone's entire application because of a single uncapitalized word or a misplaced apostrophe?

if someone had clear troubles with english grammar and submitted an SOP with a whole slew of mistakes, then yes i can understand.

[Kcanuck]

I guess you all make good points, I am just pretty upset because I thought I had written such a strong SOP. And my GPA, SOP and writing sample need to really stand out and be strong, given my very low GRE scores. (600V 560Q 5.0 AW) My GPA in my Master's was 4.0 and undergrad was nearly as high but I really worry that the mistake with the professor's name will make me look like I briefly looked over his work and randomly inserted his name into a generic SOP. I've cited him in so many essays over the years, too, which is what is so frustrating because I never made the same mistake in those essays!

Ok I'm rambling now, that usually happens when panic mode sets in.

[misterpat]

That is a pretty minor mistake. It is possible that someone could even miss that when reading, but even if they don't, one mistake is supposedly pretty forgivable.

[Astaroth]

They won't even notice.

[IvyHope]

Seriously, not a big deal. Writing the wrong name or something like that is much worse. You didn't even really misspell it that badly...

[Tritonetelephone]

I also agree that you have nothing to worry about. That's a very simple mistake - they won't hold it against you. I think the "spelling-and-grammar-death-sentence" is more about showing enough carelessness to make it obvious that you didn't even read over your SoP.

And your GRE scores aren't that bad! Have you seen the scores distributions for Sociology? If not, it's on the PowerPrep CD.

A 600V and 5.0W is what they'll be looking for (Edit: according to a soc professor of mine). They're used to soc students who are much weaker in math.

[Kcanuck]

Yes well the irony is that I have a Minor in Mathematics for my undergrad. I just have never taken standardized tests before (grad and undergrad in Canada) so I was very ill-prepared. Oh well!

[Dreams]

Yes well the irony is that I have a Minor in Mathematics for my undergrad.

Wanna talk about irony? How about I taught math at a higher level than what is on the GRE and still bombed it.

[Joel418]

Don't feel bad. In my SOP, I wrote that I am keenly aware "the Harvard's" and "the Princeton's" professional placement rates :roll:

At the grad-studies-application level, I would bet they're trying to find strong potential; they're not looking for reasons to toss out applications the way that potential employers might.

Best of luck!

[rising_star]

I almost want to change the subject line of this entire thread because it's so NOT a huge mistake. A huge mistake is naming the wrong professors or listing the wrong centers on campus. A huge mistake is telling them you want to study flying bananas instead of a particular species of flying monkey, etc.

[ridgey]

Feeling a touch masochistic, I went and re-read my SoP from my first application this round - incidentally my top choice programme. I realised I didn't even name the university once! There is a genuine "fit paragraph" with the name of the department (only slightly less generic than "Department of English") and the unique concentration this programme offers and the professor who makes this programme my top choice, yet not once did I actually specify Dream U by name.

D'oh!

I have a scary feeling this could have happened with at least one other SoP since. Double d'oh!

[misterpat]

Don't feel bad. In my SOP, I wrote that I am keenly aware "the Harvard's" and "the Princeton's" professional placement rates :roll:

Hahaha. I'll bet the person reading that laughed out loud.

[biginternational]

I once applied to a job and misspelled the company's name in the cover letter -- three times. At least it was consistent. In the case of the misspelled professor's name, it's plausible that many on an adcom won't even know how to spell all of their colleagues' names properly, so perhaps they won't notice.

[dagger]

As others have said, that is really not that egregious of a mistake at all.

I have one for you all though.....I mentioned how the University of Chicago would be a great fit for my career aspirations in my SOP to the University of Texas.

[nandelle]

Actually, technically you're in the right. When a name ends in an S, you add 's. When a plural noun ends in s, you use s'.

So if you wanted to say "the research of Dr. Hastings" that would be Dr. Hastings's research"

It's not required to write it this way, but it is preferred. So don't sweat it!

[thepoorstockinger]

The reason I am panicking is that so much of the research I had done regarding writing a good SOP had indicated that spelling or grammar mistakes are a death sentence.

I found three typos in my SOP for my second school. And the writing sample for my first and second schools both had huge errors in the final paragraph that made the whole conclusion totally non-sensical and I got into all three programs I applied to - two of which are very, very competitive Canadian schools for their fields (top three programs for the sub-fields for sure). I also got very good funding packages from all of them. I figure that the writing sample thing was just plain luck that it didn't tank me, but most schools are reading dozens if not hundreds of SOPs and I can't imagine a misplaced coma (which is actually technically correct anyway) will even be noticed. Even if it did matter there's nothing you can do now. You will be fine.

[psycholinguist]

One potential advisor who notified me of an acceptance spelled my name wrong...and I didn't even notice until the third time I read his email!

[orangepotato]

I had a rogue 's' on one of my SOPs, and I still got in! I think a tiny mistake doesn't mean an applicant is doomed.

[nandelle]

In the last sentence of my SoP to Minnesota I repeated the word "and". I didn't realize it until after I'd submitted it, and then I broke into a cold sweat and freaked out and refused to read any more SoPs after I submitted them. Fortunately I was admitted anyway - hopefully, if neither I nor my editors caught it, they didn't notice it either

[policy_applicant]

Actually, technically you're in the right. When a name ends in an S, you add 's. When a plural noun ends in s, you use s'.

So if you wanted to say "the research of Dr. Hastings" that would be Dr. Hastings's research"

It's not required to write it this way, but it is preferred. So don't sweat it!

I think the problem is that the OP wrote "Dr. Hasting's," as opposed to Dr. Hastings's, which would be correct. As others have said, I don't think this is a deal breaker at all.

Dagger, that's a pretty big typo. I'll definitely be paying attention to see if you still get in.

[darkestfog]

I wrote "George Tech" instead of "Georgia Tech" and still got in