Minor typo in personal statement! Please help!

[Anne436]

Hi all,

I am applying to PhD programs in I/O, and just finished all of my applications. However, after reviewing my statements today, I realized that I submitted it to a couple different schools with a sentence as follows: "...to ensure that their employees were as satisfied and comfortable, thus ultimately increasing the company’s overall productivity."

I meant to say "were as satisfied and comfortable as possible"! If only the "as" were omitted, my sentence would still make sense.

I feel that the rest of my statement is very strong, and I have a great deal of research experience, a 4.00 GPA, and a 1260 GRE score. Even with all of that, though, do you think that this typo will make them not take my personal statement/application seriously? I don't want all of my hard work to go to waste because of this stupid error! I am not sure if I should try and submit a new version of my statement with this corrected, or if I should just leave it alone.

Advice?!?

[dimanche0829]

I highly doubt any school would reject someone because of one typo, especially if your SOP is strong in its content and message. Besides, you won't be the first or last person to make such a small mistake. It has already been submitted, so just leave it alone.

Edited December 18, 2011 by dimanche0829

[neuropsych76]

I agree the above.

When you are going through the grad school process there are so many unknowns so any little mistake seems like a disaster. In reality, most little things such as typos do not matter at all

[socihealth]

I heard someone say that the Adcom has so many statements to read that they may "breeze through" even a great applicant's statement and not even notice typos. Even if they do notice, as pointed out above, for now there is nothing you can do to change it. Be confident in the SOP you submitted (it sounds like you wrote a great one and thought carefully about the content!). Try to rest and enjoy the holidays and get ready to be sent admissions decisions in the spring!