SOP Error, Please Help

[CBrown]

Hello,

I've been applying to clinical psychology graduate programs, which have notoriously low acceptance rates, even as grad programs go. I have worked meticulously on my applications for the last several months, and was editing my sixth statement of purpose/intent when I noticed I had referred to the scholarship I applied to as 'Canadian Health Institute of Health Research' instead of 'Canadian Institute of Health Research.'

I've probably read this statement at least 100 times and had it edited by my current supervisor (I must have added the error after I added his track changes, as it was not present in my first draft or the track changes draft). I can't believe I made such a stupid error, but I have a question from those who have been accepted. What kind of error is this, and is it a kiss of death? It is neither a grammatical or spelling error, and I guess I thought it flowed enough to not catch it either, which I'm really upset about since it seems so careless now. Will this be a kiss of death for the five schools I already sent it to? I guess I'm glad I caught it for the remaining two, but this is a huge blow to my confidence about being accepted.

Any thoughts or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated!

- C

[obrera]

I don't think it is the end of the world; that being said, they might wonder about your proofreading skills. I don't think you should panic about it, though. It's good you caught it. If the deadlines have just passed, I would email and ask if you can correct your SOP, although I am not sure if doing that would just make it worse.

[Bearcat1]

Adcoms know we are human and I'm sure 99% of the Statements they read have some kind of error. It is clearly a mistake, rather than something you don't know or are unaware of that will be glaring. I don't think it's a big deal at all.

[CBrown]

Thanks for the feedback, I have read some other topics on here about similar issues and there seems to be a lot of conflicting info on whether it's good to try and give another SI (in my case the deadlines have spanned for weeks so for a few it'd be really obvious), and some say that departments will actually show both to admissions, and other people have had theirs replaced. Either way I'm mainly embarrassed, but I hope it's the kind of thing that can be read logically..

[DarwinAG]

If it can be appended, then make the correction. If it can't be appended let it go. Turn it in and let it go.

One of the best advice I've received in these forums is that one of the top skills you should learn in academia is the ability to turn something in and move on.

[bamafan]

I wouldn't bother with it honestly; it would draw attention to an error that the grad adcom themselves may not notice.

[CBrown]

Okay, I'll try not to worry so much what's done is done I suppose, and now I wait..