Name mismatch- expanded initial

[TARDIS]

HI all,

Here is how my name appears in various documents,

 

(1) Transcripts, GRE, publications, patents etc.-  firstname T. surname     (T.- initial)

(2) Passport and TOEFL- firstname TXXXX surname                                (TXXXX- expanded version of the inital T in name(1) )

where TXXXX is the father name.

 

I am going to use name(2)  for the applications. So how do I let the adcom people know of the name (1), so that there wont be any issues in pairing the received GRE scores, transripts etc. with my application? Where can I specify this in the application? Am I supposed to mention this in SOP and resume also?

 

Plz leave your suggestions here.

[TakeruK]

You don't have to mention it in your SOP or CV or anything. This change will not cause any problems at all with human readers. This is because when you tell them your GRE score or when you attach the transcript, a human will clearly know that First T. Last is the same as First TXXX Last. 

 

However, you might run into a problem with computers correctly auto-matching your documents with your applications. I had this problem at one school, my middle name is two words, let's say it's "One Two". In some documents, my name instead appears as "One-Two" or "OneTwo" or "One". At one school, after you submit your application, you get login info to check the status of arrival of things like GRE scores. I noticed that at this school, my Transcripts and GRE score status said "Not Received" for several weeks after they should have been received. When I emailed the school to check, a person confirmed that they do have the right GRE/transcript attached to my file since day one, however, the computer that auto-updates the status failed to match "One-Two" as the same name as "One Two". They said they never bother correcting the online status display but there was nothing I needed to worry about.

 

And for publications/patents, you don't have to explicitly say that your name is different. In fact, a ton of people publish with names that are not their legal names because there is no requirement to publish under your legal name. What you should do is list your published materials in your CV with the name that appears in the journal. The convention in my field is to put your own name in bold when listing your publications to indicate which one is you. In my applications, I list my full name but I never publish with my middle initials. 

[ashiepoo72]

In the basic information section of applications there generally is a place where you can fill in other names your material may come under. I had the same problem as TakeruK except with my last name, so I just wrote in the different iterations on the online application form. I emailed a school that does not have a space for other names and asked them if it would be a problem, and they said no.

 

Best of luck!