Typo in SOP. How serious would this be?

[IvanWang]

After the deadline, I happen to notice there's a typo in my SOP. 

"since at that time the size of each pixel was much smaller than the target and could out represent the whole space the target occupied anymore"

What I wanted to say is could not represent.

How serious is this typo? would it make this sentence unable to understand? Should I do something about it?

I'm so frustrated right now.

[Forest Owlet]

Relax! What you mean is fairly obvious. I'm sure half of the readers won't even notice the typo! I don't think you should do anything about it. I am not sure how program coordinators will react to requests for replacing documents due to minor typos, but I suspect that it's not going to be easy to get them to agree to do anything of the sort.

I had a minor issue in SOP which I was (still am, a little bit) panicking over.. but I googled and found out that it's not going to really matter. People have got in with far worse things. If it makes you feel any better, just google this.

Edited January 1, 2017 by Forest Owlet
Typo in my response :D

[hopefulPhD2017]

It's ok! We all do it. We also tend to read 2-3 letter words quickly and that is why you missed it; rest assured that some of your app readers will, too. 

If it helps make you feel better, I co-authored a book several years ago. I combed through that thing a zillion times. We had publishing and marketing folks on it. Yet, on p. 81, there is a @"$&!?! typo. A 2-letter word missing, to be exact. Argh!! I learned a lot from that experience.

If you're not done or there are others reading this who have yet to submit their statements, I'd like to share my process FWIW: 

For my 9 unique PhD statements, I had 3 levels of readers after I had finished a (what I thought was) solid SOP. 

Reader 1 (2 apps per reader): general feedback, confusions and clarifications needed, proofreading. 

I did serious revisions, then,

Reader 2 (4-5 apps per reader): proofreading only. 

I was really surprised by how many errors they found. I revised it again. I also read it OUT LOUD to listen for flow, and revised for that. I highly recommend doing this part if you have not. You'll be surprised by what you catch when you read your work out loud! Finally, just before I submitted it, I sent it to:

Reader 3 (one person): final proofreading only (no content comments, please). 

Reader 3 caught a few missing words and simple typos, as well as looked up what I should have in my headers (i.e., PhD vs Ph.D., which varied by program, and not something I caught or thought of on my own).

This whole process took a week and involved 10 people. I created a timeline and deadlines for each reader. Reader 1 was given 2 days, reader 2 had 2 days, and reader 3 just 1 day. I asked their permission ahead of time and explained which part of the assembly line they were in  ?

Finally, I converted the final SOP Word doc into a PDF and checked it one last time before I submitted it. This is important because sometimes the formatting was lost/changed when uploaded into the online applications as a Word doc. I noticed this with my CV as well, so while I'm pretty sure one tiny formatting error wouldn't disqualify us from acceptance, I do believe presentation matters. 

This system worked well and I feel really good about the way my statements turned out. I haven't gotten any official acceptances yet, but I do have an unofficial acceptance and an interview coming up. 

For readers, I asked my willing Dr. friends to edit my top choices, and then asked friends who'd finished a master's or were great readers. Everyone was happy to help!

I have already earned two graduate degrees (MA, Ed.M.), am a writing teacher, published technical author, fiction writer, and I earned a 6.0 on the GRE writing, and yet I still make careless errors. I've just learned that this is something I do, so I need help. I feel all of those experiences really helped me structure this SOP writing journey and application process, FWIW. 

I hope this process helps someone going forward. Good luck everyone!

[Forest Owlet]

@hopefulPhD2017: That is amazing (and also a bit Sheldonesque, if I may say so )

But seriously, if I don't get in anywhere this year and apply again, and I am totally going to dig up this post of yours!

[DBear]

I had 10 people look at mine as well with a process similar to @hopefulPhD2017 and still ended up with a typo!! One misplaced "I"

If 11 people (including myself) didn't notice it, I'm hoping the ad comm readers won't, either! Luckily the typo was in only 2 of my 7 applications and I found it before sending out the rest. I was feeling pretty bad about it. Still I felt pretty bad about it until the school that I submitted the typo SOP sent out a mass email with a glaring typo in it

I've seen numerous typos in school websites and mass emails, hoping school's will cut us all some slack. 

My friend found a typo in her SOP and still got admissions from 3+ English Literature programs it'll be okay (I hope)

[IvanWang]

On 2017/1/1 at 0:55 AM, Forest Owlet said:

Relax! What you mean is fairly obvious. I'm sure half of the readers won't even notice the typo! I don't think you should do anything about it. I am not sure how program coordinators will react to requests for replacing documents due to minor typos, but I suspect that it's not going to be easy to get them to agree to do anything of the sort.

I had a minor issue in SOP which I was (still am, a little bit) panicking over.. but I googled and found out that it's not going to really matter. People have got in with far worse things. If it makes you feel any better, just google this.

 

 

Thanks for your response. It really made me less upset after going through the google search.

[IvanWang]

On 2017/1/1 at 0:55 AM, Forest Owlet said:

Relax! What you mean is fairly obvious. I'm sure half of the readers won't even notice the typo! I don't think you should do anything about it. I am not sure how program coordinators will react to requests for replacing documents due to minor typos, but I suspect that it's not going to be easy to get them to agree to do anything of the sort.

I had a minor issue in SOP which I was (still am, a little bit) panicking over.. but I googled and found out that it's not going to really matter. People have got in with far worse things. If it makes you feel any better, just google this.

 

 

Thanks for your response. It really made me less upset after going through the google search.

[fadedfigures]

It happens. I noticed two typos in my statement to one of the schools. It happens. As long as the rest of your statement is solid, they will forgive an accidental mistype. 

[JuanitaYap]

This reminded me of the quote: I do my best proofreading after I hit "send"

I'm actually working at a proofreading company and I can say that it's common to make mistakes. Probably it won't matter that much after all (if your SOP is really well-written and structured) but I would still recommend you to ask somene to review your work before submitting: two heads are better than one  

Edited April 13, 2017 by TakeruK
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