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Will Essay mistake sink me?

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mooze
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Will Essay mistake sink me? [#permalink] New post   06 Jan 2012, 14:20
I applied to Yale,...in the weakness essay i listed a number of Yale resources that would help me overcome my particular weakness, including a reference to how the "raw" case trips would help me advocate etc, etc. Only thing is, there is no raw case trip,...i meant to say raw case approach, method. I made this last minute change, must have had something else in my head at the time, perhaps the international trips, but i reviewed the essay many times. The rest of it is rather good.

I also made mention to the "raw" case in the Why MBA? essay. In that scenario I referred to it as "raw" case projects.

Will this sink the Yale app? On the face, it may seem minor,...but i'm really worried because the essays hinge on your credibility. If you make a mistake like that,....i don't know what that says.
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Re: Will Essay mistake sink me? [#permalink] New post   06 Jan 2012, 15:07
Don't worry about it. It will most likely go unnoticed. Do you really think that an Adcom with drop your application all together just for one small mistake (half mistake actually)?

This is a true example of why you should NEVER reread your essays after applying. At that point it is out of your hands, and you should only reread them in a re-apply scenario, or when you've been accepted.

I know its hard, but try not to worry about it. There are multiple posts on this forum about people switching the names of business schools, or making multiple smelling mistakes, or just flat out having poor essays, and still getting into top schools. You're just going to have to let it roll off your sholders. I would predict that almost 25% of essays have some type of error in them, and 5% or more have big errors in them. Don't worry about it. This type of mistake won't keep you out of school. My advice, stop reading your essays.

Best of luck! Let us know how it turns out
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Re: Will Essay mistake sink me? [#permalink] New post   06 Jan 2012, 15:34
You should be fine.

When I applied to Johnson, my legacy essay was initially about forming the Johnson Sports Business Club, otherwise known as JSB. After some discussions with a number of current students/alums, I realized that creating a new club is not the way to go as there are already way too many clubs for such a small community. And so, I decided to just talk about expanding the Media and Entertainment Club by adding a branch for Sports Business, thereby creating the Media, Entertainment and Sports (MES) Club. Since the essay had been written prior to making this change, I had to switch all JSB's to MES.

I guess I missed one JSB, so when I reread my essay, I noticed that there's a JSB that stuck out with no reference whatsoever to what JSB was supposed to stand for. Because of this, I worried that Johnson would think that I copy-pasted from an essay for a different school.

On December 19th, I received a call from the Director of Admissions, informing me that they had decided to accept me. I worried over nothing after all.

GMATLA is right. You should never reread your essays. If there is nothing else that you can do about it, you should not even bother looking for any errors. Instead, you should just focus on the other things that you can still affect.
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Re: Will Essay mistake sink me? [#permalink] New post   06 Jan 2012, 22:03
Who can help me?

Terribly I wrote A MBA for B MBA which is a disaster to A application. So can i write the letter to update my essay due to some reasons?

Felt disappointed...........
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Re: Will Essay mistake sink me? [#permalink] New post   07 Jan 2012, 07:14
I appreciate the response guys,....the reason I was/am so nervous is because we're told over and over that the adcoms can spot fakeness. And I just felt that, while my essays showed what I wanted from an MBA and I connected that to Yale's specific resources,...in the mind of the adcom that one error might betray a more superficial knowledge of Yale on my part. So I was concerned that the error was small in itself, but large in what it signifies about my knowledge of Yale. I hope you all are right, and this is much ado about nothing,...but it still makes me a bit nervous.
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Re: Will Essay mistake sink me? [#permalink] New post   07 Jan 2012, 09:25
@mumu1986

You will have to be more specific. I'm unsure what you are referring to. Aren't there other (more important) parts of the application to select if you were an A or B applicant?

@mooze

I just want to say that I totally understand how you feel. Just remember though, it is SO easy for YOU to take one little mistake and think how it is going to blow up your WHOLE application. This is not the case with Adcoms. They have read thousands of essays, and have seen every mistake under the sun. They understand that there will be errors, that people are working on multiple essays, and truly have different goals and ideas depending on which school they are fortunate enough to get accepted to. The goal is that you want them to say "we want this guy before anyone else snatches him up".

Just don't beat yourself up over it. There is no way that one small spellling mistake will make them question your entire application and authenticity. It just won't... so try to let it go, and let us know how it turns out! Best of luck!
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Re: Will Essay mistake sink me? [#permalink] New post   07 Jan 2012, 12:02
mumu1986 wrote:
Who can help me?

Terribly I wrote A MBA for B MBA which is a disaster to A application. So can i write the letter to update my essay due to some reasons?

Felt disappointed...........


If you mean that you wrote "Booth MBA" in place of "Kellogg MBA" and submitted it to Kellogg, well then sorry mate, but you're out of luck and I don't think anyone can help..

You might want to try reaching out to the ad-com but since its such an obvious copy-paste fail, I'm not sure how much would they entertain you..

Tough luck! All the best!
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Re: Will Essay mistake sink me? [#permalink] New post   07 Jan 2012, 12:08
scorpionz wrote:
mumu1986 wrote:
Who can help me?

Terribly I wrote A MBA for B MBA which is a disaster to A application. So can i write the letter to update my essay due to some reasons?

Felt disappointed...........


If you mean that you wrote "Booth MBA" in place of "Kellogg MBA" and submitted it to Kellogg, well then sorry mate, but you're out of luck and I don't think anyone can help..

You might want to try reaching out to the ad-com but since its such an obvious copy-paste fail, I'm not sure how much would they entertain you..

Tough luck! All the best!


Yes that's unfortunate.. that's why when I finalize my essays I also do a search just in case.. e.g. I do a keyword search for Haas, Berkeley, UCLA, etc if I reuse materials..
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Re: Will Essay mistake sink me? [#permalink] New post   08 Jan 2012, 03:49
mumu1986 wrote:
Who can help me?

Terribly I wrote A MBA for B MBA which is a disaster to A application. So can i write the letter to update my essay due to some reasons?

Felt disappointed...........

wow. That's a sure fire downer. Unfortunate.
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Re: Will Essay mistake sink me? [#permalink] New post   08 Jan 2012, 13:07
krazo wrote:
scorpionz wrote:
mumu1986 wrote:
Who can help me?

Terribly I wrote A MBA for B MBA which is a disaster to A application. So can i write the letter to update my essay due to some reasons?

Felt disappointed...........


If you mean that you wrote "Booth MBA" in place of "Kellogg MBA" and submitted it to Kellogg, well then sorry mate, but you're out of luck and I don't think anyone can help..

You might want to try reaching out to the ad-com but since its such an obvious copy-paste fail, I'm not sure how much would they entertain you..

Tough luck! All the best!


Yes that's unfortunate.. that's why when I finalize my essays I also do a search just in case.. e.g. I do a keyword search for Haas, Berkeley, UCLA, etc if I reuse materials..


Or have a fresh set of eyes read the essays for you. After working on your essays for weeks, there are a lot of errors that become undetectable to you.
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Re: Will Essay mistake sink me? [#permalink] New post   09 Jan 2012, 08:10
Oh God,...I found another error on a different app. I really should have listened to you guys about not re-reading essays.

This one was a career setback essay,...i discussed a time i got laid off,...in the essay i mention that i got laid off after working 14 months on this job. In the optional essay, i addressed a bit of an employment gap due to this layoff,..but i said layoff was after 13 months on the job (which is the correct figure). Again the rest of the essays are good,...but holy crap,..i don't know whats happening to me. How could i miss so many things?
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Re: Will Essay mistake sink me? [#permalink] New post   09 Jan 2012, 08:38
Man I hate these kinds of mistakes! :P

GMATLA wrote:
Don't worry about it. It will most likely go unnoticed. Do you really think that an Adcom with drop your application all together just for one small mistake (half mistake actually)?

This is a true example of why you should NEVER reread your essays after applying. At that point it is out of your hands, and you should only reread them in a re-apply scenario, or when you've been accepted.

I know its hard, but try not to worry about it. There are multiple posts on this forum about people switching the names of business schools, or making multiple smelling mistakes, or just flat out having poor essays, and still getting into top schools. You're just going to have to let it roll off your sholders. I would predict that almost 25% of essays have some type of error in them, and 5% or more have big errors in them. Don't worry about it. This type of mistake won't keep you out of school. My advice, stop reading your essays.

Best of luck! Let us know how it turns out
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Re: Will Essay mistake sink me? [#permalink] New post   09 Jan 2012, 08:40
mooze wrote:
Oh God,...I found another error on a different app. I really should have listened to you guys about not re-reading essays.

This one was a career setback essay,...i discussed a time i got laid off,...in the essay i mention that i got laid off after working 14 months on this job. In the optional essay, i addressed a bit of an employment gap due to this layoff,..but i said layoff was after 13 months on the job (which is the correct figure). Again the rest of the essays are good,...but holy crap,..i don't know whats happening to me. How could i miss so many things?


Stop re-reading! What's done is done. There's nothing you can do about it now, it's out of your hands. If you don't get in this year, you can go back and re-read everything with an eye for this kind of stuff. For now you're just torturing yourself.
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Re: Will Essay mistake sink me? [#permalink] New post   09 Jan 2012, 08:44
joerandom wrote:
mooze wrote:
Oh God,...I found another error on a different app. I really should have listened to you guys about not re-reading essays.

This one was a career setback essay,...i discussed a time i got laid off,...in the essay i mention that i got laid off after working 14 months on this job. In the optional essay, i addressed a bit of an employment gap due to this layoff,..but i said layoff was after 13 months on the job (which is the correct figure). Again the rest of the essays are good,...but holy crap,..i don't know whats happening to me. How could i miss so many things?


Stop re-reading! What's done is done. There's nothing you can do about it now, it's out of your hands. If you don't get in this year, you can go back and re-read everything with an eye for this kind of stuff. For now you're just torturing yourself.


Yeah,..i've definitely learned my lesson. No more re-reading. How serious do you think that last error was?
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Re: Will Essay mistake sink me? [#permalink] New post   09 Jan 2012, 08:48
mooze wrote:
joerandom wrote:
mooze wrote:
Oh God,...I found another error on a different app. I really should have listened to you guys about not re-reading essays.

This one was a career setback essay,...i discussed a time i got laid off,...in the essay i mention that i got laid off after working 14 months on this job. In the optional essay, i addressed a bit of an employment gap due to this layoff,..but i said layoff was after 13 months on the job (which is the correct figure). Again the rest of the essays are good,...but holy crap,..i don't know whats happening to me. How could i miss so many things?


Stop re-reading! What's done is done. There's nothing you can do about it now, it's out of your hands. If you don't get in this year, you can go back and re-read everything with an eye for this kind of stuff. For now you're just torturing yourself.


Yeah,..i've definitely learned my lesson. No more re-reading. How serious do you think that last error was?


To be fair, I'm obviously not sitting on an adcom. But it doesn't seem like a big deal to me. If it's an issue to the adcom they might ask you to clarify in an interview. I can't imagine that that's the kind of thing that makes or breaks an application though. Yale didn't get to where it is now by turning down great candidates for stupid reasons.
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Re: Will Essay mistake sink me? [#permalink] New post   09 Jan 2012, 08:58
joerandom wrote:
To be fair, I'm obviously not sitting on an adcom. But it doesn't seem like a big deal to me. If it's an issue to the adcom they might ask you to clarify in an interview. I can't imagine that that's the kind of thing that makes or breaks an application though. Yale didn't get to where it is now by turning down great candidates for stupid reasons.


I hope you're right brother....i applied to 6 schools,...lets hope one of them takes me. Yeah, i think i',m freaking out because i tried so hard to make all the apps flawless so that I could just relax after submitting them without any regrets. Looks like that plan backfired.
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Re: Will Essay mistake sink me? [#permalink] New post   09 Jan 2012, 10:15
mooze wrote:
joerandom wrote:
mooze wrote:
Oh God,...I found another error on a different app. I really should have listened to you guys about not re-reading essays.

This one was a career setback essay,...i discussed a time i got laid off,...in the essay i mention that i got laid off after working 14 months on this job. In the optional essay, i addressed a bit of an employment gap due to this layoff,..but i said layoff was after 13 months on the job (which is the correct figure). Again the rest of the essays are good,...but holy crap,..i don't know whats happening to me. How could i miss so many things?


Stop re-reading! What's done is done. There's nothing you can do about it now, it's out of your hands. If you don't get in this year, you can go back and re-read everything with an eye for this kind of stuff. For now you're just torturing yourself.


Yeah,..i've definitely learned my lesson. No more re-reading. How serious do you think that last error was?


It's not a big deal at all. It's not like you said 13 months in one essay and then stated that it was three years in the other.
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Re: Will Essay mistake sink me? [#permalink] New post   09 Jan 2012, 14:54
threestripes wrote:
It's not a big deal at all. It's not like you said 13 months in one essay and then stated that it was three years in the other.


I hope you're right threestripes. Thanks buddy,...i honestly don't know how I'll survive the waiting period,...i only submitted my apps last week and i'm already a nervous wreck.
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Re: Will Essay mistake sink me? [#permalink] New post   09 Jan 2012, 15:11
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My advice, ask the people around you (friends, family, spouse, etc..) to just refuse to talk with you about. It helps when the people around your are there to try to take your mind off it.

Also, find things that help you with your stress. The gym is great, reading a book, doing activities with friends any family, etc...

And if you really can't hold out, it might be time to pick up a drinking habit... haha, but seriously, life is too short to sit around worrying. B/C as soon as you get accepted there will be the next thing to "worry" about. This is a big deal in your life, we know that, and it is for all of us, but once you get into school you will have to manage your stress there too.

Good luck, and come back by the forums for support

PS. The errors that you listed in your essays are seriously no big deal... Just forget about them... if everything else in your app is good, errors like that mean nothing. They want overall great people for their program... A couple errors will not stop you from being an overall great candidate, student, and person. They know that...
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Re: Will Essay mistake sink me? [#permalink] New post   09 Jan 2012, 15:14
GMATLA wrote:
My advice, ask the people around you (friends, family, spouse, etc..) to just refuse to talk with you about. It helps when the people around your are there to try to take your mind off it.

Also, find things that help you with your stress. The gym is great, reading a book, doing activities with friends any family, etc...

And if you really can't hold out, it might be time to pick up a drinking habit... haha, but seriously, life is too short to sit around worrying. B/C as soon as you get accepted there will be the next thing to "worry" about. This is a big deal in your life, we know that, and it is for all of us, but once you get into school you will have to manage your stress there too.

Good luck, and come back by the forums for support

PS. The errors that you listed in your essays are seriously no big deal... Just forget about them... if everything else in your app is good, errors like that mean nothing. They want overall great people for their program... A couple errors will not stop you from being an overall great candidate, student, and person. They know that...


feel like this should be a sticky... great post. 8-)
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Re: Will Essay mistake sink me? [#permalink]
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