Hmm, should I be concerned about the background check?

Question

I've been accepted to Columbia ED and recently discovered that I had a typo on my  starting  salary in the application. My current salary ($85k) and bonus are correctly stated, but I accidentally put $50k as the starting instead of $40k.

My concern is with the background check, that it would throw a red flag. On the other hand, I'm not sure if it would be a cause for concern, as a rise from $40k to $85k seems more impressive to me than a rise from $50k to $85k.

I'd prefer not to bring it up unless they call with concerns (assuming my company even releases the salary info), at which point I'd just say it was a typo.

Any thoughts are much appreciated.

wiredo · Answer

Do you have a strong reason why you'd NOT want to bring this up with the admissions office? I mean, if you've identified a typo and are doing the right thing in bringing this to the school's attention, I don't see why it's a problem. I wouldn't think this typo is a big deal (you didn't say your current salary is 850k when it's 85k), but calling the school up and letting them know will help ease your mind.

Just my $0.02

piggles · Answer

Don't worry about it. Call admissions and tell them; a typo is easily explainable. They're looking to catch people who have significantly misrepresented their pasts. If you worked at company X, but instead said you founded company Y, registered a domain name, built a fake website, and then forged letters of recommendations from two fake clients at other fake companies, then you need to worry.

EBM · Answer

That's a pretty minor detail--unless you were deliberately trying to mislead them for some reason I don't think it's a big deal. If it would ease your mind you could call them and tell them you made a typo, but I don't think it's worth worrying about.

I know my salaries aren't 100% correct because of times where my pay was tax-free or when I received incentive pays or allowances for a few months out of the year, but I made a good effort to be as close as I could.

redjam · Answer

I don't think you have anything to worry about. I had to convert my starting salary to US dollars so depending on the exchange rate it would have fluctuated a fair bit. I wouldn't worry about it and as others have suggested you can call the admissions office if it eases your mind.

Hmm, should I be concerned about the background check?

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards