AMCAS Statement Formatting Problem

[Spidey_ss2]

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Hi everyone, this is my first post. I've been here a few times during the year for some helpful information, but I've got a question for anyone that can help. I recently submitted my AMCAS application. When I went to print the application, I noticed that my essay was in a big block with no line spacing, pargraph indentations, etc. I found it odd, since I manually added in the indentations after I pasted from Word (which I now know was a mistake). I can understand if there is no line spacing between pargraphs, but I was curious why there was no spacing in front of paragraphs. Anyway, a friend who was also turning in the AMCAS and I both had the same problem, so we just assumed it was a formatting thing on the print your application page that caused it to look like a block. Tonight, I found out that I should have reformated my essay in another place, then re-entered it and it would have had spacing. Now that it's submitted, I don't know what to do. Has anyone else encountered this, and if so, is it just tough luck? I know I should have been more careful, so I'll just have to accept it if there's nothing I can do and hope I'm not too screwed. Thanks in advance.

 

[sg4runner]

Don't worry, I'm sure you and your friend are not the only ones who have done this, and I'm sure admissions committees understand and will not hold anything against you. The AMCAS essay format is weird in that no indentations show up in the final version. What I did was just press "enter" twice and create a blank line in between each paragraph, and it only counts as 2 spaces or something.

In any case, you're definitely not screwed. Good luck

 

[Spidey_ss2]

Thanks for your reply, I think I can feel more at ease now.

 

[jlee9531]

yeah this is normal. every year same problem.
so instead of indentations just put a space between the paragraphs and you will be good to go. and make sure you go back and check your quotation marks, apostrophes and stuff like that if you made any...because when you cut and paste...sometimes the AMCAS changes it into a ? or something. But its normal. Schools all realise this, and some school secondaries also do the same thing with the same type of errors and they all know about it.

 

[kiki the alto]

Dammit, wish I would have read this thread before submitting...I would have fixed that. I hope the schools understand...

 

[doctorhuxtable]

yeah this is normal. every year same problem.
so instead of indentations just put a space between the paragraphs and you will be good to go. and make sure you go back and check your quotation marks, apostrophes and stuff like that if you made any...because when you cut and paste...sometimes the AMCAS changes it into a ? or something. But its normal. Schools all realise this, and some school secondaries also do the same thing with the same type of errors and they all know about it.

I have that exact problem. AMCAS changed a couple of dashes into question marks and I didn't catch it. So you're saying that the schools know this and won't hold it against me?