Error on activity hours

[asdfjkl12321]

So while inputting my activities, I changed an entry at the last min to a clinical volunteering thing that I'd done, but I forgot to change the hours at the time and was going to come back and correct it after getting the right ones. Clearly forgot to do that.

I was in the middle of contacting all my schools about it, but I also keep seeing threads saying that I should just not bring negative attention to these types of errors because it will end up disproportionately hurting me. Hearing all these diff opinions is making me really confused and stressed.

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[wysdoc]

So while inputting my activities, I changed an entry at the last min to a clinical volunteering thing that I'd done, but I forgot to change the hours at the time and was going to come back and correct it after getting the right ones. Clearly forgot to do that. So now I have 320hrs in clinical hours that I should only have like 100hrs in.

I was in the middle of contacting all my schools about it, so I literally already told like 2 of them about this error, but I also keep seeing threads saying that I should just not bring negative attention to these types of errors because it will end up disproportionately hurting me. Hearing all these diff opinions is making me really confused and stressed. In a bit of a pickle as to whether I should continue notifying schools or just let it be. I heard that schools talk to each other and I don't want it to end up with a school finding out through the grapevine and getting me kicked out, blacklisted, sent to hell, etc.

I also wanted to note that I had quite a strong application overall and I was applying to some really good schools. Overall, would they view my correction in a really bad light when they might've just not cared if I hadn't brought attention to it? I don't mind fessing up to my mistake, but I guess I'm just scared of overshadowing all the rest of my hard work over the years because this dumb mistake brought a ton of bad light to me

There's nothing you can do now so forgive yourself and move on

 

[asdfjkl12321]

There's nothing you can do now so forgive yourself and move on

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[GoSpursGo]

I heard that schools talk to each other and I don't want it to end up with a school finding out through the grapevine and getting me kicked out, blacklisted, sent to hell, etc.

That's preposterous. Schools barely have time to review their own applications. Nobody is sitting around the table at a conference and asking "Hey, so what did you think of asdfjkl12321's application?"

If there is an appropriate place to list this on a secondary (ie "Anything else we should know," a place for you to re-input your activities, etc), then correct the error there. Similarly, if invited to interview then it is probably good form to find a way to address this with those schools, since there is some chance it could get caught as they verify your activities prior to an admissions decision. But I think it is way overkill to proactively email every single school on your list about this.

 

[asdfjkl12321]

That's preposterous. Schools barely have time to review their own applications. Nobody is sitting around the table at a conference and asking "Hey, so what did you think of asdfjkl12321's application?"

If there is an appropriate place to list this on a secondary (ie "Anything else we should know," a place for you to re-input your activities, etc), then correct the error there. Similarly, if invited to interview then it is probably good form to find a way to address this with those schools, since there is some chance it could get caught as they verify your activities prior to an admissions decision. But I think it is way overkill to proactively email every single school on your list about this.

Thank you so much for your reply! I was also just wondering how badly does having to make this big of a correction look with my app overall? I feel like my app is strong but I'm also applying a bit top-heavy. The applicants there are all so qualified, so I'm scared I killed all my chances with this error. Mostly asking to see if I should mentally prepare to reapply next cycle cuz I'm a lil worried ab my chances of getting interviews at all.....

Also, a lot of schools have a place to upload update files. Could I just upload a short paragraph there? Would they see the update as they are doing reviews or will they ignore that until if/after I get interview?

 

[GoSpursGo]

Thank you so much for your reply! I was also just wondering how badly does having to make this big of a correction look with my app overall? I feel like my app is strong but I'm also applying a bit top-heavy. The applicants there are all so qualified, so I'm scared I killed all my chances with this error. Mostly asking to see if I should mentally prepare to reapply next cycle cuz I'm a lil worried ab my chances of getting interviews at all.....

Also, a lot of schools have a place to upload update files. Could I just upload a short paragraph there? Would they see the update as they are doing reviews or will they ignore that until if/after I get interview?

As @wysdoc said, there is nothing that you can do at this point. I do not think a typo is going to be the reason that you are not accepted.

I do not think this is worth updating schools about at this stage, regardless of the format in which you might consider doing so, unless there is an explicit place where it would make sense to do so on a secondary application.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Thank you so much for your reply! I was also just wondering how badly does having to make this big of a correction look with my app overall? I feel like my app is strong but I'm also applying a bit top-heavy. The applicants there are all so qualified, so I'm scared I killed all my chances with this error. Mostly asking to see if I should mentally prepare to reapply next cycle cuz I'm a lil worried ab my chances of getting interviews at all.....

Also, a lot of schools have a place to upload update files. Could I just upload a short paragraph there? Would they see the update as they are doing reviews or will they ignore that until if/after I get interview?

As mentioned, there's really nothing you can do. If you made a mistake of an error of magnitude, we'll look it over and consider it that way.

Honestly though, quantity just lets your app jump over the screen. Quality will judge you after that. If you made a gross error by saying you did 10K hours, the narrative description of your responsibilities and the dates served will help us figure out what's going on and if you could do 10K hours in a year (which you can't).

 

[asdfjkl12321]

As mentioned, there's really nothing you can do. If you made a mistake of an error of magnitude, we'll look it over and consider it that way.

Honestly though, quantity just lets your app jump over the screen. Quality will judge you after that. If you made a gross error by saying you did 10K hours, the narrative description of your responsibilities and the dates served will help us figure out what's going on and if you could do 10K hours in a year (which you can't).

is it that schools wouldn’t see my updates if I tried notifying them or that it would just make things worse? Would I just try to correct it if asked in interview?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

is it that schools wouldn’t see my updates if I tried notifying them or that it would just make things worse? Would I just try to correct it if asked in interview?

I can't answer for all the schools you applied to. If you decide to reach out, just be careful.

 

[asdfjkl12321]

I can't answer for all the schools you applied to. If you decide to reach out, just be careful.

Oh uh what do you mean by be careful? Like my word choices??

 

[LizzyM]

If you want more specific advice, you might use the Confidential Forum. There you can tell us the number of hours that are showing for the clinical volunteering and what the correct number of hours should have been. If the hours seems preposterous, I can see where you might be concerned. (No one does 2,000 hours of hospital volunteering but you might have worked that many hours as a full-time employee for a year at a non-clinical job and now you are worried to have 2,000 hours of clinical volunteering on your application).

Edit: Thanks for clarifying in the confidential forum. Given that the hours were not drastically greater (not 10 times more), no one will make anything of it. Unless you reviewed your application, you might not have even known of this minor blunder. Let it go.