Formatting Issue for Personal Statement

[PearlPop]

So dilemma here: submitted my primary and triple checked everything, no spelling or grammar errors. Downloaded the app after verification and saw that the first paragraph of my personal statement had 4 spots where the symbols "&jfk;" were inserted right after a quotation mark. The wording isn't changed at all, just the symbols were added and this didn't happen anywhere else in the statement despite there being more quotation marks elsewhere.

I emailed every single school with an apology and an attached pdf of my personal statement without the additional symbols and indicated to them that this is the correct version, even though it showed as completely correct on AMCAS, it may have been a systemic error.

My question: how bad is this? I've already been getting secondaries and filling them out and I just wanna know if this is looked down upon by schools (even though there were no errors when I first submitted whatsoever!!!)

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[Cakepop514]

So dilemma here: submitted my primary and triple checked everything, no spelling or grammar errors. Downloaded the app after verification and saw that the first paragraph of my personal statement had 4 spots where the symbols "&jfk;" were inserted right after a quotation mark. The wording isn't changed at all, just the symbols were added and this didn't happen anywhere else in the statement despite there being more quotation marks elsewhere.

I emailed every single school with an apology and an attached pdf of my personal statement without the additional symbols and indicated to them that this is the correct version, even though it showed as completely correct on AMCAS, it may have been a systemic error.

My question: how bad is this? I've already been getting secondaries and filling them out and I just wanna know if this is looked down upon by schools (even though there were no errors when I first submitted whatsoever!!!)

It's not you! Its the AMCAS system happens all the time

 

[PearlPop]

It's not you! Its the AMCAS system happens all the time

So you don't think this will affect me? My main concern is that the schools will think I'm sloppy and didn't check my work which is why I sent them all an email ensuring that I did (plus I would never submit something with a bunch of random symbols in it...)

 

[Cakepop514]

So you don't think this will affect me? My main concern is that the schools will think I'm sloppy and didn't check my work which is why I sent them all an email ensuring that I did (plus I would never submit something with a bunch of random symbols in it...)

I don't think it will affect you at all. I know it looks sloppy to you but its not your fault. Its the AMCAS system and I'm positive adcoms are more than aware of it.

 

[PearlPop]

The issue you have is mailing an apology and copy of the PS? Why did you do that? In a panic ?

I did research and realizing that I couldn't change my PS after submission so I wanted the schools to have a correct copy of it without the additional symbols. I believe it was a proactive thing to do instead of submitting it and never checking it again, however, I just hope it doesn't shine a bad light on my original application in the first place (which it shouldn't because the situation is out of my control).

 

[DrStephennmnm]

I would be more concerned about you sending an email highlighting that.

 

[PearlPop]

I would be more concerned about you sending an email highlighting that.

Care to elaborate? I'm highlighting a mistake that was made by a system and providing an accurate copy of the PS to ensure there's no confusion to the reader.

 

[DrStephennmnm]

Care to elaborate? I'm highlighting a mistake that was made by a system and providing an accurate copy of the PS to ensure there's no confusion to the reader.

Because the mistake was not a big deal, people know what happened was an innocent mistake. It just shows you are very neurotic as you just submitted your app and already emailing schools (about something tiny).

 

[PearlPop]

Because the mistake was not a big deal, people know what happened was an innocent mistake. It just shows you are very neurotic as you just submitted your app and already emailing schools (about something tiny).

Actually it just shows that I'm meticulous about details of an application that I worked very hard on, and I wanted to clarify a potentially confusing situation. Of course it's an innocent mistake, but one that I noticed when most wouldn't care to check again.

 

[DrStephennmnm]

Actually it just shows that I'm meticulous about details of an application that I worked very hard on, and I wanted to clarify a potentially confusing situation. Of course it's an innocent mistake, but one that I noticed when most wouldn't care to check again.

If you feel that way why the hell are you asking people for their opinions about "how bad" your error was? You already have 2 qualified individuals (an advisor and accepted med student) who share the same thoughts about your mistake. So if you want to listen to us or not, good luck with your cycle.

 

[KatsuCurry]

bruh pre-med neuroticism is something else

 

[PearlPop]

No, it shows that you tried to bypass the application process by sending an updated copy OUTSIDE of the proper channels which itself can be considered enough to investigate by AMCAS

For all future applicants with this issue, let me ease your mind so you don’t post something on SDN and receive ridiculous backlash for no reason:
Almost every school I emailed responded to me this morning thanking me for submitting an updated copy of my PS, some said they appreciated the fact that I caught the mistake, and all said they have added the updated copy to my file with a note to the reviewers to ignore the systematic error.

Yes of course I was nervous about this topic, your PS is important and I wanted to ensure that nothing had happened. If this occurs to anyone else, please reach out to your schools and just take the extra step to fix it if need be. They’ll appreciate it.

 

[DrStephennmnm]

For all future applicants with this issue, let me ease your mind so you don’t post something on SDN and receive ridiculous backlash for no reason:
Almost every school I emailed responded to me this morning thanking me for submitting an updated copy of my PS, some said they appreciated the fact that I caught the mistake, and all said they have added the updated copy to my file with a note to the reviewers to ignore the systematic error.

Yes of course I was nervous about this topic, your PS is important and I wanted to ensure that nothing had happened. If this occurs to anyone else, please reach out to your schools and just take the extra step to fix it if need be. They’ll appreciate it.

Let us know how your cycle goes

 

[Goro]

Actually it just shows that I'm meticulous about details of an application that I worked very hard on, and I wanted to clarify a potentially confusing situation. Of course it's an innocent mistake, but one that I noticed when most wouldn't care to check again.

Your definition of meticulous can translate to hyper neurotic and perfectionist to me as an Adcom member.

Just as a black mark on an otherwise white canvas drawers your attention immediately to it, pointing out Mistakes One made automatically brings attention to a negative