Huge AMCAS hours mistake

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flotsam

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Hi all,

Made mistake on AMCAS application. What kind of effect can I expect this to have on my application? Should I mention this in secondaries or reach out to schools via phone/email? Or should I be considering something more drastic like withdrawing and being more careful next year?

Any thoughts would be sincerely appreciated.

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Can you contact AMCAS about the miscalculation and ask for it to be changed? If you are the one to bring it up and so quickly after submitting, I doubt it will be that much of an issue.
 
No AMCAS will not change it.
Choices are:

1) Withdraw application now before transmission
2) explain in secondary or update letter
3) ignore and pray

Since this 3 separate activities, ignoring isnt a good idea. Nor do I think this is worth withdrawing over.

Since the secondary and primary may not be read by same person, I would suggest an very very short "form" letter to all schools immediately upon transmission stating

"Do to an error on my part I miscalculated reported hours for my 3 employment positions on AMCAS. The correct hours are

Activity A;
Activity B
Activity C

I apologize for this error and thank you for your time and attentionin considering this corrected information"

That is sufficient professional groveling for this really dumb error

That's more or less what I'm thinking. I'll probably call each school individually and ask if a) they accept corrections of any kind from the primary application and b) how they prefer to receive the correction if they do. Still in shock that I made this mistake...
 
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I don't think I would call each school as I think that you might be imparting additional work due to your mistake. My thought is quick sweet letter like above to each school and that's that. People are human and I don't think this would derail you.

Due to.... not do to

Perfect letter is suggested above. Professional and direct




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Also, the amount of time it would take to convey the message this way would be huge and you could not trust that your message was conveyed in the manner you wanted or at all. University admin systems are not the most efficient!
 
Also, the amount of time it would take to convey the message this way would be huge and you could not trust that your message was conveyed in the manner you wanted or at all. University admin systems are not the most efficient!

Exactly why I want to call and ask to see if they would prefer that I mail, email, or mention the correction in my secondary. I figure each call will take a few minutes, so calling will certainly cost me several hours (not that I can accurately count them anyway) but could be worth it. I want to ensure each school gets this update in their preferred method so that this information has the greatest chance of being included in my file.

I already checked a few websites, and Georgetown, for instance, indicates that they do NOT accept mailed letters and want any updates in their secondary. Duke's website indicates that they want updates emailed to them. Each school seems to be a bit different.
 
I made a very similar error last cycle, if it makes you feel any better.

After the initial panic attack wore off, I sent a form letter to all of my schools, and two of those schools accepted me. Yeah, it was a dumb mistake, but if you have a solid application otherwise, it's not going to automatically translate to a rejection.
 
I made a very similar error last cycle, if it makes you feel any better.

After the initial panic attack wore off, I sent a form letter to all of my schools, and two of those schools accepted me. Yeah, it was a dumb mistake, but if you have a solid application otherwise, it's not going to automatically translate to a rejection.

Thank you for sharing that--it is reassuring. I'm definitely going to reach out to each school, but I will only send a letter to those who will accept them as several schools seem to prefer updates in a different format. Unless there is something different about a form letter that I'm unfamiliar with?
 
Thank you for sharing that--it is reassuring. I'm definitely going to reach out to each school, but I will only send a letter to those who will accept them as several schools seem to prefer updates in a different format. Unless there is something different about a form letter that I'm unfamiliar with?
Unless the schools accept email, don't send an email. You can a) call the school b) upload an update if there is a place to do so in the school's online application portal c) send a form email.

Unless the school explicitly says somewhere not to send an email, it is fine to send one. Just do your best to notify the school of the error before they discover it themselves and get the wrong idea.
 
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Unless the schools accept email, don't send an email. You can a) call the school b) upload an update if there is a place to do so in the school's online application portal c) send a form email.

Unless the school explicitly says somewhere not to send an email, it is fine to send one. Just do your best to notify the school of the error before they discover it themselves and get the wrong idea.
My thoughts exactly. Sincerely appreciate the support.
 
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