Made a mistake on submitted personal statement

[joeception]

I am kind of mad at myself for working super hard on tons of drafts for my personal statement and I swear it was perfect before I submitted my primary application (human error), but when I looked today the last few letters were cut off. How poorly will this look as an applicant? I know it might come off as careless and I hope to redeem that through the rest of my application and secondaries

Edit: If someone is reading this post for future reference after contacting ACCOMAS it is not uncommon for the system to delete characters after submission. If the error is caught before the application is verified it may be possible to correct, but my application had already been verified. The next step that was recommended was to contact each program that you are applying to and explain the error that had occurred and ask if it possible to submit the completed personal statement. Some schools will allow an email update, other schools will require a hardcopy

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[California Bear]

Were you above the character count and failed to check?

Probably you should address this in your secondaries.

 

[joeception]

Were you above the character count and failed to check?

Probably you should address this in your secondaries.

It should have been 3 characters under, does the system automatically delete letters that are over? Yeah I was thinking of addressing it in secondaries because it cut off in the middle of a persons name and did not the statement with a period. It just sucks how noticeable the mistake is because it is at the very end of the statement. I had myself and one other person read through the entire application a good 3-4 times I can not see how I missed it, but sure enough it happened.

 

[lnguyen1412]

Should contact AACOMAS to see if they can do anything about it. Or shoot an email to every admissions counselor and ask what can you do

 

[joeception]

Should contact AACOMAS to see if they can do anything about it. Or shoot an email to every admissions counselor and ask what can you do

I will give them a call tomorrow, I think what had happened is that when I spaced the paragraphs apart the character counter did not show it adding characters being used but it did and deleted my three last ones. If there is nothing AACOMAS can do I will email the admission counselors. The rest of my application is solid I would hate this error to bring me down

 

[Medic741]

Microsoft word likes to add spaces @ the end of paragraphs after a period. Paste the doc into a .txt editor, remove the spaces at end before submitting. Will help avoid this for secondaries!

 

[joeception]

Microsoft word likes to add spaces @ the end of paragraphs after a period. Paste the doc into a .txt editor, remove the spaces at end before submitting. Will help avoid this for secondaries!

I will definitely be utilizing this advice and of course triple checking the character count before any future submissions

 

[bpost10]

@joeception I have done something similar to your situation. How long was it until you noticed the error in your PS. I haven't made it to 24 hours yet so I am trying to see if I am still within the time frame to hopefully make adjustments before it is verified. Any updates on your situation would be much appreciated. Thanks!!

 

[joeception]

@joeception I have done something similar to your situation. How long was it until you noticed the error in your PS. I haven't made it to 24 hours yet so I am trying to see if I am still within the time frame to hopefully make adjustments before it is verified. Any updates on your situation would be much appreciated. Thanks!!

I did not notice mine for several days after I had clicked submit, but because I submitted my application in early June in was a fast verification. I would call ACCOMAS and see if they can edit your mistake before it is officially verified. Most of the schools I contacted where supportive and allowed me to send an updated personal statement, but I was not allowed to fix my primary application directly.