Mistake on AMCAS...is it over....

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spumoni620

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I am SO miserable right now...:( :( :( :( I was cutting and pasting something from my post-secondary experiences section of my already-submitted amcas application into Word for another non-amcas application...and then...I found 6 spelling mistakes and rather serious typos....the worst part is that one typo is in a sentence where I was describing how I paid "attention to detai"l and displayed a "commitment to excellence"...

this has never happened to me before.....i really put my heart into the application....i am so upset at myself for making these mistakes... spent an hour waiting on the phone trying to talk to the amcas ppl to see if i could change something, anything...and got a five-minute conversation with a guy who was like, "sorry, nothing we can do..." and then i couldn't even argue because i was on the verge of tears. when i was in banking we learned that a single typo on a resume can cost you a job offer, even an interview...after all, even a small oversight on a doctor's part is unforgivable...it can lead to the death of the patient (recent duke transplant mishap). i just can't face the thought that i've ended this application cycle with a stupid, stupid oversight on my part....i have wanted this so badly and this has been my life 24-7 for the past year...i just can't believe how sloppy i was--a five minute spell-check could have prevented this...

how bad is this...do i have even a tiny chance? is there anything i can do to fix this? has anyone been in the same situation? should i contact the medical schools directly and fix the error? I just can't stop thinking about this...


:( :( :(
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spumoni, there is another recent thread about this topic that you might find comforting. It is relatively recent, so it shouldn't be more than a few pages back.
 
I had a typo in the first line of my personal statement. I don't think it was a big deal.

Wrigley
 
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I'd definitely contact the schools individually. Explain the situation briefly and ask if it would be all right to send a corrected copy of the statement. Most adcom folks are very understanding, especially since it's a slower time of year right now. It might even advance your cause a bit! You obviously caught the errors, and adcoms are all too familiar with the perils of the online AMCAS stuff.

Best of luck; don't stress!

(And apply to osteopathic schools too!)
 
cheer up...i am sure they know that the process is very stressful and that there are always problems cutting and pasting which leads to mishaps...especially the detai"l typo...as for the other typo, i am not sure many people will even catch it

i think they go over so many of these apps that they must skim over them quickly and will not likely catch all the mistakes (maybe just a few...hell i read over my personal statement recently and i found a typo but i still got accepted to a few schools nonetheless)

smile :)
 
thanks everyone. will try to suck it up and hope for the best.
 
I submitted my AMCAS with several errors in it accidentally, including having the last sentence of my PS chopped off halfway through. I had several windows open at once because I was proofreading it, having computer problems, and hit submit from the wrong screen....what a nightmare, it was all I could think about for a couple of weeks until secondaries started rolling in.

In the end, it didn't make ANY difference, so don't worry!!:)
 
Don't fret spum....for some reason you always seem to find mistakes after the fact in stuff like this. I just got done with my application cycle and saw after submitting my app that there were tons of grammatical errors in my PS and activities section. Nevertheless, i got into 3 schools...i think someone was right earlier in saying most of your mistakes won't be caught anyhow cause these people really skim our applications. And you're right, in banking one mistake can cost you an interview but there's a fundamental difference in medicine and banking, people in medical schools have hearts.
 
I accidently submitted my AMCAS application with a personal statement taken from my applications to law schools, about how i would make a great attorney, and about my future goal of entering the field of legality and malpractice as it pertains to healthcare...somehow they didnt catch it and ill be entering Johns Hopkins (MS1) in the fall.
 
Originally posted by Columbia22
I accidently submitted my AMCAS application with a personal statement taken from my applications to law schools, about how i would make a great attorney, and about my future goal of entering the field of legality and malpractice as it pertains to healthcare...somehow they didnt catch it and ill be entering Johns Hopkins (MS1) in the fall.
Click to expand...

OMG!!! That's crazy! Now I don't feel so bad about my POS PS. They probably won't read it anyway.

spumoni, from what others have said, it seems all is not lost. I can imagine how much you're stressing out now, though. But it sounds like it'll be okay. So keep your chin up and do what you can from here on out to show them that spell check isn't everything. Good luck!
 
Originally posted by Columbia22
I accidently submitted my AMCAS application with a personal statement taken from my applications to law schools, about how i would make a great attorney, and about my future goal of entering the field of legality and malpractice as it pertains to healthcare...somehow they didnt catch it and ill be entering Johns Hopkins (MS1) in the fall.
Click to expand...
:laugh:
 
the same thing happened to me. right after i submitted my application, i found a typo in my personal statement. and then every time i read my AMCAS application, I found another mistake. i didn't do anything about it. i still got a ton of interviews and got into quite a few schools, including my top choice. they must know with all of that painful cutting and pasting, it's bound to happen. if it would make you sleep better at night, call the admissions offices and see what they say. it probably won't be the first time.
 
Originally posted by surfdevl02
Don't fret spum....for some reason you always seem to find mistakes after the fact in stuff like this. ...


And you're right, in banking one mistake can cost you an interview but there's a fundamental difference in medicine and banking, people in medical schools have hearts.
Click to expand...

Hi Spumoni, I agree about the banking thing - I remember always being so mental at the time about errors, etc. When I worked in banking I felt like I became a marble statue and my feelings were all lost deep within me. It was a terrible feeling, and that weird paranoia stays with me so that I am always triple checking things and then going back again. The thing is, I swear there will always be some dumb mistake and people in medicine are WAY nicer than bankers. At least with medicine people work together and there are alot of checks and balances, with banking it's easy to just get hung out to dry by yourself.

I think a phone call wouldn't hurt, the people on the other end are, well, people too and sincere honesty can go a long.

Maybe this will make you laugh: I thought I would try and make some money working back in the IBanks and so I had my new resume shopped around to a couple of firms. The feedback that came back was: great resume, but what's all this research and volunteer cr*p doing on here? Get it off .... :rolleyes:
 
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Blame it on AMCAS -- they have a tendency to screw things up once in a while.
 
you all are so awesome! :D thanks to everyone, i feel SO much better after hearing your stories...you guys are all examples of how ppl in medicine do have "hearts" as surdevl and woolie put it :) ...

btw--columbia22, that story of yours is AMAZING. you must have really had a killer application! :)
 
I almost wish i had a typo on my application, it could have started an interesting conversation at interview.

You could tell your interviewer:

"Well my typo, though intended, was an illustration of human imperfection in a society that expects nothing less."

:laugh:
 
6 spelling mistakes...I probably had more than that in my first paragraph :laugh: ...Don't beat yourself up too much about it...I am sure they will understand that you are probably a little nervous and you slipped up. Of course, if you had errors all over the essay, you might have to worry....;)
 
Okay so I started volunteering at this place last year for about 4 hrs/wk during the last month and a half of summer. I am still listed as a volunteer and plan(waiting on them) to start again this summer. However, on the form I listed my start date from 6/2010 to current. and 4hrs/wk like my advisor said. BUT I forgot to list that I was unable to volunteer during the school year! Does this make my application void since they think I am lying?
 
Jmed2012 said:
Okay so I started volunteering at this place last year for about 4 hrs/wk during the last month and a half of summer. I am still listed as a volunteer and plan(waiting on them) to start again this summer. However, on the form I listed my start date from 6/2010 to current. and 4hrs/wk like my advisor said. BUT I forgot to list that I was unable to volunteer during the school year! Does this make my application void since they think I am lying?
Click to expand...

Don't worry about it. If it ever comes up, just be honest.
 
No wonder why everyone's status says "Resident." Ollllddddd thread!
 
Jmed2012 said:
Okay so I started volunteering at this place last year for about 4 hrs/wk during the last month and a half of summer. I am still listed as a volunteer and plan(waiting on them) to start again this summer. However, on the form I listed my start date from 6/2010 to current. and 4hrs/wk like my advisor said. BUT I forgot to list that I was unable to volunteer during the school year! Does this make my application void since they think I am lying?
Click to expand...

You volunteered for 6 weeks and listed 52 weeks and counting and you think that's OK? Get real dude. Good luck explaining that at the interview.
 
Columbia22 said:
I accidently submitted my AMCAS application with a personal statement taken from my applications to law schools, about how i would make a great attorney, and about my future goal of entering the field of legality and malpractice as it pertains to healthcare...somehow they didnt catch it and ill be entering Johns Hopkins (MS1) in the fall.
Click to expand...

That is absolutely hilarious. :laugh:
 
Columbia22 said:
I accidently submitted my AMCAS application with a personal statement taken from my applications to law schools, about how i would make a great attorney, and about my future goal of entering the field of legality and malpractice as it pertains to healthcare...somehow they didnt catch it and ill be entering Johns Hopkins (MS1) in the fall.
Click to expand...



hahaahhahaha omg
 
i really want to provide some comforting comment but at this point you just gotta laugh at it and hope for the best. It is just a few grammatical mistakes, try not to blow this situation into something more than it is.

Just sit back and laugh at yourself.

enRL0.gif
 
It should make those of us applying this cycle comforted that OP is now a resident.

Also, I call BS on Columbia22's story, but it'd be baller if it really happened that way. :laugh:
 
omg... necro thread bumped and i fell for it. ffffuuuuuuuuuu
 
This would make a great application typo thread.

On my AMCAS work/activity, I mistyped "education"
 
byurazorhog said:
No wonder why everyone's status says "Resident." Ollllddddd thread!
Click to expand...

this thread should be linked to whenever anybody makes a thread about an AMCAS mistake...the OP somehow made it, after all, even with his apparent lack of "attention of detai"
 
Columbia22 said:
I accidently submitted my AMCAS application with a personal statement taken from my applications to law schools, about how i would make a great attorney, and about my future goal of entering the field of legality and malpractice as it pertains to healthcare...somehow they didnt catch it and ill be entering Johns Hopkins (MS1) in the fall.
Click to expand...

This is one of the all-time great SDN posts. Just had its 8 year anniversary...:laugh:
 
To people currently applying: How do you make mistakes on such an important document. READ READ READ and then when you feel like you just can't go on read it again. I read my application start to finish over 100 times and kept revising it each time. For example, there were parts of my personal statement which could have been interpreted as uncaring (they weren't meant to convey that at all). Often on the first reading this didn't occur to me. I was only able to catch errors and misleading syntax after putting it down to cool then reading it again :|| ad infinitum. In all, after completing my application, I revised it for 2 weeks. This went beyond simply revising grammar and spelling errors.

Among California applicants I am average. Yet I secured a UC acceptance in early January. I am certain that having a well thought out personal statement helped get me an interview at the very least.
 
FunnyCurrent said:
To people currently applying: How do you make mistakes on such an important document. READ READ READ and then when you feel like you just can't go on read it again. I read my application start to finish over 100 times and kept revising it each time. For example, there were parts of my personal statement which could have been interpreted as uncaring (they weren't meant to convey that at all). Often on the first reading this didn't occur to me. I was only able to catch errors and misleading syntax after putting it down to cool then reading it again :|| ad infinitum. In all, after completing my application, I revised it for 2 weeks.

Among California applicants I am average. Yet I secured a UC acceptance in early January. I am certain that having a well thought out personal statement helped get my an interview at the very least.
Click to expand...

That's why there are people who read personal statements. So they catch these things for you...and we do it for free :thumbup:
 
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