:-( Please someone tell me what the HELL to do...

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IAmGettingThere

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After applying to UT Southwestern, many of the other texas schools I applied to had the same question. I just copied my UT Southwestern answer to answer these other schools. But I accidentally left a sentence about UT Southwestern being the "school for me" in the answer for the other schools. What should i do?! i feel like such an idiot. like why?! why? should i call these other schools and let them know of my mistake? i've already submitted my applications so it's not like i can change it. Please someone help me out.
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IAmGettingThere said:
After applying to UT Southwestern, many of the other texas schools I applied to had the same question. I just copied my UT Southwestern answer to answer these other schools. But I accidentally left a sentence about UT Southwestern being the "school for me" in the answer for the other schools. What should i do?! i feel like such an idiot. like why?! why? should i call these other schools and let them know of my mistake? i've already submitted my applications so it's not like i can change it. Please someone help me out.
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Pretty big mistake on your part. But like you said, nothing to be done now, spilt milk is spilt milk. Just wait it out and see, hope you get into UTSW so you don't have to worry about other schools.:luck:
 
IAmGettingThere said:
After applying to UT Southwestern, many of the other texas schools I applied to had the same question. I just copied my UT Southwestern answer to answer these other schools. But I accidentally left a sentence about UT Southwestern being the "school for me" in the answer for the other schools. What should i do?! i feel like such an idiot. like why?! why? should i call these other schools and let them know of my mistake? i've already submitted my applications so it's not like i can change it. Please someone help me out.
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realistically, they'll do everything in their power ensure you go to utsw
 
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so calling them wont help at all? i made a huge mistake and it was completely and obviously not intentional. I'm sure they realize people copy answers all the time if it's the exact same question. calling them to apologize won't help?
 
you can try but it might bring more attention to the problem.
 
IAmGettingThere said:
so calling them wont help at all? i made a huge mistake and it was completely and obviously not intentional. I'm sure they realize people copy answers all the time if it's the exact same question. calling them to apologize won't help?
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if your girlfriend/boyfriend screamed out someone else's name in bed, phone calls aren't exactly going to fix that.
 
bleargh said:
if your girlfriend/boyfriend screamed out someone else's name in bed, phone calls aren't exactly going to fix that.
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i understand the analogy...but i dont think it's the same thing.

i feel so stupid. so don't call then?
 
IAmGettingThere said:
i understand the analogy...but i dont think it's the same thing.

i feel so stupid. so don't call then?
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I think there's nothing you can do. There's no good way of explaining the problem. Just hope you get a shot at UTSW or the other schools for which you used unique essays.
 
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I don't think there really is a right answer here. The mistake's been made. Do what you're comfortable with. If you do end up calling, be self-deprecating rather than ingratiating. Show you have a sense of humor about yourself rather than come across as someone who's losing their s**t.

But unfortunately, if someone's going to use your sloppiness to nix your application there's not much you can do about it now.

I wouldn't stress about it now though. You'd be surprised. Most admissions staff understand that these little mistakes can happen. They'll take a holistic look at your application.
 
If they notice, they'll already know exactly what happened - you copied UTSW's answer and forgot to change it. There really isn't any point in calling, since you're likely to make it an even bigger deal.
 
I accidently did this when I was copying and pasting an email to UTH from one I previously sent to UTMB about rescheduling an interview. (Dear University of Texas at Houston, I am very excited to have received an invitation to interview at UTMB, however...blah blah).

At least it was after I had already received an interview invitation though!

Sorry, I guess that's not particularly helpful, but just though I'd share!

At least not all schools ask this question for secondary apps so you didn't potentially mess up your chances everywhere. I don't know what you could do at this point...

Maybe you could write an entire new essay for the other schools and send it to them as an update, explaining that you accidently pasted the wrong essay from Word when you were filling out the secondary. And add that you didn't notice because you were just so excited to submit the secondary because you love the school so much! :love::love::love:
 
They might just think that you were so busy filling out statements that you were thinking about one school and writing to them...But I'm not gonna lye, they will notice it. Some might cut you a break though if your app is great all around. Personally, I don't think it is a deal breaker...But I'm not an ADCOM either.
 
EBLoneStar said:
Maybe you could write an entire new essay for the other schools and send it to them as an update, explaining that you accidently pasted the wrong essay from Word when you were filling out the secondary. And add that you didn't notice because you were just so excited to submit the secondary because you love the school so much! :love::love::love:
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I would do this if it were me.
 
EBLoneStar said:
I accidently did this when I was copying and pasting an email to UTH from one I previously sent to UTMB about rescheduling an interview. (Dear University of Texas at Houston, I am very excited to have received an invitation to interview at UTMB, however...blah blah).

At least it was after I had already received an interview invitation though!

Sorry, I guess that's not particularly helpful, but just though I'd share!

At least not all schools ask this question for secondary apps so you didn't potentially mess up your chances everywhere. I don't know what you could do at this point...

Maybe you could write an entire new essay for the other schools and send it to them as an update, explaining that you accidently pasted the wrong essay from Word when you were filling out the secondary. And add that you didn't notice because you were just so excited to submit the secondary because you love the school so much! :love::love::love:
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Actually this is a pretty good idea, the key being "entirely new essay".
 
FluffyRabbit said:
Actually this is a pretty good idea, the key being "entirely new essay".
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You think the adcom wants to track down his application and make some kind of addendum to it simply because he wrote "I love UTSW" in his essay? it's not going to erase the fact that he did it. they're going to see it.
 
bleargh said:
if your girlfriend/boyfriend screamed out someone else's name in bed, phone calls aren't exactly going to fix that.
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:rofl:

EBLoneStar said:
Maybe you could write an entire new essay for the other schools and send it to them as an update, explaining that you accidently pasted the wrong essay from Word when you were filling out the secondary. And add that you didn't notice because you were just so excited to submit the secondary because you love the school so much! :love::love::love:
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I also like this idea. That would probably leave the best impression.
 
Luckily you're still safe at about half of the other Texas schools, since a lot of them don't have secondaries at all! I think the "entirely new essay" idea is definitely something to consider, unless you referenced the school in question at one point in the essay, and then referred to UTSW later on. In that case, I would either ignore it and hope for the best, or contact your premed advisor and ask them what to do!
 
armybound said:
You think the adcom wants to track down his application and make some kind of addendum to it simply because he wrote "I love UTSW" in his essay? it's not going to erase the fact that he did it. they're going to see it.
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It's not a huge deal to "track down his application and make some kind of addendum"... have you ever heard of updates?

Plus, schools know you're not applying to only theirs. It's no secret that many schools have you write a "why this school" essay. IMO, the right way to handle why these school essays is by pointing out specifics about the school that can't necessarily be applied to any others anyway, so as long as the OP wrote some good reasons why the school they are updating is a great fit, the fact that they also said they liked UTSW isn't a huge deal. (It's the being careless and not noticing it was the "wrong essay" that is more of the big deal...)
 
I mean, sure, they understand on some level that it's not uncommon for people to copy-paste... but rarely to those people not only remove all doubt to make it blatantly obvious, but then also tell them that they'd rather go somewhere else.

Maybe try sending an update letter in a week or two; that might look a little less transparent and they might think your update letter shows real interest. But that's a pretty egregious mistake.
 
OP, TBH, IMO, u're pretty screwed at these schools. That's a big no-no. Hope you applied to many more. Good luck!
 
EBLoneStar said:
It's not a huge deal to "track down his application and make some kind of addendum"... have you ever heard of updates?

Plus, schools know you're not applying to only theirs. It's no secret that many schools have you write a "why this school" essay. IMO, the right way to handle why these school essays is by pointing out specifics about the school that can't necessarily be applied to any others anyway, so as long as the OP wrote some good reasons why the school they are updating is a great fit, the fact that they also said they liked UTSW isn't a huge deal. (It's the being careless and not noticing it was the "wrong essay" that is more of the big deal...)
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it's not a matter of simply updating the file. they have to leave specific instructions or explanations about why they should be ignoring his old essays and reading the new ones, which is far less common than the traditional update letter... it's a variation from the norm.

I really think writing a new essay is a waste of time and only causes more of a headache for their admissions team than it's worth.

but whatever, it's really up to the OP to try to rectify the situation however s/he wants.

I just don't see how you can basically say "Wait, I didn't like that answer, here's a new one."
 
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Did you copy the UTSW essay verbatim for the other schools or did you customize certain aspects of each essay? Because if they catch your error they might go back and look at the reasons you gave for attending their school, and if the reasons are vague enough to apply to all Texas schools, that would look worse.
 
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greatnt249 said:
Are/were you on an adcom?
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Seriously. NotSur, stop trying to scare people when you're just an applicant yourself.

OP, it shows some negligence on your part, but you know, **** happens. Adcoms surely know that most people copy and paste answers, so I think they'll know what happened. And adcoms are not naive enough to believe that they are everyone's #1 choice and people didn't apply anywhere else. If the rest of your application shines, I doubt anyone will throw out your app bc of this one error.
 
There's nothing you can do. Just try not to worry, sit back and wait.

(easier said than done, I know)
 
daisy44 said:
Seriously. NotSur, stop trying to scare people when you're just an applicant yourself.

OP, it shows some negligence on your part, but you know, **** happens. Adcoms surely know that most people copy and paste answers, so I think they'll know what happened. And adcoms are not naive enough to believe that they are everyone's #1 choice and people didn't apply anywhere else. If the rest of your application shines, I doubt anyone will throw out your app bc of this one error.
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actually, why wouldn't they, when they have literally THOUSANDS of applications filled out correctly? it's a BIG prompt to mess up on too.
 
bleargh said:
actually, why wouldn't they, when they have literally THOUSANDS of applications filled out correctly? it's a BIG prompt to mess up on too.
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I mean, I kind of agree with this sentiment. Why waste an interview on someone who clearly doesn't really want to go to their school? At least all the other applicants who want to go to UT Southwestern as their top choice didn't have the gall to actually say so in their secondary app or feel their secondary app wasn't important enough to warrant a unique response, or even just proofreading and catching that mistake.

These adcoms have to reject MOST of the applicants they see every single year; unless the OP has really strong stats, I'm sure an adcom's not going to be too broken up about rejecting someone over this. There are always other qualified candidates.

Clearly, there's nothing to be done now except hope the adcom doesn't notice, but I'm just trying to get the OP to be realistic.
 
GoSpursGo said:
I mean, I kind of agree with this sentiment. Why waste an interview on someone who clearly doesn't really want to go to their school? At least all the other applicants who want to go to UT Southwestern as their top choice didn't have the gall to actually say so in their secondary app or feel their secondary app wasn't important enough to warrant a unique response, or even just proofreading and catching that mistake.

These adcoms have to reject MOST of the applicants they see every single year; unless the OP has really strong stats, I'm sure an adcom's not going to be too broken up about rejecting someone over this. There are always other qualified candidates.

Clearly, there's nothing to be done now except hope the adcom doesn't notice, but I'm just trying to get the OP to be realistic.
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I know, I agree. Just imagine yourself the adcom; I wouldn't feel so good about seeing the OP's application mistake. It might be a silly error, but shows carelessness.
 
I did the same thing last year, I pasted an essay from UF onto USF's application. I called/emailed them about this and told them that I pasted the wrong essay, and they allowed me to replace it with the right one. I didn't get an interview from USF, but I don't think that was the problem. If what the OP described just happened, then the application probably hasn't made it to the ADCOM yet, so you're still just dealing with the secretaries and processing staff.
 
daisy44 said:
Seriously. NotSur, stop trying to scare people when you're just an applicant yourself.
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I'm not trying to scare the OP. I'm giving my honest assessment of the situation. This was one of the mistakes we were warned against many times at my undergrad. OP came asking for an honest assessment. You do him/her no favors by offering false hope. Getting in to med school is a tough process for even the most perfect of applicants. I really hope the OP applied to many more schools because I've heard adcoms will throw your app in the trash for this kind of mistake. Just in case, when I would copy and paste essays, I'd search essays for the names of other schools to avoid making this error so now I pass on that tip to whoever is reading this and has not yet finished filling out secondaries. Anyways, I'm just offering one opinion and the OP is free to disregard it or take it into consideration along with the rest of this thread. For OP's sake, I hope I'm wrong.

Again, best of luck to the OP. And please let us know if you do end up with an interview to one of these schools! I'm sure you're neither the first nor the last applicant to do this! Try not to fret too much. This is why we apply to so many places. I've caught typos on a few of my secondaries after sending them out. I know that's not quite on the same level or enough to get me rejected but who really knows? All I can do is shrug and say, "Hey, that's why I applied to so many schools."
 
I don't think they read those things anyway. Long as you got a 40+ on your MCAT,there is nothing to worry about. If they do happen to read them, I doubt they would hold it against you. They would probably rather be working at UTSW anyway.
 
IAmGettingThere said:
i dont know what OP or TBH means. but thanks everyone for the insight.
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It's not exactly the most honest thing to do, but you could always 1) write unique essays for each school and then 2) call up each school and explain that you mixed the copies and submitted the wrong essay their prompt in the rush of applying to all the state schools at once and then see what happens. In the future, double-/triple-/whatever-you-have-to-do-check everything you submit from now on, especially when even the secondaries cost ~$70 apiece to submit.

On another note, Google is really your friend for Internet acronyms, but:
OP=original poster
TBH=to be honest
 
greatnt249 said:
It's not exactly the most honest thing to do, but you could always 1) write unique essays for each school and then 2) call up each school and explain that you mixed the copies and submitted the wrong essay their prompt in the rush of applying to all the state schools at once and then see what happens. In the future, double-/triple-/whatever-you-have-to-do-check everything you submit from now on, especially when even the secondaries cost ~$70 apiece to submit.

On another note, Google is really your friend for Internet acronyms, but:
OP=original poster
TBH=to be honest
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Little late there?;)
 
kavorca said:
I don't think they read those things anyway. Long as you got a 40+ on your MCAT,there is nothing to worry about. If they do happen to read them, I doubt they would hold it against you. They would probably rather be working at UTSW anyway.
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Then what's the point in having people write them?
 
Well, not all the schools in Texas require secondary apps. At least you are safe for 4/8.
 
kavorca said:
I don't think they read those things anyway. Long as you got a 40+ on your MCAT,there is nothing to worry about. If they do happen to read them, I doubt they would hold it against you. They would probably rather be working at UTSW anyway.
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yep, all you need is one of them run-of-the-mill 40+ MCATs
 
If you are otherwise above average, my guess is they'll overlook it, or it won't be a dealbreaker. It's not like adcoms don't understand how the application process works. On the otherhand, if you are below average or didn't otherwise standout, it's probably enough to knock you out if they have plenty of other solid applicants.

Edit: I forgot to mention that I think the contacting them with a different essay would be ideal. It shows how interested you are in the school even if your first essay says differently. I'm sure most of us have word documents or the equivalent with different essays to cannibalize for each application. I'm still not sure it would make a difference, but I imagine its your best bet.
 
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OP, if you were on AdCom, would you forgive this kind of mistake?

I personally wouldn't.
 
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