I have already submitted my application, but I realized just now that I added an unnecessary comma to one of my short answers. It isn’t a random comma, it was a usage mixup–I thought I needed a comma, but I didn’t.
Would it be wise to use the Gateway Part 3 additional information to correct this mistake, or would it come across as obsessive?
Thank you!!
If I was an overworked/underpaid adcomm and some student contacted me to obsess about a comma…
Yes it would come across as obsessive. No you should not attempt to correct it.
Consider it … a mark of authenticity.
Being obsessive is not necessarily a bad thing. OCD people are highly successful in many fields including aircraft mechanics, law, engineering, accounting and what not. If that’s your strength and you want make sure that the adcomm really feel the extent of it, why not?
Dear AdCom–
In the third sentence of my short answer, I put a comma where it definitely shouldn’t, be. I’m sure the committee has been, talking about this gaff for days, and I want you to know that I’ve suffered a couple of sleepless nights, over this obvious mistake. I even posted my dilemma on an anonymous Internet forum to determine if I should even, bring this to your attention. It’s critical to me that you know that I understand, the finer points of grammar. Please tell me you’ve removed the errant comma and have unseen it so that I, may sleep and not be considered a grammar, ninny.
Thank you.
Lol, Choatie, you had me!
Was “gaff” a gaffe, too?
Definitely obsessive. If all applications with typos, grammar mistakes, etc were thrown into the reject pile, it is unlikely that the schools would be able to fill its seats.
While the below example is from a college application, it bears reading for a laugh. BTW, he got in.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/470497-clam-fart-oh-my-god-what-did-i-do-p1.html
You should not correct it and chances are they won’t see it. No one is going to throw away an otherwise good application because of a comma.