Did anyone else have problems with the formatting of the essays on the application website? My son tried to submit his application today. The short answers/essays looked okay when he put them in, but when he clicked “Continue” the formatting got all messed up and instead of keeping paragraphs separate it combined all the paragraphs into one (within each short answer). I don’t know whether it kept italics or not.
Did this happen to anyone else? If so, how did you solve it? If not, what browser did you use (in case it’s a browser issue)? He’s trying to use the regular Pitt application. He has tried on both a PC and on his iPad, with Google Chrome and Safari browsers. Thanks in advance for any advice.
Your son may want to try contacting the helpdesk team that supports the application (whether you are using Common, Coalition, or the University of Pittsburgh application). Best of luck to him on his Pitt application!
Best,
A Pitt Admissions Staffer
Thanks! He already did contact the helpdesk, but it has been 24 hours and he hasn’t heard from them yet (the auto-reply said it takes up to 48 hours) and he’s excited to submit his application so I thought I’d try here as well.
I called the Pitt admissions office today and was told that the issue with the formatting (i.e., combining all of an applicant’s paragraphs into one huge paragraph) had been a problem for years, and there was no way to avoid it. Can anyone tell me if that sounds accurate to them? The fact that the Pitt Admissions Staffer above didn’t mention that, but instead said we should contact the helpdesk, makes me wonder.
It was a problem way back when my son was applying. He’s a junior at Pitt.
Hello, I just wasn’t aware of the issue, but if one of our processors let you know that is the case, then it’s true!
Best,
A Pitt Admissions Staffer
@hailtopitt1787 Thank you for getting back to me! Would you mind double-checking this question about formatting with an admissions officer and letting me know for sure?
We’re confused because we’re getting different answers so we don’t know what’s true. You and the person at the admissions office that my son talked to yesterday said to contact the “helpdesk”, which makes it sound like this is NOT a usual problem. However, the person I talked with today at the admissions office said it has been a problem for years, and can’t be fixed, and all the essays end up like that. I’m not sure if either (or both!) of the people we talked with were “processors”, but they said completely different things so it’s not clear what is accurate. In the meantime, it has now been 36 hours and the “helpdesk” still hasn’t contacted my son. If you could check on this, I would really appreciate it!
When my D submitted it went in as a single paragraph, no formatting went in. Did a double return anywhere a new paragraph was needed.
@WaitingPitt Thanks for responding! Just to clarify— she was able to figure out how to have paragraph breaks AFTER she hit “continue”, i.e., on the answer that she reviewed before submitting? I ask because on my son’s it looked completely fine (has paragraph breaks and all) on the page the he put it in, but all the breaks went away when he hit “continue” to review it. You can’t do double returns on the review page, and when he did them on the entering page, they didn’t show up on the review page. If she was able to have them on the review page (i.e., what the admissions officers will read), do you know what browser and what platform she used to submit? We’ve tried several, and none work.
@salingerfan: speaking of formatting issues, apparently the Common app has simmilar issues/quirks. For example, italicized words don’t show up as such in the final form that is read. I was reading an admissions blog recently that basically said, “don’t worry about the formatting. worry about the content!”
@salingerfan My D put double returns in to create the new paragraphs and on the review page it was one paragraph again. But when printed it it looked fine, so hit the submit button. When my S applied to colleges two years ago had a similar issue and to be honest it didn’t effect his applications, it was all about content.
@salingerfan, I double checked with the group that manages the technical aspects of our application. They said that when someone formats a response somewhere else (Word, for example) adding italics and all other kinds of formatting, and then copies and pastes it into the Pitt application the formatting will be lost. This is intentional because we need to ensure that some formatting isn’t translated into unreadable characters when it gets to our Admissions Committee. However, line breaks should be retained. You may want to just go back to that page and try re-inserting line breaks if you are experiencing issues there.
As our staffers you spoke to said, the formatting limitations are a known issue and our tech support confirmed it is intentional to keep the content legible. But the advice to contact the Helpdesk also still holds true if you are having issues beyond what I outlined above.
As others have said, ultimately what we look at is content, so any formatting beyond those line breaks won’t be necessary for a thorough review of your short answer responses.
I hope that helps clarify. Good luck to you on your application!
Best,
A Pitt Admissions Staffer
@hailtopitt1787, the problem with line breaks in the short answers is still in there. Could you please ask Pitt IT guys who are in charge of this issue instruct clearly how to re-insert line breaks since it has been bothering many applicants? Thanks!
We recommend trying to insert line breaks in yourself (hitting enter to start a new paragraph) in the text box and see if that works. If you continue to have issues, please contact the Helpdesk within the application for assistance by clicking the help link in the top left corner!
Best,
A Pitt Admissions Staffer
I also inserted line breaks myself but my essays still ended up as single paragraphs. The Helpdesk never responded to me when I emailed them about it. However, the admissions processors (https://oafa.pitt.edu/processors/) seemed very responsive when I emailed them regarding my application.
For what it’s worth, my son contacted his admissions processor who told him not to worry about it.