WRONG NAME in personal statement. What to do? Forum
- Cpwilson
- Posts: 114
- Joined: Fri Oct 29, 2010 6:39 pm
WRONG NAME in personal statement. What to do?
Hey everyone-
my gf sent her UVA personal statement to every school by mistake. It's the same statement, just with the school name reading Virginia in every one. What should she do?
my gf sent her UVA personal statement to every school by mistake. It's the same statement, just with the school name reading Virginia in every one. What should she do?
- Knock
- Posts: 5151
- Joined: Wed Jun 10, 2009 3:09 pm
Re: WRONG NAME in personal statement. What to do?
Probably email them a new updated PS. Write something vague like "noticed an error, please use the correct personal statement in making a decision on my application."Cpwilson wrote:Hey everyone-
my gf sent her UVA personal statement to every school by mistake. It's the same statement, just with the school name reading Virginia in every one. What should she do?
-
- Posts: 20063
- Joined: Sun Mar 14, 2010 7:06 pm
Re: WRONG NAME in personal statement. What to do?
Send an updated one via email and hope they just swap it out.
Pretty sure this is something that they will notice.
ETA: Knock is faster at the internets.
Pretty sure this is something that they will notice.
ETA: Knock is faster at the internets.
-
- Posts: 952
- Joined: Wed Sep 29, 2010 12:56 pm
Re: WRONG NAME in personal statement. What to do?
.
Last edited by BlueDiamond on Tue Feb 01, 2011 1:13 am, edited 1 time in total.
- CGI Fridays
- Posts: 894
- Joined: Tue Sep 21, 2010 5:46 pm
Re: WRONG NAME in personal statement. What to do?
I hereby agree with the poster who agreed with the kitty who agreed with the quick-to-the-draw glockslinger.
Want to continue reading?
Register now to search topics and post comments!
Absolutely FREE!
Already a member? Login
- Moral_Midgetry
- Posts: 543
- Joined: Tue May 11, 2010 3:29 pm
Re: WRONG NAME in personal statement. What to do?
Many schools won't let you replace a PS. They'll let you add the corrected version. This kind of stuff happens. Make the correction. It will save a little face.
- The Stig
- Posts: 567
- Joined: Sat Oct 30, 2010 12:27 pm
Re: WRONG NAME in personal statement. What to do?
ED to UVA?Cpwilson wrote:Hey everyone-
my gf sent her UVA personal statement to every school by mistake. It's the same statement, just with the school name reading Virginia in every one. What should she do?
sorry, I couldn't resist...

- Moral_Midgetry
- Posts: 543
- Joined: Tue May 11, 2010 3:29 pm
Re: WRONG NAME in personal statement. What to do?
On an unrelated note, wilson, join us in the Dec refuge thread.
-
- Posts: 315
- Joined: Wed Nov 10, 2010 3:35 pm
Re: WRONG NAME in personal statement. What to do?
lmao, that was funny.The Stig wrote:ED to UVA?Cpwilson wrote:Hey everyone-
my gf sent her UVA personal statement to every school by mistake. It's the same statement, just with the school name reading Virginia in every one. What should she do?
sorry, I couldn't resist...
OP-I think the best bet is to do what all the above posters have said. Hopefully everything works out.
- Drake014
- Posts: 845
- Joined: Tue Jan 13, 2009 4:22 pm
Re: WRONG NAME in personal statement. What to do?
From the headlines I thought she put like "Anita Boner" instead of her own name. This mistake's much easier to explain away.Cpwilson wrote:Hey everyone-
my gf sent her UVA personal statement to every school by mistake. It's the same statement, just with the school name reading Virginia in every one. What should she do?
- Leira7905
- Posts: 383
- Joined: Fri Oct 29, 2010 9:42 pm
Re: WRONG NAME in personal statement. What to do?
If it makes you feel any better, I had a goofy typo in the version of my PS that I sent to my top choice, and still got in. It wasn't quite as egregious as the wrong name bit, but still...
- Emma.
- Posts: 2408
- Joined: Sun Oct 05, 2008 7:57 pm
Re: WRONG NAME in personal statement. What to do?
Ugh. Hope she likes UVA!
Edit: The Stig beat me too it and probably has TCR.
Edit: The Stig beat me too it and probably has TCR.
-
- Posts: 35
- Joined: Thu Dec 30, 2010 5:25 pm
Re: WRONG NAME in personal statement. What to do?
I agree with the previous comments. Fortunately for her they see this sort of mistake often so they may not judge her harshly. Just send the updated PS with a brief apology.
Register now!
Resources to assist law school applicants, students & graduates.
It's still FREE!
Already a member? Login
- Drake014
- Posts: 845
- Joined: Tue Jan 13, 2009 4:22 pm
Re: WRONG NAME in personal statement. What to do?
Seriously though, this is why I didn't put the name of the school on the PS.Cpwilson wrote:Hey everyone-
my gf sent her UVA personal statement to every school by mistake. It's the same statement, just with the school name reading Virginia in every one. What should she do?
-
- Posts: 11453
- Joined: Wed Mar 24, 2010 4:54 pm
Re: WRONG NAME in personal statement. What to do?
Ask for a refund of the application fee as it was obviously sent in error.
- TommyK
- Posts: 1309
- Joined: Fri Jun 25, 2010 3:08 pm
Re: WRONG NAME in personal statement. What to do?
love it. My gf while in undergrad sent the wrong PS to all 8 of the schools she applied to for grad school, which explicitly stated another institution's name, and how much she wanted to go to that school. She was able to call and swap it out.
Uplifting postscript to that story: She ended up getting accepted into all the schools anyways (but ended up attending the school that was listed in the PS - big shocker, right?)
Uplifting postscript to that story: She ended up getting accepted into all the schools anyways (but ended up attending the school that was listed in the PS - big shocker, right?)
- DeeCee
- Posts: 1352
- Joined: Mon Nov 15, 2010 4:09 am
Re: WRONG NAME in personal statement. What to do?
lol I thought the same thing.Drake014 wrote:From the headlines I thought she put like "Anita Boner" instead of her own name. This mistake's much easier to explain away.Cpwilson wrote:Hey everyone-
my gf sent her UVA personal statement to every school by mistake. It's the same statement, just with the school name reading Virginia in every one. What should she do?
Get unlimited access to all forums and topics
Register now!
I'm pretty sure I told you it's FREE...
Already a member? Login
-
- Posts: 2489
- Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2010 9:25 pm
Re: WRONG NAME in personal statement. What to do?
wow, that's a really fucking dumb mistake to make. she sent it to every school? god. i guess i would hope i got into UVA if i were her.
-
- Posts: 2489
- Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2010 9:25 pm
Re: WRONG NAME in personal statement. What to do?
HAHA I THOUGHT THE EXACT SAME THING. i wrote a little different response. see aboveThe Stig wrote:ED to UVA?Cpwilson wrote:Hey everyone-
my gf sent her UVA personal statement to every school by mistake. It's the same statement, just with the school name reading Virginia in every one. What should she do?
sorry, I couldn't resist...

- cinephile
- Posts: 3461
- Joined: Sun Jul 18, 2010 3:50 pm
Re: WRONG NAME in personal statement. What to do?
They'll allow you to submit a corrected version, but they'll keep the original as well and make a note to your file.
Best of luck to her, hopefully this is common enough that adcoms don't judge applicants to harshly for these sorts of things. I made a somewhat similar mistake by sending a targeted LOR to the wrong school -- and it turned out it didn't matter.
Best of luck to her, hopefully this is common enough that adcoms don't judge applicants to harshly for these sorts of things. I made a somewhat similar mistake by sending a targeted LOR to the wrong school -- and it turned out it didn't matter.
-
- Posts: 179
- Joined: Fri Sep 10, 2010 8:24 pm
Re: WRONG NAME in personal statement. What to do?
I made a similar mistake in my Berkeley application. I had misspelled "Berkeley" as "Berkley" in my earlier drafts. I caught the error when doing my final grammar sweeps (along with another minor error) and corrected it. However, I had made the same mistake in the file name and accidentally resaved the final version in some godforsaken file directory instead of overwriting the previous version...
To make a long story short, I noticed this mistake the next morning, and emailed Berkeley immediately with the correct personal statement. They emailed me back within five minutes saying they had swapped statements for me. In my opinion, it is better to acknowledge and correct the mistake than hope they won’t notice.
To make a long story short, I noticed this mistake the next morning, and emailed Berkeley immediately with the correct personal statement. They emailed me back within five minutes saying they had swapped statements for me. In my opinion, it is better to acknowledge and correct the mistake than hope they won’t notice.
Communicate now with those who not only know what a legal education is, but can offer you worthy advice and commentary as you complete the three most educational, yet challenging years of your law related post graduate life.
Register now, it's still FREE!
Already a member? Login
- Dany
- Posts: 11559
- Joined: Mon Sep 28, 2009 3:00 pm
Re: WRONG NAME in personal statement. What to do?
Tell "your girlfriend" to just send them an updated copy via email with an extremely nice note about how it was an error and here is the corrected version while reaffirming her interest in [hopefully the correct school's name here].
I... may or may not have sent Duke my UChicago PS. I replaced it after they had had the application for 8 days and was accepted the next afternoon.
I... may or may not have sent Duke my UChicago PS. I replaced it after they had had the application for 8 days and was accepted the next afternoon.

- CGI Fridays
- Posts: 894
- Joined: Tue Sep 21, 2010 5:46 pm
Re: WRONG NAME in personal statement. What to do?
<3eskimo wrote:Tell "your girlfriend" ...
- Nicholasnickynic
- Posts: 1122
- Joined: Sat Oct 17, 2009 3:21 pm
Re: WRONG NAME in personal statement. What to do?
/self unless you want to go to uva AND you get in there. Otherwise, definitely /self
- CGI Fridays
- Posts: 894
- Joined: Tue Sep 21, 2010 5:46 pm
Re: WRONG NAME in personal statement. What to do?
Nicholasnickynic wrote:/self unless you want to go to uva AND you get in there. Otherwise, definitely /self
eskimo wrote:I... may or may not have sent Duke my UChicago PS. I replaced it after they had had the application for 8 days and was accepted the next afternoon.
Seriously? What are you waiting for?
Now there's a charge.
Just kidding ... it's still FREE!
Already a member? Login