======= Date Modified 09 03 2010 16:03:32 =======
Hi y'all

I recently applied for a month-long pre-doctoral fellowship in the US, and am waiting to hear back from the institution where the fellowship is based (in March).

Shortly after I sent off my application materials, I was re-reading my submitted research proposal when - HORROR! - there was a big, fat typo in the first paragraph. Not a 'their instead of they're' typo, more along the lines of 'concept X is defined by...', when really I meant to write 'concept Y is defined by...'. I am, naturally, kicking myself, as it's entirely my own fault, and I am normally the first person to jump on mistakes of this sort.

My question is, given that the typo is obviously an accidental error (placed in the overall context of the paragraph), is this the kind of thing that can actually prevent someone from being awarded a fellowship of this type? Obviously it looks sloppy, but (given that I've heard that American universities are rather more strict and formal than UK ones on this kind of thing), is it a 'dealbreaker'? This is the first fellowship I've applied for, and even though my 2nd supervisor assures me that this one isn't particularly competitive (!?!), I may have messed up on this one.

I'm not going to sit and fret about it - I'll reapply next year if need be - but I would be interested to hear opinions on how important this kind of thing is when it comes to applications.

Cheers,

N of C

How frustrating, sorry to hear about that NofC.

I guess it just depends on who else applies and how drawn they are to your proposal. People will overlook it if that fits with their preferences on other factors. Best of luck and yes, don't waste time fretting.

I probably wouldn't worry about it too much- if it's obvious what you meant then I doubt it will be a deal-breaker in the context of the overall application. Personally I think it would be worse if you had made a their/there/they're error. I guess it depends a bit upon the person too- my supervisor used to be a linguist and also a proof-reader before she changed into the field I'm in, and she can't stand poor spelling and grammar. I double and triple check everything I send because I can imagine her rolling her eyes and tutting impatiently if I made a careless error! With her, a there/they're/their error on an application form would no doubt end up in it being binned, but she is a bit extreme! I think you'll be fine, we're all human and it's the sort of mistake anyone can make- good luck with it! KB