After reviewing 9,800 applications for admission to the Class of 2011, the admission staff has seen it all: the good, the bad, and the ugly. In this posting, I will focus on the bad and the ugly—some of the common mistakes (and at times, just plain laziness) that we observed in this year’s applications. Though I’ll be writing in a very lighthearted way, and many of these mistakes may make you laugh, they are not so humorous if they appear in your application. So, juniors, pay attention… and make sure none of the following appear in your application for admission next year!

Some of our favorite misspellings/incorrect word choices:

1. Guidance Councilor—Actually, we have found that there are many incorrect ways to spell counselor… but this is the most popular version. It appears so often that we start to wonder if high schools are spelling it this way above their guidance offices! Correct Spelling: Guidance Counselor
2. Honor Role—It’s tough to go more than two applications without finding this one. Correct Spelling: Honor Roll
3. Threw life—The first two we see quite often, but thankfully, this mistake is not nearly as common. Still, in my own geographic territory alone, I saw this on at least three occasions… which is at least three times too many… Correct Spelling: Through life.
4. Edjucation—Yes, I really did have a student spell it this way. Really. Correct Spelling: Education.
5. Buisness—Business seems to be a relatively easy word to spell, but from the number of times we see the “i� and “s� reversed, I guess that it’s not! Correct Spelling: Business.
6. Pschology—or sometimes “pyschology� or even “pschyology.� Correct Spelling: Psychology.
7. Captian—In fact, we see many three-sport “captians� who spell it this way each time they write it. Correct Spelling: Captain.

A couple of other mistakes we see too often:

1. A student spelling their own street incorrectly. Yep. Happens more than you’d expect. The student spells it one way on the application, and a different way on the additional forms they send in. And then we find it spelled a THIRD way on the transcript. Great. (Better than spelling your own name wrong, though… which has also been known to occur…)

2. The infamous “search and replace� specific interest college essay… Where the student finishes the essay with the following line: “That is why I can’t wait to attend (school that is NOT Providence College) in the fall.� Search and replace is great… but only if you remember to do the replacing! Unfortunately, this is also becoming more and more common in teacher recommendations, where the teacher firmly believes the student will be a perfect fit at (enter name of school that is NOT Providence College here). Oops.

And finally, some other things we chuckle at… Or that juniors should avoid on their applications next year:

1. Inappropriate e-mail addresses, such as: soccerhottie245@whatever.com. Or ihatemustard@so-and-so.com (and these are tame pretend examples compared with some we see!). It is so easy to open a free e-mail account through hotmail or yahoo, so why not create a college-specific address that you’ll be sure to check often with your first name and last name (i.e. Joe_Smith@something.com). It makes you look a great deal more mature. But, I will admit, we do get a lot of laughs at the e-mail addresses we see each year.

2. When a student tries to impress us with their knowledge of PC by saying something like, “I truly want to attend PC because of your fine Franciscan tradition� or “As I currently attend a Jesuit high school, I know the value of such an education and want to continue my Jesuit education at PC next year.� Valiant attempts, but PC is run by the Dominican Order.

3. Please, please, please, if you use the pronoun “I� in your application (which you will!), make sure to capitalize it. Remember, this is your college essay you’re writing, not an e-mail... or a blog...

4. And finally, please don’t use Instant Messenger shorthand anywhere in your application! (Thx! TTYL!)