“OU does not want you.” Can you imagine reading this in an email from one of your top college choices? Yikes, what a blow. Seeing this in her inbox is exactly what happened to a current student I’ve been working with, and no, that is not what I meant to write.

Mistakes happen, but many mistakes can be avoided with a little caution. I was reminded of this lesson last week while returning an email. With one slip of hand (and impatience to proofread), I had inadvertently sent the wrong message, and by wrong, I mean really wrong. In my head I was saying, “OU does not want to lose you,” but I decided to rephrase and turn it into a positive statement by saying, “OU wants you.” How it came out in the email after my indecisive and hasty phrasing was, “OU does not want you”…big oops. Luckily, I have a pretty good relationship with the young lady it was sent to; she emailed back saying, “Huh?” I quickly apologized and remedied the type-o. Luckily, we both laughed about it after the fact.

Point is – mistakes can easily happen – to anyone. We are all only human. Mistakes and errors provide us an opportunity to learn and grow. What I learned and remembered from my major slip was that even small type-o’s can be harmful, especially when the errors occur in scholarship essays. Revising and proofreading your writing is absolutely essential.  Always re-read what you’ve written to make sure you’ve answered the question and also have another eye check it over for things you might have missed. This step will ensure that you don’t make any major typing or grammatical errors like I did.

As you continue scholarship searching and filling out applications, I bet you’ll notice that the required essays and short responses for awards all kind of seem the same: “What’s your leadership experience?”; “What career field have you chosen and why?”; “What does community service mean to you?” etc.  My personal tip is to write a couple of really great essays and just use them over and over again, tweaking and editing them when necessary. If you haven’t already, I recommend starting a folder or keeping a flash drive of just college stuff so that your resume and essays are always easily accessible.  This will save you time so that you’re not reinventing the wheel every time you apply to a college or scholarship. Check out www.scholarships.com for more essay and scholarship writing tips.

Human error is tough to avoid. Slowing down and checking over work may take more time, but it’s time well spent. When mistakes do happen, consider the lesson you might learn. Your mom always said, “There’s no use crying over spilled milk [or apple juice if you’re lactose intolerant] – just make sure to clean it up.” This is great advice because the way you handle yourself after a mistake is made provides opportunity to develop and improve. I certainly had to learn that the hard way, but I guarantee you I will never send another email in haste without thorough proofreading. So if anyone ever catches a mistake I make in an email however small it may be, I encourage and challenge you to call me out on it…do the same with your friends as well. If we are not aware of mistakes made, how can we correct and learn from them?