My fatal spelling error

It is the role of every editor-in-chief to meticulously read through each article presented to them, find any issues and fix them. The paper wants to produce the best material possible so all errors need to be found and corrected. The final product should be free of spelling errors, missed punctuation, incorrect grammar or any other problem. All of this only adds to the irony that I misspelled “editor-in-chief” on 6/9 of my college applications. 

I have never been the best speller. To be fair, I never had to be. With autocorrect, I only have to type the slightest resemblance of a word and it’s corrected in seconds. As for the spelling tests I had to take all throughout elementary school, I just memorized the words the night before and received an A+ every time. It truly was a great system at the time but not very beneficial for my future self, case in point, the grave error I made on my college applications. 

As I’m sure everyone is aware, an activities section is a crucial part of the Common App. Applicants can fill out up to 10 activities, explaining what they are and what they do. Naturally, I added Editor-in-Chief of the Hoban Visor, to my activities list. Or should I say “Editor-in-Chef.” I guess I am a masterful chef now, which makes zero sense because the last time I tried to cook the fire department showed up at my house, but I do look good in chef’s hats. I wanted to show colleges that I am a serious student who also happens to possess skills in journalism. Instead, I showed them that I am a 17 year old who still cannot spell. 

Now, I know what you’re thinking. Why didn’t I spell check my application? I did, about 15 times. In fact, both of my parents also checked it, both of whom graduated with honors from their respective universities. But still, none of us caught this elementary mistake. Well, until after I submitted six out of nine applications. After reading through my application for seemingly the tenth time, my mom saw it. Her daughter was a chef now. Luckily, she caught the error before I submitted my final three applications but that still left six believing I lack rudimentary skills, such as spelling. 

Now, this will be a funny story in the future, but only if I am still accepted into those six schools. If not, I will be enrolling myself into Kindergarten and relearning how to spell, hopefully with less memorization this time.