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Comment by janalsncm | Hacker News Reader

> But in another instance, Epstein was critical of misspelling. A contact forwarded the sex offender his daughter’s college application in 2013. “I wish you had let me review before sending…the grammatical errors and spelling mistakes will make it at least harder for early admission,” Epstein wrote.

It is funny that spelling and grammar matter more when writing to an admissions officer than to a potential business partner. But it’s also funny to imagine a world where you could send in an essay with a bunch of typos and grammar mistakes and expect it not to influence your application.

Spelling and grammar matter in the sense that they are a signal that you know a complicated and somewhat arbitrary set of rules and have agreed to follow them.

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>It is funny that spelling and grammar matter more when writing to an admissions officer than to a potential business partner

Things that matter in academia world don't always matter in the real world and vice versa.

Right, the deeper question is why it “matters” in academia and not business. Because in some sense academia is the real world.

> Because in some sense academia is the real world.

The old one; what's the difference between academia and the real world?

In academia, there is no difference.

Proper grammar on formulaic language is a proof-of-work system. Difficult to achieve but easy to check. It suggests that the author cared enough to put in the time. When the cost of graduate labor is low, careful editing suggests that you can burn a student's time to demonstrate the message is worth reading.

> Because in some sense academia is the real world

Isn't at all, it's a completely different system that exists beside the real world with different incentive and reward systems.

Also just differing levels of relevance. You don't talk with a businessman or investor or famous people in general because of their writing; if you made a list of relevant skills, 'proper spelling when quickly texting from a phone' surely doesn't crack even the top ten thousand skills. In academia, on the other hand, writing a formal application properly is a core skill.

If you were applying to YC, would you capitalize the answers to their questions?

I would have to consider carefully if I thought I was a high-enough quality candidate that it would be interpreted as a countersignal rather than a signal.

If I, gwern, specifically, were to apply, I might; because I know I am widely read on HN and I've talked with any number of YC partners etc, and they all know I take care in writing, and so me not capitalizing is a deliberate message rather than laziness or incompetence. They may or may not appreciate the message, but they won't infer the usual things, at least.

If I were anyone else and my application just one of thousands in the flood? You'd better believe I'd capitalize and spellcheck my YC application: https://gwern.net/blog/2023/good-writing

The difference is the formality of the setting, not necessarily the recipient. Sending a quick note via email or text is one, and a pitch deck is another.

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