The Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine sent 364 letters of acceptance in error Thursday to students looking for admission. "Soon after the emails were sent, a technical error was discovered and the letters of acceptance were withdrawing by email," according to a statement on the Minnesota based school's website.
About three hours after the admissions letter was sent in error, Admissions Dean Dr. J. Michael Bostwick told CNN, applicants were contacted by phone to let them know what had happened. Bostwick said the school makes offers to just 46 students and those initial offers are always over the phone.
"It's awful," he said. "We're still not clear how this happened and we're so upset for these folks."A vendor's glitch sent the letter to everyone who interviewed, Bostwick said. "We deeply regret having caused disappointment and stress to these applicants, and we are continuing to investigate the issue," the school's apology on its website read.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/15/us/mayo-clinic-school-error-trnd/index.html
I wonder how the glitch occurred because I haven't heard of something like this happening before, with such a large number of people. This seems like a very serious problem that should be looked into closely because 364 people got their hopes up for no reason. Even if the Dean isn't responsible, I feel like he should offer something else than just a phone call saying "Sorry."
ReplyDeleteSadly, this isn’t uncommon. One of my close friends got a false acceptance email from her dream school but was notified shortly after that it was a mistake. She was absolutely devastated. It’s horrible that a simple fluke can cause hundreds of applicants to get their hopes up. I think this is why so many schools are switching to a decision message in your portal, not a decision email. Even though it can be annoying to have to log in to the portal to see your decision, I think it is a good solution to this problem.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how these emails are accidently sent out to hundreds of students. Normally admission letters (at least the ones I've gotten) are addressed to applicants with their first and last names so I wonder if someone hacked into the school if the acceptances are by phone and not email? I've heard about this happening at other schools and it's odd how this issue isn't that uncommon. I think universities should work on preventing this and take measures so applicants don't get their hopes up. I can't imagine how someone would feel hearing that the acceptance letter they got sent was a glitch and their efforts weren't enough for them to actually get in.
ReplyDeleteRecently, I learned that someone I knew who had already been in college for a few years had actually got into the college as a result of an error on the university's part. The university had allowed him to go to the school because he had already accepted the admission and paid for it, but he had felt very bad about it and had kept it to himself for most of his time in college. While he is a very good student and has succeeded as a result of his admission, it has adversely effected his mental health due to impostor syndrome. Colleges should put in more safeguards against these errors if they want to protect students' health for both those that do and do not get in.
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