Vassar College Applicants Given False Acceptance Letters

NEW YORK -- Dozens of applicants to Vassar College were mistakenly told they had gotten into the school when they checked a website that had been set up for students applying for early decisions.

The Poughkeepsie, N.Y., school says 76 students logged onto the site after 4 p.m. Friday and saw letters saying they had been accepted when in fact they had not been.

The school says it fixed the mistaken information by 4:30 p.m. and informed all the impacted applicants of the mistake by Friday evening. Another 46 students who logged on had been correctly told they were accepted.

Students who apply early decision make a commitment to go to Vassar if they are accepted.

The New York Times had first reported the mistake.

Comments

[ladameennoir]

08:45 AM on 02/06/2012

Solution: go back to snail mail notification on April 1st. Then you just say it was an April Fool's joke.

[Ariel Bonzai]

07:10 PM on 02/02/2012

That headline was incredibly misleading.

[huffhuff7]

01:21 PM on 02/01/2012

Universities do not make a person or a career, they are merely credential points. U.S. college graduates end up in debts only to find out America hires graduates from India, Communist China, and third world countries.

[Hausowerschip]

08:16 PM on 02/02/2012

Not in my case.

[archangelmimi]

12:15 AM on 02/01/2012

If Vassar should accept those 76 that they were actually going to reject anyway, what about the 76 students that they actually want but will have to deny because they no longer have room for them. Unless someone is willing to pay to build brand new housing for these extra students that weren't supposed to be there in the first place, I don't see the problem in telling them formally that it was a mistake and that the school apologizes.

And Vassar has taken measures to apologize and try their best to fix this mistake. The president of the school has personally called each student, and in the case she couldn't reach them over the phone, she sent a personal email to all students and their parents (if the parent's email was supplied in the admissions packet). Vassar has refunded the application fees and offered to contact any schools in which the students have pulled their applications from.

Vassar is also not the only school to have ever done this (look up UC San Diego's mistake) and has only started contacting students with their admissions letter online last year. It's a new thing for them, and they are bound to make mistakes. I know this because I was admitted with the Class of 2014, and I got the traditional "You're Accepted" packet.

Also, most of our Comp. Sci. majors go on to work for the biggest computer/networking companies. Just saying.

[Quis Custodiet]

09:50 PM on 01/31/2012

That sucks. Then again. Poughkepsie is a hole...they may be better off.

[morefromLA]

01:46 PM on 01/31/2012

How to make and break your day.

[reasonableness]

08:29 AM on 01/31/2012

Why all the anxiety and exasperation over college acceptance letters? A high school senior's college acceptance letter only determines where they will initially enter the arena of higher education---not necessarily where they will exit If they don't fancy the school they attend during their freshman year, they can always transfer to a different college, and then transfer to another college after that. And they might obtain their graduate degree(s) from yet another university. The acceptance letter only determines the first stop on their educational voyage; it is not necessarily a "life sentence." Why all the fuss?

[morefromLA]

01:48 PM on 01/31/2012

Because it is the first step and for students using early decision it is the first step hopefully into their college of first choice.

[dmgoss]

07:48 AM on 01/31/2012

This is a really evil thing to do to someone. I got one of these from a university (in email form), that they were reconsidering an earlier rejection of my application for entry into a doctoral program. It was like ninety seconds of bliss and relief, crushed by the email that directly followed explaining the mistake and briefly, formally apologizing, as if they hadn't just kicked me as hard as possible in the soft bits.

[aLAN Cruiser]

06:27 AM on 01/31/2012

Its really frustrating news for the aspirants those who want to make sharpen their career through higher studies.

[hopein2012]

11:25 PM on 01/30/2012

LOL. who applied there. ever heard of Williams College, Bowdoin, etc? exactly.

[patricklhawkins]

07:46 PM on 01/30/2012

I saw this on CNN earlier today and actually had a good laugh. Why is it that so many cry babies think every thing needs to end in a lawsuit? One mother who was interviewed said she came home to find her daughter on the floor crying hysterically after she was told of the mistake. Really, crying hysterically on the floor. If that's the case I don't think the daughter is ready for college. Maybe she needs to look into a good pre-school instead. Then the reporter ended the story saying many of the students are considering lawsuits. Why? it was a mistake, buck up, and get over it!

[dior12]

09:45 PM on 01/30/2012

Maybe if you actually read the story, vassar college was probably her number one choice. Presumably she had worked to try to get in, and then she finds out that she actually isn't. How would you like it if you were falsely told you won the lotto (even though this is a gross exaggeration) then go up to collect your ticket and actually realized you didn't.

[patricklhawkins]

10:44 PM on 01/30/2012

I don't need to read the story as I stated I saw this story on CNN earlier today.

[Saruhbear]

09:51 PM on 01/30/2012

How dare you be so callous. This isn't some cheap, easy state college. The admissions process at an institution as esteemed as Vassar is absolutely cutthroat. But of course, based on the slew of gramatical errors in your comment, I'm sure you wouldn't know anything about an elite college.

[brooklyncitizen]

11:29 PM on 01/30/2012

what a douchy post.

[daughterusmc]

06:47 PM on 01/30/2012

dozens? the horror. It'a a mistake, not the crime of the century, Jesus Lord, everyone, keep your pants on.

[wca16]

05:06 PM on 01/30/2012

Lets flip the coin here. What about all the colleges that accept people only to find out that they won't be attending. What about all the money and time they spend reviewing those applications, do they start charging those people that waste their time and get their hopes up?

I'm pretty sure all 76 are not complaining about this minor inconvenience, so for those few that are please take note of the correct way to handle bad news.

Suck it up!

[Lawson Meadows]

06:20 PM on 01/30/2012

WAC16,

Ditto on your response to my earlier comment. Good point!

In virtually all endevors,there exists a cost of doing business, and each separate dollar or moment spent is not expected to reflect a positive ROI. The hope is that the net result will yield some sort of "profit."

Unless the 76 were only applying to one school, they will probably be fine by not dwelling on a single school's unfortunate error and move on with their life.

Fanned for clear thinking!

Lawson

[wilkokke]

03:14 PM on 01/30/2012

The college should be forced to admit student that we "alledgly" admitted by mistake and pay legal fees,
Stupiditly in a college administrator's office is the problem the college has to fix, The administrator that messed up the college's admittance will have to be fired. The women he mistakenly denied admittance must be accepted,

[barbara jay]

05:33 PM on 01/30/2012

I don't know anything about the gender of the applicants who were on the list, but Vassar became co-ed around 1970, maybe that year exactly. Even so, it's hard to shake the idea that it's a women's college, because during my own college days (elsewhere) it still was.

[Sandra376]

02:50 PM on 01/30/2012

Universities have been making major errors like this because they are not on top of their game for undergraduates and have been "outsourcing parts" of the notification process. My son applied early decision to a great university that confirmed via computer (that's how it's done) that he (and many others) had been "deferred" when the university had already accepted them (but the students didn't know this.)

There is a lack of empathy on many of these posts. If you had applied for a great job position, spent a lot of time on the app for that position, traveled long distances for interviews, etc., then were told "congratulations" you have the position, only to be told...oops no you don't, you might have some understanding here. The institution made a major major mistake and should take those 76 student in (not that many)---they would do fine there---probably better than some of the ones who did get in.

[Pavane]

02:35 AM on 02/01/2012

Great post, Sandra. You have a genuine understanding of the situation and your empathy is appreciated.

I've been through the college process 3 times with my kids - all different universities of their choice. And frankly, their anxiety was so bad each time, I can only convey my relief that they each got in (thank God) and ... that I never have go through it all again. Hallelujah.

Allow me to be your first fan. :)