SAN DIEGO -- UC San Diego Admissions Director Mae Brown said Tuesday that an administrative error was responsible for a bogus e-mail that went out to 28,000 students congratulating them on their admission and welcoming them to the campus.
The applicants had been denied admission by the university earlier in the month. Someone accidentally sent the e-mail to the entire applicant pool of 47,000 although it was intended for only the 18,000 students who got in, Brown said.
The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Cornell University and Northwestern Universitys prestigious Kellogg School of Management have experienced similar goof-ups in recent years, but the UCSD incident Monday was by far the largest.
I take full responsibility for the error, said Brown, who was in the office Monday until midnight preparing an apology and answering e-mails and phone calls from disappointed students and their parents. We accessed the wrong database.
We recognized the incredible pain receiving this false encouragement caused," she continued. "It was not our intent.
One parent, who asked to remain anonymous because he didnt want to intensify his daughters college admissions stress, called it a colossal screw-up and said the family had been thinking of attending Admit Day Saturday, as the e-mail encouraged them to do, before learning the invitation was fake.
It was kind of a shock, he said.
The mistake was all the more dire because this year is shaping up as one of the toughest in recent years at San Diego and other UC campuses. In response to a UC-wide enrollment cap ordered because of the states budget crisis, San Diego reduced its freshman enrollment target by 520 students, to 3,775, Brown said.
The campus, like many throughout the United States, handles most of its application process online. Brown said the e-mail mistake would be reviewed, but she doubted the university would back off from communications technology.
All our research tells us students are most comfortable with online communications, she said.
Ouch! said Barmak Nassirian, associate executive director of the American Assn. of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, when he heard about the failure. I feel terrible for the applicants.
This is a source of constant worry at colleges," he said. "They use extremely sophisticated systems of communication from the front end of applications all the way to alumni relations for all kinds of high-stake business, and bad things can happen all the way.
Nassirian said, however, that the advantages of technology outweigh the risk, and he doubted colleges would go back to paper-based systems.
Brown said she and her staff would spend the day answering every phone complaint and e-mail from parents and students.
This happened to me and let me tell you- i was totally confused!! But instead of apologizing, i think they should let us in! But unfortunately that can't happen.
What do you think about the admissions process being mostly online? Is it more complicated, especially if something like this happened- one little glitch effect thousands of other people?
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monica vellanoweth v(o_o)v
"First you take the grahm. You put the chocolate on the grahm. Then you roast a mallow. When the mallows' flammin', you stick it on the chocolate. Then you top with the other side."
its unfortunate, but there is no way that colleges will stop making applications available online. The online process make things much, much easier. Mistakes like this are extremely rare, and should not stop the current application process.
How horrible that must have been for those students who receive bogus acceptance letter! Being accepted into good colleges such as San Diego is a big deal to students! I personally feel that the admistratrive director should offer those students some sort of compensation for all the trouble and let down they caused.
THIS HAPPENED TO ME TOO!!! I proposed to everyone who got rejected from UCSD and who got this acceptance e-mail that we should file an amicus curiae brief together because we all have standing. :D OK... back to the question. I like the admission process being online because it is very convenient (despite its flaws) for people who want to apply... especially if they were like me submitting their stuff at like 2 o' clock in the morning during the day before the November 30. If you were even more of a procrastinator than I was and you sent in the application at 11:40 pm on November 30, would the post office be there for you? Probably not. Think about it. If this occurred through traditional mail, the apology letter would come days later at the very least and would cause more pain for the people who received the fake acceptance letter because they would actually believe that they were accepted to UCSD for those few days and then reality sinks it.
I think some should be online and some printed out and sent in he mail as for the goof up Mae Brown made she shouldnt work there or be suspended somthing how do you goof up on 28,000 thats so ridiculous
THIS HAPPENED TO ME TOO!!! I proposed to everyone who got rejected from UCSD and who got this acceptance e-mail that we should file an amicus curiae brief together because we all have standing. :D
ahem. A little AP GAP sidenote: If you have standing, then you would file a class action lawsuit rather than an amicus curiae brief. Amicus curiae briefs are filed by those WITHOUT standing to provide guidance to an existing case brought by someone WITH standing. No case, no AC briefs :)
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Lego, Cav (the Lego brand name was derived from the Danish expression "leg godt" - play well - and lego also translates in Latin as "I study" or "I put together"...really, one of the world's most perfect words!)
Oh... ha ha!!! Just kidding. Thanks Mrs. Cav!!! But I love the word "amicus curiae"! OK... we'll file a class action lawsuit then!!! :D
-- Edited by watashiwa1293 on Wednesday 1st of April 2009 06:55:09 PM
true, amicus curiae is a rock-star gov term up there with filibuster and gerrymander, but since it won't give you any redress, you may have to settle for the more pedestrian class action in favor of remedy!! :)
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Lego, Cav (the Lego brand name was derived from the Danish expression "leg godt" - play well - and lego also translates in Latin as "I study" or "I put together"...really, one of the world's most perfect words!)
