False Acceptance Letters

Nicole 
Current Event Posting #3
Topic: Education
Title of Article: UCLA sends mistaken congrats to 894 applicants and then apologizes
Author: Larry Gordon
Publication Name: LA Times
Date of Publication: April 10, 2012
Length of Article: 361 words

On April 3, 2012, the University of Los Angeles (UCLA) sent out emails to 894 high school seniors, saying that they were admitted to the campus for fall semester.  However, those students actually remain on the waiting list for the school.  UCLA apologized for the mistake, but officials have yet to move anyone into the admitted category.  According to campus spokesman Ricardo Vasquez, updated notices of provisional financial aid were sent Saturday and Sunday to thousands of admitted students as well as to students on the waiting list for possible freshman admission in the fall.  Somehow, the note, “Once again congratulations on your admission to UCLA, we hope that this information will assist you in making your decision to join the Bruin Family in the fall,” had been included in the message.  To make things even more confusing, the email directed those 894 students via an online link to a detailed financial aid letter that clearly stated they were on the waiting list. In response to these mixed messages, applicants called UCLA, and apology messages to the 894 students were sent.  This is not the first time something like this has happened.  In 2009, UC San Diego mistakenly sent admissions notices to about 28,000 applicants who actually were rejected.  In 2010, UC Santa Barbara mistakenly told 60 applicants they were admitted to the next fall's freshman class when, in fact, they remained on the waiting list. Vazquez attributed the mess up to human error and said UCLA is looking into exactly how the mistake was made on the email lists, but for now, the reason as to how this mistake was made remains unknown.  This is not the first time an error like this has occurred.  

In conclusion, UCLA made a huge mistake.  They accidentally sent messages saying “congratulations” to students who were on the waiting list rather than accepted student.  894 seniors had their hopes raised and then ultimately crushed because of a possibly careless mistake.  This careless mistake led to a huge, heartbreaking misunderstanding, and colleges need to be more wary of the content of the letters they send.  They literally have the ability to make, or break, an incoming freshman’s dreams.