One of the most exciting things to happen to any high school senior is getting that long-awaited, much-desired college acceptance letter.
“Congratulations!” It will usually say. “You’ve been accepted!”
Or, in the case of Johns Hopkins University, the subject line might read, “Embrace the YES!”
Except, as as 294 students recently learned, a “YES!” from Hopkins might not be cause to celebrate right away.
According to the Washington Post, hundreds of Hopkins hopefuls received received acceptance letters by mistake. And most of those (285) received their yes after previously receiving a no.
The gaffe is not a first nor is it unique to Hopkins, as the Post explains:
In February, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology sent applicants an e-mail about financial aid that included a happy footnote: "You are on this list because you are admitted to MIT!" That information, for thousands of students, was wrong. ...
Fordham University gave false news of acceptance to 2,500 applicants last December; Vassar College incorrectly informed 76 students that they had gotten into the school in January 2012; and one of the most glaring mistakes came in 2009, when the University of California at San Diego admissions office sent acceptance e-mails to all 46,000 students who had applied, including the 28,000 who had been rejected.
David Phillips, vice provost for admissions and financial aid at Hopkins, blamed the mistake on “human error,” noting that a contractor who works with the university pulled the wrong list of names to email.
