Admission Web glitch bewilders applicants (DailyNorthwestern)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Northwestern University
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<p>From the Daily Northwestern: <a href="http://www.dailynorthwestern.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/03/31/424bc50c04cbe%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.dailynorthwestern.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/03/31/424bc50c04cbe&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Unadmitted students were unable to view status for 24 hours
by Michelle Ma </p>

<p>Frustrated high school seniors seeking to find out their admissions decisions for Northwestern through the Internet over the weekend got a faulty Web page instead. Their uncertainty loomed, only to find out a day later that they were denied.</p>

<p>Those students had to wait until Sunday to learn the university's decision, while accepted and waitlisted students had immediate access to their decisions, said Rebecca Dixon, associate provost of university enrollment.</p>

<p>"We had some difficulty getting the denials page available for them," Dixon said. "It was our fault."</p>

<p>The Office of Admissions mailed all regular decision admission decisions Friday. The next day, e-mailed notices directed applicants to a Web site to check their application status. All applicants should have been able to instantly receive notification of their status but the connection in the URL for denials notification Web page was not activated correctly, Dixon said. </p>

<p>Information Technology staff in the admissions office fixed the computer glitch on Sunday, allowing all applicants to view their status, Dixon said. An admissions official sent an e-mail Sunday to all applicants apologizing for the delay in online notification for some applicants. </p>

<p>Bess Nagler, who attends The Weber School in Atlanta, was one of those students. She said she wasn't alarmed when she couldn't access her official decision. </p>

<p>"I figured there were so many people checking," Nagler said. "I didn't think it was a problem." </p>

<p>On Sunday, she officially found out she was not accepted to the Class of 2009.</p>

<p>Still, she appreciated the e-mail sent to all applicants apologizing for the computer glitch. </p>

<p>Nagler was calm, but many applicants who couldn't access their admission status e-mailed undergraduate admissions to complain over the weekend. More than 140 NU applicants vented on the College Confidential Web site about the unavailable acceptance status, Dixon said. The swamping of the undergraduate admissions inbox and the online comments alerted admissions staff members to the Web site's problem, Dixon said. </p>

<p>About 4,784 applicants have been accepted for the Class of 2009, Dixon said, but this number will fluctuate. Last year the university admitted 4,684 applicants, and 1,985 students joined the freshman class. Ideally, Dixon said, this year's entering freshman class will include 1,925 students. </p>

<p>NU applicant Andrea Fang learned of her acceptance on Saturday. But some of her friends remained in limbo, she said. </p>

<p>"(My friends) all checked around the same time as me on Saturday," said Fang, a senior at Bridgewater-Raritan High School in Bridgewater, N.J. Though Fang said she immediately received the news of her acceptance, "my two friends IMed me and told me they couldn't get on (the Web page)," she said. </p>

<p>The Office of Admissions has supplemented the paper mail admittance letter with an online option for all applicants to know of their acceptance, denial or wait-list status for the last four years, Dixon said. </p>

<p>Accepted student Matt Schwartz said he preferred the online notification option because he could access the university's decision even though he wasn't home when it was released.</p>

<p>"It's a lot easier checking over the Internet because I can do it from anywhere," said Schwartz, a senior at Solon High School in Cleveland. Schwartz said he checked online Saturday while at his friend's house in Connecticut.</p>

<p>"I was glad because I got in," he said.</p>

<p>Walking through campus should be harder now that students are receiving their acceptances. Only two or three accepted seniors attended information sessions and campus tours early this week, said Pat Craig, an assistant in the admissions office. But officials expect to see an increase in that number by Friday. </p>

<p>Formal Preview NU sessions will begin for accepted seniors on April 18. </p>

<p>Reach Michelle Ma at <a href="mailto:m-ma@northwestern.edu">m-ma@northwestern.edu</a>.</p>

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<p>" More than 140 NU applicants vented on the College Confidential Web site about the unavailable acceptance status, Dixon said. "</p>

<p>I didn't apply to NW but was just visiting and found this article.. and to my surprise... GOSH. So.. unis know about CC after all.. AND THEY CHECK!!!
OMG.. I wonder if they can match sn to person!
This is freaky!</p>

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<p>don't forget though that these are students writing the articles, so maybe THEY checked CC first, tho the admissions ppl probably did too</p>

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<p>Ohhhh right I see..
lol.
So I guess CC is really well known by everyone!</p>

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<p>"bewildered" well that was euphemistic! think of how many complaints there would have been if none of the decision sites activated properly!</p>

<p>I would expect that the students writing the articles are very familiar with CC, probably used it extensively in their admission's process. But yes, anything you say on the internet could potentially come back to haunt you. dun dun dun....</p>

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<p>"The Office of Admissions mailed all regular decision admission decisions Friday."</p>

<p>That's definitely not true.. lol I checked my acceptance package and the mailing date said 3/28/05, which was Monday.</p>

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<p>mine was definitely postmarked on friday; i got my package in the mail monday afternoon.</p>

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<p>Well you can technically "mail" something and not have it be postmarked right away. Either way, I'm sure they won't let this fiasco happen again!</p>

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<p>My son's arrived on a Monday, so it must have been in the mail prior.</p>

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<p>mine arrived monday too.</p>

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<p>I still havent even gotten mine, go figure</p>

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<p>Great. If they didn't hate me when they rejected me, they probably do now! That just made my day. :(</p>

<p>Hmmm... My day's actually been made several times this week. Tuesday was the worst though. During the last few minutes of second block, which is a gym class that I have to take in order to graduate, I was blamed by my partner for not being able to hit a birdie and thus ruining my team's grade-which isn't even true since I somehow still have a 100% in that class since I actually try my hardest all the time. I can't see it! She has no idea how much I'd like to just hit a birdie after following its path in the air with my eyes and not have to worry about getting hit in the face for it. It's not a pleasent thought or experience (Let's just say I got hit in the face by a basketball a few weeks ago since I was focusing on a volleyball game while some other kids were playing basketball. I didn't see it coming). Technically, I could get a lot more help with my vision (with larger print books, bigger computer screens, etc.) than what I'm getting if I just asked for it, but I don't want help nor to be any more different than I already am. Oh well. I guess that's my biggest flaw.</p>

<p>I don't even know why I'm in here. I should be in the Michigan forum. Oh well. I'll make up for that on Monday when I will be at U of M for campus day (I'll repent for my sins). By the way, just because someone is an in-stater and goes to Michigan, doesn't make that person dumb (something like that was stated in the NU vs. Umich thread). I really hate it when people say that because I'm not stupid.</p>

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<p>CC has been a source of other Daily Northwestern articles....</p>

<p><a href="http://www.dailynorthwestern.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/01/16/400783a676e51%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.dailynorthwestern.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/01/16/400783a676e51&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>wow....LOL... hey fellow "140 NU applicants [who] vented on the College Confidential Web site"...at least we got our 15 minutes of fame</p>

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<p>What if we don't want 15 minutes of fame (or, at least, that kind of fame)? I know that I didn't say anything bad or regrettable last weekend (nothing that I should be worried about-Even though I'm on the Internet, I still keep an eye on myself in the aspect of what I say), but now I'm paranoid. I guess that I care too much about this kind of stuff. I should be caring more about what's going on for Sunday/Monday. It's my weekend to volunteer up in Grand Rapids on Sunday (do it every other weekend), but then I have to be in Ann Arbor early Monday morning. We still have to figure out whether or not we'll come home on Sunday or just spend the night in Ann Arbor after we leave Grand Rapids (We live about an hour away from Grand Rapids so it might just make more sense to go straight over to Ann Arbor from there since home isn't any closer to Ann Arbor than Grand Rapids is).</p>

<p>BTW, when did they have time to count how many of us vented on here? ;)</p>

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<p>They probably just looked at the # of posts. As for "finding" folks...all you have to do is join, click the person's profile, and send them a private message or email. My guess is that the students quoted in the article volunteered the information. I'd be more worried about ending up with one of your verbal on-list sparring partners as a roommate! ;)</p>

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<p>LOL! That's true. I should be worried about that or ending up with someone that can't speak English very well (If I end up with either of those situations, I'll literally cry)! :)</p>

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<p>"More than 140 NU applicants vented on the College Confidential Web site about the unavailable acceptance status, Dixon said."</p>

<p>Dixon is mentioned earlier as associate provost of university enrollment so this would indicate that some univeristies' admissions (at least NU) check this site.</p>