OMG. College just called me and told me that my D's acceptance was a mistake.

@momof2- you mentioned that the director said your daughter “should” have received a letter saying to apply again next year. Since the phone call, has your daughter received anything in writing saying the original offer was a mistake?

@jcwjnw99 yes

I agree with @GnocchiB. I also wonder if this will remain her #1 if/when she finds out about this.

OP, I am really very sorry that you and your D are being put through this. It’s beyond unacceptable.

@momof2lefties I totally get where you are coming from on that. As a parent I would be a little wary about how she would be treated knowing that the professors did not admit her into the program. However, we would all hope that professional people would act professionally, right? I think the first thing I would do is have a conversation with the head of the design/tech dept. and see how they react to talking with you.

If they were encouraging her to apply again next year, then I’m sure the professors will be fine taking her this year.

I wonder if everyone who was not accepted was encouraged to “apply again next year”. It could be their standard rejection letter.

@takeitallin she better not have received this information in an email at school. I doubt that she has–or I would have gotten a phone call. If she has, I will be LIVID.

Here is a link to the NACAC (National Association of College Admission Counseling) Statement of Principles of Good Practice: Code of Ethics and Professional Practices:

https://www.nacacnet.org/globalassets/documents/advocacy-and-ethics/statement-of-principles-of-good-practice/2017_spgp_final.pdf

Here is the part where it explains that parents/students can file a complaint against member institutions:

Also, paging @Hanna for her professional opinion - @Hanna have you ever come across something like this?

If she wants to go there I would call the President of the school - is this a state sponsored school? If so I would call your local state rep - this is what they are paid to do - to represent you in your time of need!! I would also call Gov. office if you don’t get anywhere from there.
The first few days might be weird but if she is a good student she will make her mark there and that is what she will be known for - if I were a Prof there I would not hold this against her for goodness sake.

That would be pretty crappy if they routinely encourage all rejected kids to reapply the following year.

The rejection letters to the drama students only contains the verbiage about reapplying again next year to a limited few students, not sure if it is the same for any other dept.

@momof2lefties - if that deposit portal is still open, you may want to make the deposit. Worst case, I’m pretty sure if it didn’t work out they’d refund the deposit. If she’s been offered admittance and you’ve paid the deposit, that gives you a pretty strong case they should accept her. I’m not a lawyer but sure sounds like a binding contract to me.

I’d be one ornery Mama Bear!

Why is the school communicating with the parent? Isn’t it the student’s application? Has the student filed the waivers for information to be released to a parent?

It is not a contract, it is an offer that hasn’t been accepted yet. The question is whether the offer can be rescinded by notifying a third party orally. The offer was to the student, the rescission was to/through a parent. I’m guessing it cannot be! So if the student does accept by paying the deposit, what will the damages be if the school later cancels the contract? Did the student make any decisions based on the contract (turning down other offers or not applying to other schools)? Did the student try to mitigate any damages? The student will want ‘specific performance’ meaning the contract can only be performed by the original offerer, not a substitute (another college). The school will claim many other schools can complete the contract.

I’m guessing the program can’t just add one more MT major, and that this student can’t necessarily be the next on the waiting list. The program may let in 2 blond women who are mainly dancers, 2 Asian men, 6 ‘all purpose’ men, 3 sopranos, etc. The person’s whose name was above OP’s daughter may be an entirely different type or have different skills.

But I do think the school owes the student something more than a phone call and ‘sorry.’

Sadly, this happens every year - but in bulk. There have been numerous larger schools who have made errors in mailing admissions to a large set of people. Tulane comes to mind, but it happens more often than you think, and it’s always all over the news. The school gets egg on its face, but in the long-run, they feel they cannot offer admittance to a person who otherwise they would not have admitted. The school’s thinking has always been it’s not fair to offer admittance to those that were a “mistake” as there may have been others higher up on that list that should be admitted if they were indeed to add people to the program.

It stinks. But your thought is correct as this seems to be such a small program - would they give her the time and energy she needs and wants, knowing this was a mistake? I am so sorry this happened. These are always horrible errors that sadly hurt the families.

Oh my goodness, I am so so so sorry. And that kind of mistake is absolutely outrageous. Hugs to you both…

@twoinanddone I hear you. FYI–she is a design/tech major, not MT. If they wanted to, they could make space, as the tech numbers do fluctuate year to year. I am still thinking on all of this.

@momof2lefties - I would pay the deposit before you risk losing the portal. Once the admission is offered, legal attachment begins after the offer has been accepted (paying the deposit). They say they made a mistake. Ok, why is the portal still open for you to make a deposit? Who’s to say the mistake was not made when she called to say the offer was made in error. They don’t seem to know what they are doing. Pay the deposit. Make’s it infinitely more difficult to withdraw the offer after that. Generally, schools that make these mistakes occur in the mass email acceptances. Those are corrected quickly before acceptances are made. That’s why the schools are able to withdraw the offer. They notified the students of the error in a timely fashion. That didn’t happen here. They kept sending material indicates by your daughter was accepted.

Come to think of it I found the administration to be very disorganized when we went through the process last year. My D was on the waitlist last year but no one declined and she never came off. At the end of July she received an email from them something like “URGENT! Health forms are past due…you must submit them immediately”. I was like what the hell? Did she come off the waitlist and no one ever told us? I emailed the woman back and told her my D was on the waitlist and she said “my apologies”. Unreal!

@marg928 I got a lot of “my apologies” this morning.