@marg928 , my understanding is that she has the right to request a refund of her deposit at any point up until May 1 without penalty. It is only that she can not put down another deposit at the same time, in the same period. So IF they were to accept her, and then she decides it’s not worth it, she can put it in writing, send it off to them, and put another deposit down for another school. She does not need to withdraw her other applications. (Truthfully, I do not think they are going to honor the original offer. But I want my kid to know that I fought for her. I will always fight for her.)
I am SO glad you paid the deposit. I believe this created a binding contract.
@marg928 - the only rule is that you cannot put down two deposits. If she got accepted to another school she prefers, then she would have to inform them and possibly lose her deposit - but there is NO chance they’d force a kid to go to a school they didn’t want to attend. I don’t think the article posted above was correct about how the law of mistakes work. If you read the comments to that article, the law is better explained. Specifically, a one sided mistake isn’t grounds for getting out of a contract especially when enforcing it is not impractical. When enforcing is impractical- say they accidentally accepted 100 kids into an 8 kid program- a court wouldn’t enforce because the school doesn’t have the ability to provide an education to all 100 kids. But that doesn’t seem to be the case here.
Not 100 percent that the offer stays valid after the phone call, but I think your payment of the deposit might help convince them to make this right. Here is a primer:
https://lawshelf.com/courseware/entry/termination-of-the-power-of-acceptance
@momhof2lefties --If they “misread” the line then who else did they screw up I wonder? I’m not a conspiracy theorist generally but I find it extremely odd that a list of admits (especially a short list) would be on the same paper with non-admits. And then not double and triple checked. I would wonder who they were trying to make room for.
I’m afraid you’re doing much better than I would be doing. My husband would have to do the talking because I’d blast 'em out even after hopefully calming down. Hugs to you and your D!
It is difficult to argue a contract is binding on one party but not the other. We all agree that the student is not bound to the contract, can go to another school and break the contract. We know that schools can break their side of the contract if the student has a drop in grades, a disciplinary issue, or for some other undisclosed issues. I’m sure the student could argue that it was a binding contract but it is a difficult burden of proof.
@momof2lefties this is an awful situation. I’m not sure what i would do in your shoes. I know one thing I would do is when sitting down my D to tell her what happened, I would see how she reacts and what SHE wants to do. At the end of the day it’s her path & she may decide she doesn’t want to try to pursue it after it has become such a mess and negative experience. If she ended up attending she may start off with a negative view of the Dept and school which sucks. I would def contact someone in an authority position in that Dept & say my piece as it’s not acceptable but really i think amazingly kids this age are sensitive but also resilient. You may be surprised at how she may take this awful situation and rises to the occasion so to speak . Hugs to you both 
@theaterwork I agree and have been thinking along those lines. I want D to have all of the information available when I sit her down and tell her about this, which is why I want to talk to them first. Once her dad and I start in on the conversation with her, I don’t want there to be any “what ifs” hanging out there. I don’t want to prolong the agony if I can help it–my goal is to be able to lay it all out there on the table so she has the weekend to grieve and pick herself back up if necessary. I guess we will have to postpone senior pictures, which were supposed to get done Saturday morning.
If she does decide to go elsewhere, I would suggest that you write a letter to the president of the university to let him/her know about the situation and possibly send it to the media as well.
This situation is absolutely inexcusable and great pains should be taken to be sure no other student and family ever have to go through it.
Does she have other acceptances?
Btw I agree they should honor their offer, mistake or not.
OP, no advice, just wanted to say I am so sorry. This is horrible- I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. I hope they make it right.
Oh, I would be very, very angry.
And I would be calling everyone I could think of, from the President of the University to my lawyer to the papers.
@momof2lefties If the school and the Admissions Director had any integrity they should have let her admissions stand once they realized they made this mistake. You and your daughter should never even have been made aware of this error…they should have handled it internally and let the offer stand.
Now that you know that it is only through a mistake that she would be accepted, I don’t know how your daughter could go there and still feel good about it. Especially since the department chairman knows the situation and has not fought for her (or doesn’t have the power to do so.)
I would not go to the press, because that will be embarrassing for your daughter. It’s one thing if it’s a snafu effecting a bunch of students–it’s another to single her out.
I would, however, sue the school for emotional trauma caused by their breach of contract. I don’t know the legal process enough, but somewhere in here there is a lawsuit and maybe you can get some money out of them. They may even choose to settle if you threaten to take your lawsuit to the press.
I’d call a lawyer ASAP!
Hugs and good luck!
" I don’t want there to be any “what ifs” hanging out there."
Realize that there will be a lot of “what ifs” left hanging depending on whatever you ultimately decide to do. Either fight or let it go.
You’ll have to talk to people and won’t know any decision immediately. You can line up some ducks but not all of them.
It will really be dependent on your D.
But don’t let your D decide not attending “because they didn’t want me”. It’s like any admissions process–they don’t really know you–you’re only a piece of paper often.
(And as I’ve always maintained–it’ll work out for the best.)
This is awful…but I would not want my child to go to a school that truly didn’t want her. Her professors would know she was rejected because they were the ones who decided this correct? That’s a heavy burden to place on her for 4 years. This is a tough one. It’s truly THEIR loss, your daughter is going to end up someplace wonderful. <3
I don’t know if this has been mentioned, but make sure you take screen shots and even print out the portal info showing the deposit paid.
Definitely, call the admissions office. There could easily be a mistake in their online system. If not, I would push the issue and fight to have her accepted. There was one time at my institution where the admissions office accidentally accepted a student. We honored the acceptance although in our case the student was never aware of the mistake. That student made incredible progress during her four years and by the time she graduated, she had booked the most gigs of anyone in her class. She went on to work non-stop for around three years. Even if there was a mistake and you can get them to honor the initial acceptance, I would take it and let your daughter prove she deserves to be there with her work in the fall. ~ VT
thank you for the professional opinion, @VoiceTeacher. You are very kind to offer it.
@momof2lefties
Does she have more acceptances or applications outstanding still? What do her other options look like at the moment?
I am a bit surprised that they are trying to withdraw it since it is only one student. I mean, when they send out 1,000 acceptances by accident, they have to withdraw them, but when it is only one student, I would think they would just absorb it.
@VoiceTeacher, your school sounds like a very humane place. That’s exactly how I think this school should have handled the situation… really, if she was supposed to be on a “please try back next year” list, she’s obviously got much of what they’re looking for. If I were in their shoes, I’d want to honor the offer we made, or at the very least tell her we’d defer her original acceptance until next year.
@momof2lefties, I so badly wish they’d reconsider this horrible decision and call you tomorrow saying “never mind” and begging you NOT to say anything to your D.
@momof2lefties - just saw this thread and I’m shocked at the lame “apologies” from such a highly regarded program. The fact is - this is a very small department and they have room for your D. I’m guessing they didn’t admit 50 other kids on the same error. Just 1 - your D. They should honor their original acceptance and do it quickly. This is “bad press” on UNSCA. I’m sure people in that dept are reading this thread and are talking about it. I’m also in awe at the outpouring of CC support! So many posts from names I’ve never seen before (maybe they’re theatre D&P moms)!!! Everyone is in your daughter’s corner because honoring the acceptance is the RIGHT THING TO DO!