<p>I missed this story until today - and wanted to mention it here in case anyone is interested. Check the Univ. of Delaware forum for more details - but the short version is that students signed into their on-line account Friday and Saturday and saw messages indicating they had been accepted. By late Saturday, those messages had disappearded for many - it was apparently a computer glitch. Delaware sends out decisions in the mail. Here is the response a Delaware admissions rep posted on CC:</p>
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[quote]
A Message from the University of Delaware
We have read with concern this thread on College Confidential and believe we should respond to the families who are experiencing such uncertainty at this time. All of our admission decisions are released to students via the U.S. Postal Service. Our web portal ("My Blue Hen Home") does, however, include opportunities to sign up for campus visit programs. Before they received their letters from us, eleven students who had been waitlisted or denied admission used that portal to sign up for an admitted student program in April, and that sign-up screen does include the word, "congratulations."</p>
<p>We take this matter seriously and brought staff in over the weekend to repair the technological error. We have contacted each of these eleven students via e-mail and are scheduling phone calls with all for Monday, March 15. Please know that we take our actions seriously and are working with each family individually on an appropriate resolution. While we realize that this will not stop the conversation on College Confidential, we believe it is our responsibility to inform the public of the current situation.
[/quote]
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<p>Not a great response. Apparently - 11 students saw that they were "accepted" and signed up for the admitted students day. But - a lot more than 11 thought they were accepted - they just had not signed up that quickly.</p>
<p>I wanted to bring this story to the attention of the entire CC community because it also serves as a cautionary tale. Mistakes like this one seem to happen every year - particularly with on-line notifications. Be careful with what you see on-line. If the school says they will send the decision by USPS - wait to see that before informing the world that you are in. It's a shame that these on-line snafus keep happening - but they do.</p>
<p>With so many families waiting for results as we “speak”, this is just awful. I can appreciate snafus and tech difficulties. But because of the delicate nature, schools have to triple check these things.</p>
<p>gadad - from reading some of the posts on the Delaware forum - most would disagree with you. While it may be that only 11 saw the wrong info AND signed up for the accepted students day - apparently many more saw it and posted the news on FB, shared with family members, etc., and then rcvd a rejection letter and are now disappointed and embarrassed. Personally - I found the response to be insufficient - they are kind of blaming the students for not waiting for the hard copy letter. I think the tone could be a bit more apologetic - not that it would change the outcome.</p>
<p>^^totally agree but for one thing; and I will play Devil’s Advocate here…</p>
<p>I think (and correct me if I’m wrong) that UDel states on their website that ALL decisions are given by mail not online…
I do think that it is completely wrong to blame the students; it is UDel’s fault for loading that message…but the “message” was not an admission/decision letter…</p>
<p>as I stated on the other thread, I really think that this incident should be brought to the attention of students and parents who do not visit CC (which is the large majority of the college applicant population)…</p>
<p>UCSD has twice in the past been embarassed in much the same way. IIRC hundreds of students were notified in error. Luckily for my S, last year he already had “solid” (snail mail) acceptances from schools higher on his list than UCSD before they released their decisions, so for him it was a shoulder shrug when he got the admit. I did caution him to not signal that to other students, for whom UCSD was their golden reach school.</p>
<p>I think it’s inexcusable for a school to have glitches like this on something this important, and believe that UD’s response is insufficient for those students who were denied. There should be some consequence for causing this sort of problem. I feel this way about every school that does this to kids. I expect more from a university than this.</p>