Please read my most recent blog post here: http://tuadmissionjeff.blogspot.com/2016/12/we-messed-up.html
-Jeff Schiffman
Oh man, that is rough. You handled it gracefully, though, @TulaneJeff.
Thanks for quickly clarifying what happened. I’m sure everyone in the Admissions office feels horribly.
Ouch . . . one of the perils of modern technology. Your apology seemed sincere and heart-felt. Stuff happens unfortunately.
Reduce your EA acceptances, ask for Loyola to share dorms until attrition works out. Admitting a many of these ED students is the right thing to do… It’s just the fair thing to do. Do the right thing!
Actually reduce your RD acceptances. You screwed up, own it! It can be done!
Although we were not affected, I think Jeff’s blog really says a lot. You make a mistake, you apologize and take responsibility. Thank you for the open communication.
I have a lot of respect for schools that truly seem to care about the students, and try to make this process as painless as possible. While I’m sure these families will be upset, mad, devastated, etc., you handled it well and seem to really care that this happened. Good luck!
@TulaneJeff I am a college counselor, and while I appreciate that this is an agonizing situation for you, I disagree that you with your conclusion. The long term effect on Tulane Admissions from this horrific error will be much worse than admitting those 130 students and reducing your regular decision numbers. These students put their trust in the contract they signed with Tulane to attend. Future ED applicants will never trust you now. College counselors will advise their students not to use your ED system. Your error will be blasted all over social media, as well as professional and news journals, It will take years for you to recover. It seems a small price to pay to honor your error and admit those who received the two emails yesterday.
Actually @connex2102 I would trust the ED application process even more now that this mistake has happened. I’m fairly certain that there will be more safeguards put in place to avoid any more errors . I also believe that if a student really wants to attend Tulane , they will continue to apply ED. JMO.
They are doing the right thing. It was a very short time. It’s not fair to others to just allow the error to control. Unless the kids had already revoked all other apps, they are only harmed emotionally a bit. An honest error does not require someone to follow through. It’s not fair to others waiting.
I would suspect many of them will get in anyway.
“horrific error”? Nothing like making a tragedy out of an error, albeit a very unfortunate one.
I don’t agree with @connec. Sorry this is a grueling process and obviously you know there is a lot that goes into making admissions decisions that will last 4 years. Some of these students will get in and some rejected. But it will be for the right reasons. Not because an error went out in error. If someone had a 2.0 and a 1000 on SAT should they be admitted because an email went out in error and they were still in the evaluation process? Also if all these people are admitted without thought to whether they are a good fit, the credibility and class would lack something imo.
“Future ED applicants will never trust you now. College counselors will advise their students not to use your ED system.”
A little hyperbole here? C’mon. Something like this happens just about every year (Fordham in 2013, UCLA 2012, MIT in 2014, Johns Hopkins 2014, Carnegie Mellon 2015, see more here: http://time.com/3637980/college-admissions-mistakes-johnshopkins/). Technology will have glitches. Humans will make errors. I feel bad for those students who were told they were admitted and might not be. But I can’t imagine any student would forego an ED app in the future because of this incident.
@suzy100 agreed
But it’s not 130 spots in question. The typical ED acceptance rate is around 40%.
So it’s more like 75 seats in question.
Jeff- Reduce your RD pool acceptances, reevaluate and take more of these kids! It’s the only right thing do and is the way the institution would want to convey this to future candidates as well as the media. We did the “right” thing!
@skeptile- saw your posts. Let me guess, your kids in already. Please don’t cast stones. There are a lot of people hurting right now. Unless you got the email and then retraction!
@loop2loop The right thing is to stay the course and stick to the original plan. Admit those who deserve it, not those who were misled. Mistakes happen in life and life is not fair.
FYI…My child applied ED, received the emails, was disappointed that they were erroneous, and is eagerly awaiting his decision. We used this occurrence as a learning opportunity to teach him that life isn’t fair, stuff happens, and you have to keep on keeping on.
Loop…you are poking Karma here at a time when you should be looking for good karma.