Location: Over the hills and far away...gazing out, along the open road.
Posts: 2,358
I think Vassar needs to fix its system -- and other colleges need to pay attention and learn from this before they do the same thing. I also believe Vassar needs to make amends with those who had a roundabout way of learning their actual early decision results. But actually admitting people who suffered a shock to learn of their ultimate outcome does more than make amends.
Imagine the results were reversed and actually admitted students received rejection letters by e-mail. Would anyone suggest that those people should remain rejected instead of having the actual, deliberated decision go into effect? Whatever the heartache and hardship might be in the case of people who were incorrectly under the impression that they had good news for an hour...that beats being incorrectly under the impression of having bad news for an hour. After that hour is over, the actual outcomes were conveyed. The disappointment of actually being rejected (or deferred in some cases) is much the same as it was for those who were rejected outright, without first getting bogus acceptances. With it comes, possibly, some embarrassment at telling others of one's acceptance and then having to retract that. Maybe some pulled applications immediately...but Vassar will intercede to unwind that. What else happened...besides being happy for that hour while the other rejected applicants were disappointed for that hour?
The type of amends that Vassar should make should be along the lines of the type of amends that they should make in the reverse situation -- addressing that one hour and the stunning news that the actual outcome was different than what was originally conveyed to them. Revising the outcomes simply makes no sense and is totally disproportionate to what happened. Waiving the fee makes sense because Vassar did not fulfill its obligation satisfactorily. Maybe even throw in a Barnes & Noble or Amazon gift certificate towards a textbook for freshman year. And I think each person is owed a full explanation as to how this happened as well as the steps taken to ensure that this won't happen again to others. An offer of admission -- for learning the accurate results one hour after getting inaccurate information -- simply should not even be on the table.
And I think each person is owed a full explanation as to how this happened
Vassar has explained what happened.
How it happened is simple... human error.
Quote:
According to Vice President for Computing and Information Services (CIS) Bret Ingerman, the mistake was caused by a programming error. "[Applicants] were mistakenly pointed to a test website which happened to be displaying an acceptance letter," explained Ingerman in an emailed statement, adding, "Instead, they should have been pointed to the production version of the site which was programmed to show each applicant an individualized letter that reflected their admission status." Ingerman acknowledged that CIS is responsible in contacting students, and that the error was his department's fault. In his emailed statement, he wrote that the error had been fixed and that CIS staff have been meeting to discuss the composition of future safeguards.
This year is only the second year that such an online notification system has been used.
No, Vassar is not the unqualified one here, yzhong94. One mistake does not mean the great school many of us attend or have attended is unqualified. It's more than qualified.
There was an even funnier article in the school's newspaper. Some might not find it funny, as the students who wrote it did take some entertaining liberties.
Regarding post #43: cadence, I think the reason no one is responding to you is that we are not sure what your point is. Yes, some of the students were deferred. And? Are you saying that those students should have preference in the RD round? Please clarify. Thanks.
Regarding the "1 hour" that this mistake affected: many, many students learned of the supposedly good news and did not recheck their emails until the next day. Just a point that for some people, there were hours of celebrating, calling extended family, etc.
I'm not sure what I think the solution is. But I would like to see some safeguards put into place so that there is less risk of this in general.
Hi, Testobsessed--I merely wanted to clarify that not everyone was rejected. Folks were making statements along the lines of "they're obviously not qualified--why would Vassar want to accept unqualified people?" I just wanted to point out that a percentage of these kids are totally qualified, and some will likely be accepted in RD. It's an interesting question as to whether they should be on the proverbial "top of the pile" for RD, but that's not a point I'm arguing.
Location: Over the hills and far away...gazing out, along the open road.
Posts: 2,358
That Miscellany News piece was equally fun/brutal. Thanks. Hopefully this has blown over. The next time someone posts a test acceptance letter behind-the-firewall, they may want to include a watermark saying "Not Legal Tender" or use a fictitious college letterhead...or, better still, a rival's and let them deal with the people flipping out.
Has anyone been substantively or materially harmed by this? For instance, did someone withdraw their applications and, if so, did they fail to get them reinstated?
Vassar said that if anyone had rescinded other applications elsewhere after receiving the erroneous email, they would contact those admissions offices directly for the student. Of course its a bit of a back-handed compliment. How would that call go--"Hi- we actually declined to admit this candidate- so please consider them in your applicant pool.." errrr.....
Location: Over the hills and far away...gazing out, along the open road.
Posts: 2,358
Yeah...but is anyone claiming that they actually pulled the plug on their other applications so quickly? Vassar would only have to say that the applicant wasn't accepted at the ED round. They wouldn't have to disclose whether the applicant was deferred or rejected.
You're right, though, because it's the sort of interaction with an admission office that frantic applicants would rather avoid. Sometimes you want to get their attention. Sometimes you don't. Of course, as the Vassar Miscellany author might point out, getting rejected by Vassar is still better than getting accepted at pretty much anywhere else. There's no shame in a Vassar rejection (or deferral) -- unless you're comparing notes with someone who was accepted by Vassar.
