<p>I agree that they might as well “fake” it - they are performing a kind of service and they do want prospies. I never even told my D about how that one school forgot to send her an acceptance letter. After hearing about several acceptances to that school here, I finally wrote the dept head a very polite e-mail, and he was very apologetic and sent it out then. Maybe he was just an absent-minded professor, but there is a certain public relations role they do have to play, at least during admissions. But his dept secretary was definitely nasty - she treated both of us very badly during every encounter (it just occurred to me that maybe she was the one who didn’t get the letter out?). By contrast, I am happy every day that the school my D is at has a wonderful departmental “Mom” - including to us parents!</p>