<p>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.</p>
<p>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?</p>
<p>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.</p>