Vassar reacts to acceptance gaffe (4460)

Vassar College mistakenly accepted 76 students on Friday, Jan. 27 because of a computer glitch that misdirected rejected students to an online acceptance letter. Students who had applied for early admission were instructed by the college to check the status of their applications at 4 p.m. to learn their fates. One hundred twenty-two students logged on to find that they had been accepted. Of the 122, 76 were not supposed to have seen an acceptance letter.

Within half an hour, Vassar had caught and corrected the mistake, but only students who happened to log in after the correct letters were in place saw the actual decision of the college. It took several hours for the college to send messages to all applicants that there had been a computer error. For hours, students who had been anxiously waiting by the computer for 4 p.m. to roll around had already been celebrating the good news. Students popped champagne, called family members and ordered Vassar sweatshirts. Students in other countries rejoiced at being accepted to a prestigious American college. About three hours later, they were alerted by the college that there had been a mistake and that they should log in and recheck their statuses.

How crushing. How embarrassing to have to call family members and tell them that you were actually rejected.

Since this happened on a Friday after business hours, Vassar sent out a message that read, “If after checking your decision again you still have questions, please feel free to contact the Admissions Office on Monday morning.”

Bad PR. Dash these kids’ dreams for their futures, then tell them to call when it’s convenient for you. Let them wait out the weekend, confused and upset, before starting a dialogue. Bad PR.

Not only that, but the acceptance letter that all 122 students received told students to withdraw their applications from the other colleges they had applied to -- they were Vassar students now. Luckily, this all took place after other colleges’ business hours, too. Students could have ruined their chances with other colleges.

Jeff Kosmacher, a spokesperson for Vassar, said on Saturday that a message had been sent to the applicants on Friday evening, explaining and apologizing for the mistake.

In a Feb. 1 interview with CNN’s Randi Kaye, David Borus, dean of admission and financial aid, said that Vassar officials had called all of the students to apologize. He said that the students’ application fees would be refunded, and that any students who had withdrawn their applications from other colleges would get the full support and help of Vassar.

My first reaction would be that Vassar should just admit the 76 students who suffered from the college’s mistake. As Borus went on to explain in the interview, though, the college receives over 8,000 applications annually for around 660 places. His reasoning for not accepting students who had not met all the criteria for acceptance was that 76 students out there who do deserve to go to Vassar would miss out. I have to say that I agree with him. However, more should be done to compensate the students who were deceived. An apology and a refund of the $65 application fee is not enough to erase the psychological damage that a young person would endure after having their dream handed to them, just to have it taken away.

No matter what, Vassar made a huge PR mistake in sending a message to students that they could contact the admissions office in two days to ask questions. Vassar officials and employees should have set up a communications center when they discovered the error at 4:30 p.m. that day. Phone calls should have been started immediately and apologies should have been sincere. “It’s not our fault, it was the computer, call us on Monday” is bad PR. The greatest lesson that I’ve learned so far about this profession is that a true, sincere apology goes a long way.

Sources:

“For Some Vassar Applicants, Joy Then Misery as College Corrects Mistake,” by Matt Flegenheimer via The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/29/education/vassar-applicants-are-mistakenly-told-they-are-accepted.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=vassar&st=cse

“Vassar College Accidentally Accepts Students,” by Jenna Johnson via The Washington Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/campus-overload/post/vassar-college-accidentally-accepts-students/2012/01/30/gIQAMou3eQ_blog.html

“After Mistake, a Mea Culpa From Vassar,” by Matt Flegenheimer via The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/31/nyregion/after-mistake-a-mea-culpa-from-vassar.html

“Vassar College Apologizes for Glitch,” CNN interview. Video retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2012/02/01/exp-vassar-college-apologizes-for-admissions-mistake.cnn

“Vassar Opts for the One-Way Channel Crisis Response,” by Bill Miltenberg via PR News. Retrieved from http://www.prnewsonline.com/digitalpr/15958.html