2012-04-11, 10:56 PM
http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-uc...6331.story
"Whoops" is an understatement to what happened here. Can't imagine the sheer amount of pain and agony a good number of the affected students experienced, especially when competition to get into the nation's best universities are at an all-time high right now. If anything, this could be quite a bit of pain for their PR for some time to come.
(For points of comparison: UCLA received about 90,000 applicants this year, surpassing last year's total applicants by a few thousand. Yet they only accept about 12,500 applicants every year).
Though this isn't the first time that happened within the UC system. I remember when UCSD had their "I dun goofed" moment with a similar mistake they committed about 3 years ago. That was a massive PR disaster for UCSD that took time for them to repair. =\
Quote:T3:58 a.m. PDT, April 11, 2012
LOS ANGELES, Calif. (KTLA) -- Hundreds of high school seniors believing they'd soon be UCLA Bruins received a massive letdown this week when the university informed them their acceptance letters were sent by accident.
UCLA told 894 high school students last weekend that they were admitted to the highly-competitive campus.
Those students actually remain on the school's waiting list, according to officials.
"It had been my first choice for a while," said Kathy Lam, a high school senior from Elk Grove who received one of the accidental letters.
"I just kind of gave up hope when I found out I was on the waiting list."
Students like Lam still have a shot to get into UCLA, they just haven't been accepted just yet.
UCLA officials wouldn't submit to interviews with KTLA, only releasing a prepared statement addressing the mistake.
"UCLA is aware that this is a particularly anxious time for students and their families and has apologized to students and parents who may have been led to believe they were admitted rather than still on the wait-list," university spokesman Ricardo Vasquez said.
This type of mistake has happened before in the UC system.
In 2009, UC San Diego mistakenly sent admissions notices to about 28,000 applicants who actually were rejected. An apology was sent within hours.
In 2010, UC Santa Barbara mistakenly told 60 applicants they were admitted to the next fall's freshman class when, in fact, they remained on the waiting list.
"I feel like they shouldn't have made a mistake like this," Lam said. "But I guess things do happen."
"Whoops" is an understatement to what happened here. Can't imagine the sheer amount of pain and agony a good number of the affected students experienced, especially when competition to get into the nation's best universities are at an all-time high right now. If anything, this could be quite a bit of pain for their PR for some time to come.
(For points of comparison: UCLA received about 90,000 applicants this year, surpassing last year's total applicants by a few thousand. Yet they only accept about 12,500 applicants every year).
Though this isn't the first time that happened within the UC system. I remember when UCSD had their "I dun goofed" moment with a similar mistake they committed about 3 years ago. That was a massive PR disaster for UCSD that took time for them to repair. =\
