You've Been Accepted ... Not!

 

Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health recently emailed good news to 277 applicants².

The emails said the Ivy³ League school is “delighted to welcome” the 277 applicants to its graduate program in public health.

But less than one hour later, the applicants received another email saying the acceptance emails were sent by mistake.

Julie Kornfeld is the Mailman School’s vice⁴ dean for education. She apologized for the mistake and said the school is working to make sure “this mistake does not happen in the future.”

Kornfeld said the school regrets the “stress and confusion caused by this mistake.”

This is far from the first time a college has sent out “acceptance” notices by mistake.

Last year, the State University of New York at Buffalo⁵ emailed 5,000 mistaken acceptance notices, the Buffalo News reported.

The school quickly corrected the information. The applicants were told they were still being considered for admission, but that no final decision had been made.

Time Magazine keeps a list of colleges that mistakenly tell students they were accepted.

In 2014, Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore sent out acceptance notices to 300 applicants, Time reported. That came as a surprise. Earlier, the students were told their applications had been rejected.

The university quickly sent out another notice saying, regrettably, that the first rejection⁶ letter was correct.

Anna Ivey is a college admission's adviser⁷ and a former college admission's officer. She said college officials “live in fear” of making a mistake on something as important as admission to a student’s dream school.

But college admissions require “enough human data entry” to produce mistakes, Ivey said.

Though such mistakes happen maybe 1 percent of the time, Ivey said, “It's a 100 percent failure rate for that applicant¹ who gets the wrong letter.”

For many, a rejection letter from a college they had hoped to attend is the first big disappointment of their young lives.

Sue Luse, like Ivey, is a college admission adviser.

She advises students to apply to a mix of schools. ”It should include colleges they know are difficult to get into, but others that are more likely to accept them.”

Some schools are so selective, she said, that even the top students in their high school class are not guaranteed admission.

Sometimes, schools choose students with a talent the university needs.

“It could be that the school needs a quarterback for the football team, or they might need a tuba player,” Luse said.

It is harder to get in than when parents went to college

It is important for parents not to take rejection too hard -- even when children are rejected from schools that they attended, Luse said. Parents should know it is more difficult to get into top colleges.

“It might be that when they went to that school, it accepted 30 percent of applicants and now that percentage is down to five percent,” she said.

The College Board prepares college entrance exams. It offers this message to students and parents getting bad news from their first college choice. Officials at top colleges say two-thirds of the students they reject have the ability to succeed at their schools.

Helping⁸ applicants understand they are among many smart people denied admission to top schools can help them better deal with rejection, the College Board said.

Ivey, the college adviser, said students need a little time to get over being rejected by their top college choice.

“But then they need to get back to work and implement⁹ their Plan B,” she said. By Plan B, she means considering other schools, or applying to new schools still accepting applications.

95 of 100 applicants rejected at this California school

The acceptance rates are very low at top schools.

Stanford University in California reported that it turned down 95 of every 100 people who applied¹⁰ for admission to its current freshman¹¹ class. The chances of getting in were not much better at other top schools such as Harvard University in Massachusetts and Yale University in Connecticut.

Columbia University, which recently sent out the mistaken acceptance notices, only admitted 6 percent of the 36,292 applicants for its 2016 freshman class.

But there are schools that take in most applicants and some that accept all students who apply.

US News and World Report said that schools that accepted all applicants in 2015 included: The Academy of Art University in San Francisco, California; California State University in Bakersfield, the College of Staten Island in New York City and Herzing University in Wisconsin.

Words in This Story

applicant - n. someone who formally asks for something, such as a job or admission to a college

delight - v. very happy

stress - n. a state of mental tension and worry caused by problems or disappointment in life or work

confusion - n. a situation in which people are uncertain about what to do or are unable to understand something clearly

data - n. acts or information used usually to calculate, analyze¹², or plan something

disappointment - n. the state of feeling disappointed or bad about something

quarterback - n. an American football player who leads a team's attempts to score usually by passing the ball to other players

tuba - n. a large brass¹³ musical instrument that is played by blowing air into it and that produces low tones

ability - n. knowing how to do something

smart - adj. very good at learning or thinking about things

implement - v. to carry out a plan

1 applicant   

n.申请人，求职者，请求者

参考例句：

• He was the hundredth applicant for the job. 他是第100个申请这项工作的人。
• In my estimation, the applicant is well qualified for this job. 据我看, 这位应征者完全具备这项工作的条件。

2 applicants   

申请人，求职人( applicant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were over 500 applicants for the job. 有500多人申请这份工作。
• He was impressed by the high calibre of applicants for the job. 求职人员出色的能力给他留下了深刻印象。

3 ivy   

n.常青藤，常春藤

参考例句：

• Her wedding bouquet consisted of roses and ivy.她的婚礼花篮包括玫瑰和长春藤。
• The wall is covered all over with ivy.墙上爬满了常春藤。

4 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

5 buffalo   

n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛

参考例句：

• Asian buffalo isn't as wild as that of America's. 亚洲水牛比美洲水牛温顺些。
• The boots are made of buffalo hide. 这双靴子是由水牛皮制成的。

6 rejection   

n.拒绝，被拒，抛弃，被弃

参考例句：

• He decided not to approach her for fear of rejection.他因怕遭拒绝决定不再去找她。
• The rejection plunged her into the dark depths of despair.遭到拒绝使她陷入了绝望的深渊。

7 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

8 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

9 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

10 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

11 freshman   

n.大学一年级学生(可兼指男女)

参考例句：

• Jack decided to live in during his freshman year at college.杰克决定大一时住校。
• He is a freshman in the show business.他在演艺界是一名新手。

12 analyze   

vt.分析，解析 (=analyse)

参考例句：

• We should analyze the cause and effect of this event.我们应该分析这场事变的因果。
• The teacher tried to analyze the cause of our failure.老师设法分析我们失败的原因。

13 brass   

n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器

参考例句：

• Many of the workers play in the factory's brass band.许多工人都在工厂铜管乐队中演奏。
• Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc.黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。