Over 2,700 regular admission applicants to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill received an e-mail Jan. 23 incorrectly informing them of their acceptance to the school. The technical error that caused the mistake was discovered within an hour and steps were immediately taken to notify the affected applicants of the mistake, according to UNC News Services Director Lisa Katz.
UNC always notifies applicants of admission through regular mail and by posting on applicants' personal UNC Web pages. The e-mail was originally intended for newly admitted early decision applicants and the communication was meant to re-congratulate those students and remind them to send in their mid-semester grades, Katz said.
According to a statement issued by Stephen Farmer, UNC assistant provost and director of undergraduate admissions, the error was discovered quickly and by the next day the university had e-mailed all affected applicants, apologizing for the incident and explaining that their applications were still under review.
Because notification for regular admission is not until late March, many applicants assumed that the e-mail was a mistake and contacted the university.
"Many of the affected applicants picked up on the phrase 'congratulations again' in the e-mail and figured out for themselves that there had been a mistake," Katz said.
Katz emphasized that UNC was doing everything in its power to clarify the situation.
"As of Thursday, [the office of admissions] has had personal contact with over 256 of the students," Katz said. "We also have sent e-mails to over 2,300 guidance counselors across the country" to decrease confusion among affected applicants.
The admissions office established a continuously monitored e-mail account dedicated to answering any questions or concerns over the problem, Katz added.
"Some uncertainty obviously still exists and we want all questions to be answered in a timely manner," Katz explained.
Katz said the electronic system had previously been used for five or six years without any problem.
"We are making adjustments to the system to fix the problem," she said.
Over 20,000 people applied to UNC for the 2007-2008 academic year, Katz said, and all applicants will be notified of decisions regarding admission by the end of March.
University of Virginia spokesperson Carol Wood said she could not recall any similar events occurring at the University, but noted that she had heard of comparable errors happening at other colleges.
"Unfortunately, with e-mail these things are bound to happen," Wood said. "It can be devastating for the students and the best thing to do is to clear it up as fast as possible."
The University will notify applicants of its admission decisions on April 1.
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