Vassar Accidentally Accepts 76 Students It Rejected

This weekend, for a few hours, 76 students thought they had been accepted to Vassar College—though, in reality, they had been rejected. The early-decision applicants saw the erroneous acceptance letter when checking their application statuses online; a placeholder "test letter" was mistakenly not replaced and was seen by scores of students between 4pm and 4:30pm. An additional 46 students who had truly been accepted also saw the letter.

Disappointed students share their tales of woe with the New York Times: One had already purchased two Vassar sweatshirts; the mother of another had informed nearly his entire family. Two hours after the error was discovered, the college notified the students of the "system error" and apologized, and a spokesperson says no further steps are planned. Some parents, however, have requested a refund of the application fee; the parents of one student are even considering legal action, since the decision was supposedly binding. (More Vassar College stories.)