Whoops! Kentucky Accidentally Sent 500,000 Acceptance E-Mails To A 'Selective' Program That Typically Accepts 35-40 People A Year
[Source] - At the height of college decision season, the University of Kentucky emailed 500,000 high school seniors an acceptance letter to a "selective" College of Health Sciences program that usually accepts 35 to 40 students a year.
But Blanton said "A very small number – a handful" of students who received the acceptance email "had expressed interest in this particular program" and all students who should have been admitted received their acceptance letters.
Man, oh man, this is brutal. I know we can make jokes about how easy it is to get into Kentucky. But not this College of Health Sciences program. They accept just 35 to 40 students a year. Now imagine you're one of the people who applied and got the acceptance letter only to find out you're not in. Brutal. There are high school kids across the country who wake up in a pool of sweat everyday wondering if this is the day they find out they are going to their dream school. You wait to get that e-mail (letter in my day) saying you're in.
Here's the weird thing. 500,000 people didn't even apply for the program. How the hell do they get an e-mail saying they are in?
Blanton said the emails were sent using the school's Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool.
"Think of it as a much more sophisticated tool than say MailChimp to send a newsletter. There has to be a platform for distribution – whether a current student or one we may be recruiting. It is a common practice in higher education," said Blanton. "So, the student could have indicated they were interested in UK at some point or they may have sent an application. There are a number of ways we would have their contact information."
Seems like that might be something you want to fix in the future. Maybe stop letting Kentucky jokes fly. I don't know, just a hunch here. That's a lot of apology letters you gotta send out. Sure, it's easy to apologize to those who didn't apply, but what about those who applied only to eventually get denied? That's at least a $75 gift card, if not $100. Let them get two sweatshirts from the bookstore. A half of a million people is a whole lot of people. There are so many that applied that didn't get in thinking they did. That's, well, that's not great.
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I love Kentucky. Had a great 4 years there. It's a better school, especially the Journalism program, than anyone will give it credit for. If you got an acceptance letter, go check it out. Hit up Pazzo's. Hit up Two Keys and Tin Roof. Take a gander by the old Fishtank (RIPIP). Go to Goodfella's and tell them Dave sent you.