University accidentally sends acceptance letters to rejected students sparking outrage after fixing mistake
Gerrard Kaonga
Featured Image Credit: George Frey/Getty Image
A group of would-be college students had their dreams yanked away from their by a school making a rather massive blunder.
When it comes to applying for colleges, it can leave many students in limbo, questioning what the next couple years of their life is going to be like.
But when you finally get confirmation that you have been accepted into your college of choice, well, everything is great and that anxiety fades into a moment of celebration.
Except, for nine students who applied to Brigham Young University in Utah, they opened acceptance letters despite the fact that they had actually been rejected.
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High school senior Owen Johansen, from Oakton, Virginia, was one of the students who was a victim of this embarrassing blunder by the school.
Speaking to outlet KSL, Johansen said he was initially very excited when he thought he was accepted.
When Johansen began accepting the admission and searching for a roommate the Welcome to BYU message in his online portal was replaced with a rejection notice.
His parents, who were both BYU alum, reached out to officials at the university and were told the acceptance notification was a mistake.
Johansen’s mother, Talai Johansen said she was completely heartbroken by the entire process and called on the university to honor her son’s acceptance as well as the eight other students.
Regarding the incident, the BYU admissions director, Chad Johnson, issued a statement.
It read: “We are truly sorry that an unfortunate error in our admissions decision notification system resulted in nine prospective students mistakenly receiving congratulatory messages of acceptance.
“The Admissions Department reached out to those impacted to express our regret and our sincere apologies.
“We know that admissions decisions are highly anticipated, and we recognize this mistake caused confusion and disappointment. Our BYU admissions team is working to ensure this mistake does not occur in the future.”
However, following a backlash the school has decided to allow the students to enroll in the school, according to a New York Post report.
The university has said that it has granted provisional admission to the nine students and that officials are now working with each of them to ensure they meet BYU’s academic standards.
According to the university’s website, BYU accepts 68.7 percent of freshman applicants.
The average tuition cost is $6,688 per semester for undergraduate students who are not members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and $3,344 for members.