MIT accidentally sent out welcome emails to some Deferred kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Poor kids.

And what hypocrisy. . . MIT holds 17-year-old kids to such high standards that mistakes are fatal to an application. But adult admission officers make mistakes like this, without regard to these kids’ feelings and without apology.

Really makes you wonder wonder about the competence of whomever is making the admission decisions.

But the students didn't get anything. It was just an email to parents about admitted student events. I think parents of MIT-ready students should be competent enough to know it was a mistake. If they aren't...that's just willful ignorance.

DP there is no excuse for this, having a second or third set of eyes for this process is a no brainer. You check and recheck the intended audience for any mass emails. I do not think it is unreasonable to expect a school that specializes in STEM and costs almost 90K to attend to get it right.

Agree; it's embarrassing look for the school. But these kids who were so traumatized by it? Please.

DC was one of the deferred Duke students who got the mixed message the PP above described.

Did they experience a moment of emotional whiplash? Sure. Trauma? Absolutely not.

If I were running the show at Duke (or MIT, for that matter), any deferred applicant who called or emailed to claim trauma or some other harm as a result of a mistaken mass email should be moved straight to the RD reject list. Seriously.

Yes, it sucked for a second or two. But it was a coding error that was rectified immediately - once the kid read the actual letter with the deferral decision.

Ultimately, if a kid is too fragile to bounce back from that situation without reaching out to the school, I think it's safe to say they're not likely to thrive in an environment like Duke. Same for kids who are cynical enough to try to capitalize on a school's administrative mistake by claiming harm. Pretty sure they're not the type to add much to the community, beyond efforts that would immediately benefit themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Poor kids.

And what hypocrisy. . . MIT holds 17-year-old kids to such high standards that mistakes are fatal to an application. But adult admission officers make mistakes like this, without regard to these kids’ feelings and without apology.

Really makes you wonder wonder about the competence of whomever is making the admission decisions.

But the students didn't get anything. It was just an email to parents about admitted student events. I think parents of MIT-ready students should be competent enough to know it was a mistake. If they aren't...that's just willful ignorance.

DP there is no excuse for this, having a second or third set of eyes for this process is a no brainer. You check and recheck the intended audience for any mass emails. I do not think it is unreasonable to expect a school that specializes in STEM and costs almost 90K to attend to get it right.

Agree; it's embarrassing look for the school. But these kids who were so traumatized by it? Please.

Not condoning the mistake made. But traumatized? Come on! What kind of weak sauce are we looking at!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Poor kids.

And what hypocrisy. . . MIT holds 17-year-old kids to such high standards that mistakes are fatal to an application. But adult admission officers make mistakes like this, without regard to these kids’ feelings and without apology.

Really makes you wonder wonder about the competence of whomever is making the admission decisions.

But the students didn't get anything. It was just an email to parents about admitted student events. I think parents of MIT-ready students should be competent enough to know it was a mistake. If they aren't...that's just willful ignorance.

DP there is no excuse for this, having a second or third set of eyes for this process is a no brainer. You check and recheck the intended audience for any mass emails. I do not think it is unreasonable to expect a school that specializes in STEM and costs almost 90K to attend to get it right.

Gotta agree with this.

[Anonymous]

I think it is called human error for a reason. Hopefully they will do a better job with internal quality control, but things get by all of us sometimes.

[Anonymous]

To err is human. But to really foul things up requires a computer.

[Anonymous]

Someone used AI to do the mail merge

[Anonymous]

PP with Duke deferred kid. I did not say my kid experienced "trauma" and would certainly not complain - after all, my kid is going to be considered in RD round so there's still hope. But, I do think that getting the right message to the right kid is an important task. My kid opened the decision at home, but one of their friends was at a public cafe surrounded by friends and facetiming their parents (but thankfully was accepted).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Poor kids.

And what hypocrisy. . . MIT holds 17-year-old kids to such high standards that mistakes are fatal to an application. But adult admission officers make mistakes like this, without regard to these kids’ feelings and without apology.

Really makes you wonder wonder about the competence of whomever is making the admission decisions.

But the students didn't get anything. It was just an email to parents about admitted student events. I think parents of MIT-ready students should be competent enough to know it was a mistake. If they aren't...that's just willful ignorance.

DP there is no excuse for this, having a second or third set of eyes for this process is a no brainer. You check and recheck the intended audience for any mass emails. I do not think it is unreasonable to expect a school that specializes in STEM and costs almost 90K to attend to get it right.

Agree; it's embarrassing look for the school. But these kids who were so traumatized by it? Please.

DC was one of the deferred Duke students who got the mixed message the PP above described.

Did they experience a moment of emotional whiplash? Sure. Trauma? Absolutely not.

If I were running the show at Duke (or MIT, for that matter), any deferred applicant who called or emailed to claim trauma or some other harm as a result of a mistaken mass email should be moved straight to the RD reject list. Seriously.

Yes, it sucked for a second or two. But it was a coding error that was rectified immediately - once the kid read the actual letter with the deferral decision.

Ultimately, if a kid is too fragile to bounce back from that situation without reaching out to the school, I think it's safe to say they're not likely to thrive in an environment like Duke. Same for kids who are cynical enough to try to capitalize on a school's administrative mistake by claiming harm. Pretty sure they're not the type to add much to the community, beyond efforts that would immediately benefit themselves.

You sound like PR not a parent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP with Duke deferred kid. I did not say my kid experienced "trauma" and would certainly not complain - after all, my kid is going to be considered in RD round so there's still hope. But, I do think that getting the right message to the right kid is an important task. My kid opened the decision at home, but one of their friends was at a public cafe surrounded by friends and facetiming their parents (but thankfully was accepted).

Well that was probably not such a good idea now, was it? Why would you turn something so personal into a public spectacle?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They should honor those acceptances.

100 +

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Poor kids.

And what hypocrisy. . . MIT holds 17-year-old kids to such high standards that mistakes are fatal to an application. But adult admission officers make mistakes like this, without regard to these kids’ feelings and without apology.

Really makes you wonder wonder about the competence of whomever is making the admission decisions.

But the students didn't get anything. It was just an email to parents about admitted student events. I think parents of MIT-ready students should be competent enough to know it was a mistake. If they aren't...that's just willful ignorance.

DP there is no excuse for this, having a second or third set of eyes for this process is a no brainer. You check and recheck the intended audience for any mass emails. I do not think it is unreasonable to expect a school that specializes in STEM and costs almost 90K to attend to get it right.

Agree; it's embarrassing look for the school. But these kids who were so traumatized by it? Please.

DC was one of the deferred Duke students who got the mixed message the PP above described.

Did they experience a moment of emotional whiplash? Sure. Trauma? Absolutely not.

If I were running the show at Duke (or MIT, for that matter), any deferred applicant who called or emailed to claim trauma or some other harm as a result of a mistaken mass email should be moved straight to the RD reject list. Seriously.

Yes, it sucked for a second or two. But it was a coding error that was rectified immediately - once the kid read the actual letter with the deferral decision.

Ultimately, if a kid is too fragile to bounce back from that situation without reaching out to the school, I think it's safe to say they're not likely to thrive in an environment like Duke. Same for kids who are cynical enough to try to capitalize on a school's administrative mistake by claiming harm. Pretty sure they're not the type to add much to the community, beyond efforts that would immediately benefit themselves.

You sound like PR not a parent.

DP also with a Duke deferred kid. Agree with PP’s observations. Kids are resilient. They are upset for sometime and move on. My kid was upset for a couple of days and he now says oh well. That’s life.

[Anonymous]

Happened to my DD last year with Duke. She was upset but got over it. So they haven’t corrected the problem? Embarrassing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Poor kids.

And what hypocrisy. . . MIT holds 17-year-old kids to such high standards that mistakes are fatal to an application. But adult admission officers make mistakes like this, without regard to these kids’ feelings and without apology.

Really makes you wonder wonder about the competence of whomever is making the admission decisions.

But the students didn't get anything. It was just an email to parents about admitted student events. I think parents of MIT-ready students should be competent enough to know it was a mistake. If they aren't...that's just willful ignorance.

DP there is no excuse for this, having a second or third set of eyes for this process is a no brainer. You check and recheck the intended audience for any mass emails. I do not think it is unreasonable to expect a school that specializes in STEM and costs almost 90K to attend to get it right.

Agree; it's embarrassing look for the school. But these kids who were so traumatized by it? Please.

DC was one of the deferred Duke students who got the mixed message the PP above described.

Did they experience a moment of emotional whiplash? Sure. Trauma? Absolutely not.

If I were running the show at Duke (or MIT, for that matter), any deferred applicant who called or emailed to claim trauma or some other harm as a result of a mistaken mass email should be moved straight to the RD reject list. Seriously.

Yes, it sucked for a second or two. But it was a coding error that was rectified immediately - once the kid read the actual letter with the deferral decision.

Ultimately, if a kid is too fragile to bounce back from that situation without reaching out to the school, I think it's safe to say they're not likely to thrive in an environment like Duke. Same for kids who are cynical enough to try to capitalize on a school's administrative mistake by claiming harm. Pretty sure they're not the type to add much to the community, beyond efforts that would immediately benefit themselves.

You sound like PR not a parent.

DP also with a Duke deferred kid. Agree with PP’s observations. Kids are resilient. They are upset for sometime and move on. My kid was upset for a couple of days and he now says oh well. That’s life.

Your kid is not every kid. No one gets to dictate feelings and say get over it or you’re too fragile or cynical or determine what harm was caused. These schools want perfect essays, applications, grades, scores etc for the luxury of graving their overpriced halls. When they mess up they don’t get to just say oops and turn it around on the student.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Poor kids.

And what hypocrisy. . . MIT holds 17-year-old kids to such high standards that mistakes are fatal to an application. But adult admission officers make mistakes like this, without regard to these kids’ feelings and without apology.

Really makes you wonder wonder about the competence of whomever is making the admission decisions.

But the students didn't get anything. It was just an email to parents about admitted student events. I think parents of MIT-ready students should be competent enough to know it was a mistake. If they aren't...that's just willful ignorance.

DP there is no excuse for this, having a second or third set of eyes for this process is a no brainer. You check and recheck the intended audience for any mass emails. I do not think it is unreasonable to expect a school that specializes in STEM and costs almost 90K to attend to get it right.

Agree; it's embarrassing look for the school. But these kids who were so traumatized by it? Please.

DC was one of the deferred Duke students who got the mixed message the PP above described.

Did they experience a moment of emotional whiplash? Sure. Trauma? Absolutely not.

If I were running the show at Duke (or MIT, for that matter), any deferred applicant who called or emailed to claim trauma or some other harm as a result of a mistaken mass email should be moved straight to the RD reject list. Seriously.

Yes, it sucked for a second or two. But it was a coding error that was rectified immediately - once the kid read the actual letter with the deferral decision.

Ultimately, if a kid is too fragile to bounce back from that situation without reaching out to the school, I think it's safe to say they're not likely to thrive in an environment like Duke. Same for kids who are cynical enough to try to capitalize on a school's administrative mistake by claiming harm. Pretty sure they're not the type to add much to the community, beyond efforts that would immediately benefit themselves.

You sound like PR not a parent.

DP also with a Duke deferred kid. Agree with PP’s observations. Kids are resilient. They are upset for sometime and move on. My kid was upset for a couple of days and he now says oh well. That’s life.

Your kid is not every kid. No one gets to dictate feelings and say get over it or you’re too fragile or cynical or determine what harm was caused. These schools want perfect essays, applications, grades, scores etc for the luxury of graving their overpriced halls. When they mess up they don’t get to just say oops and turn it around on the student.

Gracing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP with Duke deferred kid. I did not say my kid experienced "trauma" and would certainly not complain - after all, my kid is going to be considered in RD round so there's still hope. But, I do think that getting the right message to the right kid is an important task. My kid opened the decision at home, but one of their friends was at a public cafe surrounded by friends and facetiming their parents (but thankfully was accepted).

I’m one of the PPs above. To be clear, I wasn’t referring to you. I was referring to the PP who said kids who were affected should be admitted. I’ve seen that ridiculousness on previous threads, too. 🙄