Tulane University is the latest college to add itself to a list of schools making admissions blunders. The university, which is among Syracuse University’s peer institutions, last month mistakenly told 130 early decision applicants they had been accepted.

The initial notification was sent by email, welcoming the students to Tulane, and invited students to register for a Tulane email address, according to Inside Higher Ed. Its admissions department then corrected saying the university had yet to make a decision regarding their applications.

Jeff Schiffman, Tulane’s director of admission, wrote an apology titled “We Messed Up,” and posted it on Tulane’s admissions blog.

“What Tulane has done is inexcusable and I offer those students, their families, their high school counselors and their communities a heartfelt apology,” Schiffman wrote. “Tulane can do better, and we will.”

Accepting the students because of the mistake, which some critics said would be fair, isn’t as easy as it seems. Last year’s incoming freshman class at Tulane was 1,849 students and an addition of 130 students — a 7 percent increase — would likely put the college past its admissions target.

Sending acceptance notifications by accident has happened numerous times in the past: at Johns Hopkins University in 2014, Vanderbilt University in 2010 and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2007. Technological glitches have plagued Cornell University admissions twice, accepting students by mistake in both 1995 and 2003.

Syracuse University admissions declined to speak about the topic and how the department works to avoid similar problems.

The National Association for College Admission Counseling, an organization dedicated to helping students transitioning from high school to college, does not have a policy on how schools should deal with such mistakes. Since the organization works independent of colleges, it cannot dictate the corrective actions that a school should take, said Joyce Smith, the organization’s CEO.

But Smith added that the administration of universities often have established steps to take if such a mistake happens.

“Such decisions are usually tied to the size of the incoming class the institution can accept, available dorm space or financial aid offers,” Smith said.

Tulane’s admissions department responded to the situation within hours by issuing an apology to the 130 students and their families.

“I can’t say ‘I know what you’re going through,’ because I do not,” Schiffman wrote. “All I can offer is an apology. Life is so much about how you respond (not react) in situations like this. It is my hope that we learn from this. We have really messed this one up, and for that, I offer you my deepest apology.”

Published on January 18, 2017 at 10:23 pm

Contact Kenneth: kmintz@syr.edu