College Acceptance?... Not So Fast
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IRVING(CBSDFW.COM) - Texas A&M Texarkana apologized Friday for what it called a technical error, that left some graduating seniors thinking they were accepted to the university, but actually were not. The school couldn't say exactly how many students were affected, but believed it was about 1% of incoming freshman.
A spokesperson said the school had moved to an automated system that generated acceptance letters based on information a student included on their application. The mistake turned up more than two months after some students received acceptance letters from the school.
"We are deeply sorry for the error in our admissions correspondence and certainly understand the disappointment created by the situation," a spokesperson wrote.
The school was offering some students a chance to re-take some entrance tests on its campus to determine if they could still enroll in school.
Senaida Gaona said the admissions office contacted her late Friday to say her daughter would be accepted after all, despite the error. The family wasn't sure what to do now, after making a hurried enrollment to a backup school Thursday.
They discovered the problem after being unable to complete enrollment paperwork online. They had paid some deposit money, and been to several meetings with school staff, since Alexia Ramirez was accepted in March.
"We've done the student orientation. We've done the parent orientation, where they give you a dinner. You meet the staff, admissions, housing. You meet everybody and you meet all the new students," Gaona said.
Professional admission advisor Catherine Marrs said the acceptance letter should be a guarantee to get into a school, but students need to be aware of the qualifications and double check to make sure the acceptance is correct when they receive it.
"if you pick up the phone the day you get the letter and say I'm so excited I got accepted I'm, ready to send the deposit, what do I do? They will go and reconfirm that you've been admitted."
Similar incorrect letters have been sent out recently by Texas State, Carnegie Mellon and Drexel.
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