Grad School email cc'd to applicants

[newms]

So I applied to this one school, which I would be very happy to go to btw, and two days ago the Graduate School director sent an email to the applicants advising us that our application status would be updated soon as they were processing our materials and we shouldn't worry(at least not right now) if thing were still listed as missing. Unfortunately the email was cc'ed to almost 1,500 applicants - it looks like the email was sent through the application system and someone didn't configure the settings correctly. About 10 minutes later the same email was sent again, this time addressed to me only with no mention of the previous email. I don't know what to make of this besides being a bit peeved that my email address was sent to almost 1500 strangers. I'm only glad that since that time I haven't seen a flood of spam.

[eklavya]

perhaps the 1500 is the number of total grad students that have applied this year.. not just in your dept, but in others as well. but it could be various other things. if the 1500 email ids are 'legit', which i think they are as the admission office sent the email, i wouldn't worry about spammers getting to you. if they do, you can always hire a lawyer and either blackmail the university to let you in, or sue them

[newms]

Yeah the 1500 isn't just for my program as from the email addresses I can tell that some people are in different programs, but it definitely is some breach of privacy, and it is possible to identify some applicants by their email address. Not to mention that there is the thought if this happened, then what other kind of accidents could happen with our info. I'm just a bit peeved and I think they should have apologized in the second email having realized that there was a problem with the first one. Honestly though, I have more important things to worry about at this time, like the one prof who still hasn't sent in my letters:(

[hello! :)]

LoL this is somewhat funny, but it's not so bad. Either last year or 2 years ago, UC San Diego's undergraduate admissions administrator accidentally sent all(?) rejected applicants with an email of acceptance. So of course, they had to follow that up immediately with a letter of rejection.

[pepsi]

whattt did that really happen? guess you gotta be quick to accept the offer as soon as you get it

[quote name=hello! ' timestamp='1292739097' post='171515]

LoL this is somewhat funny, but it's not so bad. Either last year or 2 years ago, UC San Diego's undergraduate admissions administrator accidentally sent all(?) rejected applicants with an email of acceptance. So of course, they had to follow that up immediately with a letter of rejection.

[smokeypup]

UC Berkeley soc department a few years didn't hide the other CC's who had been rejected. The DGS emailed everyone blaming the department secretary--shit always rolls down hill.

[MoJingly]

I JUST got an email from my program that didn't hide the other interviewees addresses. Not cool.

[qbtacoma]

I JUST got an email from my program that didn't hide the other interviewees addresses. Not cool.

What the hell. That's just rude.

[elbee4]

UC Berkeley soc department a few years didn't hide the other CC's who had been rejected. The DGS emailed everyone blaming the department secretary--shit always rolls down hill.

Why can't people figure out how to use the BCC option? That poor secretary probably got fired. I still think it's kind of weird to hear about acceptance or rejection via email. Maybe I'm just old school but I prefer to see an official letter in my mailbox.

[jaxzwolf]

I JUST got an email from my program that didn't hide the other interviewees addresses. Not cool.

This happened to me a few days ago, but I received the email from the POI, so I have to assume that the other individuals addressed were those he's considering for his lab. I got to find out that my competition includes master's degrees, ivy league graduates, and people who have been working for very influential corporations. Now, I feel like I'm screwed. I'd rather not know who I'm up against, and I'd really prefer no one else know where I'm at in the process, too. My email address to multiple other people I don't know? Not something I appreciate.

[encephalization]

I recieved an informal email from a POI. CC'ed to what I figured out to be my "main competition". The other person used a private email-adress while I was using my university one. Since I am not on Facebook or any other social networking site, I felt quite safe. However, with nerves being shaky and no admission result given I of course started to look into the other person. It is unbelievable how many traces a person can leave online.

Now I can not seem to shake of the "stalker"-feeling about myself and I feel slightly bad.

[Herbie]

I received a mass e-mail from UNC. I haven't received any spam. I'm not interested in discovering who is behind obscure e-mail addresses either, but I'm thankful I used my school e-mail, as opposed to my gmail. I like to keep my school stuff on my school account only.

[rainbowworrier]

All three of the programs I have applied to have, in one way or another, sent a similar email exposing the other individuals invited for an interview. Two came directly from the professor in charge of the program, and one came from a student in the department grad student government organization, giving travel and accommodation tips for the interview weekend.

I was fairly surprised, as I thought that the programs would be aware of bcc as an option...however it did give me a chance to somewhat scope out the other applicants, as many had facebook pages that had rather lax privacy settings. 0_o

[adinutzyc]

I don't think I have anything against getting the emails of other people that have been admitted (so no, not 1500 people). I would even email them to ask what they thought about the program for example (after meeting them in the visiting weekend)... And I wouldn't mind getting emails from them either... Am I really that creepy?

[eco_env]

All three of the programs I have applied to have, in one way or another, sent a similar email exposing the other individuals invited for an interview. Two came directly from the professor in charge of the program, and one came from a student in the department grad student government organization, giving travel and accommodation tips for the interview weekend.

I was fairly surprised, as I thought that the programs would be aware of bcc as an option...however it did give me a chance to somewhat scope out the other applicants, as many had facebook pages that had rather lax privacy settings. 0_o

You would probably meet them if there are recruitment/interview days anyway.

[rainbowworrier]

You would probably meet them if there are recruitment/interview days anyway.

Yep. But I'm always curious anyhow.

[jendoly]

Last year, Stanford MechE sent out an email CCed to all of the accepted students, only to reply a few minutes later with a "Whoops..." xD I totally went through and pegged out everyone from my undergrad program who was on there to know who to talk to about what. Thanks, Stanford!