Received Acceptance Letter by Mistake...

[NoddaProbBob]

Well...pretty much as stated, I received an acceptance letter, by mistake. I applied to two schools, Northwestern and Northern Illinois University for MS in Marriage and Family Therapy. I knew that I would likely not get into Northwestern but applied because I had the $75 application fee waived based off my GPA. My undergrad came from NIU and so this was my first choice for graduate school. I went through the interview process at NIU and found out a month later that I was not accepted. I was obviously pretty upset and came to terms with it after several weeks. This was back in March.

Just this past week, I received a letter dated May 3 congratulating me of my acceptance into the Marriage and Family Therapy program. I was ecstatic! So happy! Glowing! To make it even better, I opened the letter on the day of graduation! I had assumed that a student dropped out and a space had opened up, hence the acceptance.

I wanted to confirm my status of course as it instructed, so I went online and accepted the invitation and emailed the graduate school to confirm. The graduate school confirmed my acceptance and told me to confirm with the department. So I sent an email to the department only to get the run around. I explained everything, only to get an email two days later saying that it was a mistake by someone new to the position...

I never emailed her back. I don't really know what to do. I was rejected once and then accepted and rejected all over again. It definitely hurt worse the second time around. Does anyone have any advice about what I should do or what my rights are as a student? To be honest, I don't want to let them get away with this. They're acting like this isn't a big deal when in reality, this acceptance or rejection ultimately plots the course for my future.

What the heck do I do??

[Denisse]

It doesn't seem like there's anything you can do. They made a mistake, but you never paid a deposit. And even if you had, they would most likely refund it. I would send an e-mail and state that you are disappointed about the mistake. You also don't want to burn any bridges by sending an angry e-mail.

[ak48]

That's very unfortunate but there's nothing you can do. Apply again next year if you want, or re-examine grad school decision again.

[NoddaProbBob]

Thank you both for the replies. I'm just very very disappointed. I can't believe that they did this to me. It's just crushing. To go through it once and then go through it again, it was just more than I wanted to handle. I feel like it ultimately tainted my graduation day and it's just heartbreaking. I deserved better. Much much better. In my opinion, there was no reason why I shouldn't have been admitted anyways. I had excellent recommendations and a 4.0. i get that they are allowed to accept or reject based on any number of factors, but I truly believe that their program would have been made better with a serious and committed student like myself in their program. The whole thing just downright sucks.

[ak48]

Thank you both for the replies. I'm just very very disappointed. I can't believe that they did this to me. It's just crushing. To go through it once and then go through it again, it was just more than I wanted to handle. I feel like it ultimately tainted my graduation day and it's just heartbreaking. I deserved better. Much much better. In my opinion, there was no reason why I shouldn't have been admitted anyways. I had excellent recommendations and a 4.0. i get that they are allowed to accept or reject based on any number of factors, but I truly believe that their program would have been made better with a serious and committed student like myself in their program. The whole thing just downright sucks.

 

Hopefully you've gotten a lot of practical knowledge about the application process and will make a good impression next time around, into a program that doesn't make such a monumental error.

[NoddaProbBob]

Agreed. Thank you for your support. I think I would definitely do things much differently next time around. I just have to process it and overcome it again like I did the first time. Grieve, heal, repeat.