On Monday, UBC accidentally emailed out an invitation for Jumpstart to 31,000 prospective undergraduate applicants — including those who had their applications rejected or have not heard about their application status.
The email had been intended for prospective undergraduate students who had received and accepted their offer to UBC, encouraging those students to register for the university’s Jumpstart orientation program. However, the email was also sent to students that either had their offer rejected or had yet to hear about their application status due to a human error, according to Associate Director of UBC Public Affairs Leslie Dickson.
News of the mistake began to emerge on Reddit this morning, when confused prospective students complained that they had received the “glitch” email even though it didn’t correspond with information in their Student Space.
UBC Admissions has since advised prospective students to consult their Student Space for confirmation of their application’s status.
“We are notifying all of the individuals who received yesterday’s email in error and advising them to access their Student Service Centre account for their admission status,” said Andrew Arida, associate registrar and director for Student Recruitment and Undergraduate Admissions, in an emailed statement.
In emails to The Ubyssey, students and parents alike expressed anger at the mistake, saying it caused confusion in what is often a stressful time for students applying to post-secondary institutions.
“Got this email from UBC today and I was absolutely ecstatic ... I told everyone and I was so excited,” wrote prospective student Precious Obineche. But after questioning why the application status was not updated on Student Space following the email, Obineche called UBC and was told about the error.
“I was so sad,” she added.
“My daughter got this email today,” wrote Kyung Oh, a parent of another prospective student. “We’re so disappointed and mad about what has happened. She has not been rejected nor accepted yet.”
In the same emailed statement, Arida also acknowledged and apologized for the impact that the error created.
“We know that waiting to find out if you have been accepted into university can be a very stressful time,” he wrote, “and we are sorry for any uncertainty that yesterday’s email created.”