A month ago, the University of Kentucky emailed 500,000 high-school seniors acceptance letters, only to quickly dash their dreams of being a Wildcat. As explained in a follow-up email, the vast majority of the messages were sent in error.
The students received an email on March 15 that read, “We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into the selective Clinical and Management program in the University of Kentucky College of Health Sciences for the Fall 2021,” reported LEX 18, Lexington’s local NBC affiliate.
The acceptance was for the school’s Clinical Leadership and Management program, which reportedly accepts 35 to 40 new students every year.
Within 24 hours, the students had an apology email from the university that cited a “technical issue” as the cause of the mix-up.
“Only a handful of those on the prospect list had been admitted to UK. The vast majority had not, nor had the vast majority of these students expressed an interest in the program,” University of Kentucky spokesman Jay Blanton said in an interview with LEX 18. “Nevertheless, we regret the communication error and have sent correspondence to all those who were contacted, offering our apologies.”
As for why people received acceptance emails for a program they never applied to, Blanton said, “The student could have indicated they were interested in UK at some point or they may have sent an application. There are a number of ways we would have their contact information.”
