We Messed Up.

One thing we pride ourselves here in the Office of Admission is being a compassionate place. I've written frequently before about anxiety, love, and the fact that it's all going to be okay in the end.

Yesterday, we made a mistake that goes against all of those ideas of compassion. A mistake that has created such an immense sense of anxiety for a population of students who want to go to Tulane more than anything else in the world.

Around 1:00pm on December 14th, Tulane Technology Services sent an email to 130 Early Decision applicants. The email welcomed them to the Tulane family and gave them a Tulane email address. While we are currently working on figuring out why and how this happened, for those 130 students, that does not matter. We've created an anxiety so deep for this group that there really aren't words to describe it. I'll own up to it right now.

The reality is that we did not have final decisions for those 130 students yet. For a few hours, they had notification from Tulane that led them to believe they had been admitted before we sent an email to let them know we did not have a final decision and to disregard the tech services email. I am sure many celebrated and posted on social media about it, as any admitted student should.

What Tulane has done is inexcusable and I offer those students, their families, their high school counselors and their communities a heartfelt apology. Tulane can do better and we will.

Many people have told me that we should just admit that population as it's the right thing to do. In a perfect world, that would be true. But admitting an additional 130 students is much easier said than done and greatly throws off the size of the class. It simply can't be done. We sent final decisions to our Early Decisions applicants by midnight on December 15th.

Please know I am here to speak with each of you who was affected by this. You can email me any time at jschiffm@tulane.edu. I can't say "I know what you're going through," because I do not. All I can offer is a an apology.

Life is so much about how you respond (not react) in situations like this. It is my hope that we learn from this. We have really messed this one up, and for that, I offer you my deepest apology.