Northeastern University School of Law made a pretty big rut-roh. The law school sent 205 acceptance letters to applicants who… did not get into the law school. Several hours after the error was made, the law school sent follow-up emails, letting folks know they were not actually accepted. Additionally, the law school sent mistaken acceptance letters to 3,930 of *last year’s* applicants, some of whom are already at Northeastern.
Can you even imagine the devastation? You get your hopes all up, probably tell your friends and family, and then the rug is just pulled out from under them. NBC Boston spoke with single mom of four, Lakisha Papoutsakis, who went through that exact experience:
“It was like going on a roller coaster, that’s exactly how it felt,” said Lakisha Papoutsakis, describing the 24 hours after she was contacted by Northeastern University. “Last night, I get this email, and I’m like, all excited. ‘Oh my god, I got in!'”
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Papoutsakis was previously rejected from the law school twice prior, but after a divorce and a time where she experienced homelessness, she decided to give her dream of being a lawyer another shot.
“For me, it was important to be able to do that,” she said. “One, to show them that anything is possible. Two, that you’re never too old to accomplish a dream. And three, that I could provide for them.”
Then, after six hours of sharing the excitement with loved ones, she noticed a follow-up email from Northeastern.
“I was like ‘Oh my god this is so amazing,’ and then it was like ‘Oh no, sorry, April Fool’s Day,'” she said.
Just crushing. Papoutsakis says she’s reaching out to the law school to try and make the acceptance real.
The law school offer the following apology over the error:
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“Due to a technical error, 205 current applicants to the school of law received an erroneous email,” Northeastern University said in a statement. “The school of law deeply regrets this unintended mistake and is taking steps to ensure that it will not happen in the future.”
Which is nice, but doesn’t do much for the applicants who saw their dreams rise and fall in a matter of hours.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).